Monty Don's American Gardens

Horticulturalist Monty Don continues his world travel to the United States. He wants to see the difference with the New World gardens. There are three episodes. The first episode visits the prairies and the northeast. The second episode goes old south. The third episode starts in the desert and heads to the west coast.

The second episode has Monty talking about Jefferson and Monticello. I kept waiting for him to bring up the white elephant. It gets uncomfortable until the show goes full on into the slavery issue. It is the old south after all. I'm not a fan of formal geometry. I like my gardens wilder and more chaotic. I really like rewilding with native plants. Gardeners tend to like too many exotic plants without any restrain. Having said that, I like mixing a garden with art. I love the blown glass garden. I actually like the garden under the glass balls although that seems to be a corporate location. Monty pontificates about the nature of suburban front lawns. I think he's wrong. In my opinion, it's about conformity and the nuclear family and trying to maintain the 50's aesthetics. This series is a little deeper than his other series. A lot of the gardens are relics of past wealth. I cringed when they proudly proclaim that they made a beautiful garden out of a worthless swamp. I wouldn't mind rewilding that place. Global warming will get it eventually.

This program visits many splendid gardens across the USA. Unfortunately it's over edited. There's no time to enjoy the wonder and beauty of these magnificent places.

There's also endless pointless shots of the slightly irritating host ambling his way around them. It's such a shame. I persevered to catch the small glimpses of beauty provided, but next time please include much less video of the host. Place him in the environment and then let the his NARRATION complement the images.

It really could've been a brilliant program.