In his own words, his loathing for bloom loved by so many

THIS is not the first time Monty Don has expressed his dislike for begonias.

In a column for The Guardian in 2000, he explained why he did not care for the colourful house plant. Here is an abridged version of the article.

‘I have a deep, irrational and well-nourished dislike of house plants. Well, not entirely irrational because most of them are ugly. Why do people suspend all aesthetic judgement just because they are dealing with a plant?

‘It sometimes happens when gardeners become more interested in collecting and growing plants than in making and caring for a garden.

If begonias were a song, they would be the kind of maudlin croon performed by a “family entertainer” in a toupee that leaves you turning inside out with embarrassment. The leaves have a bat’s-wing quality, with colourings reminiscent of the pavement outside a pub a closing time on a Saturday night.

‘A little over the top? I’ve only just begun. I’ve never understood the attraction of “jungle” plants crammed into a living room. Don’t people know how horrible the jungle is? Interesting for sure but horribly so.’

He continued: ‘The main problem for house plants lies in the house. Indoors is dark – even a window in full sun cuts out 25 per cent of the light and levels fall with every foot that you move away from the window. Indoors is dry and subject to huge temperature variations, especially in the winter, when central heating kicks on and off.

‘Thus the only plants that survive tends to be those that lurk in dry shade, clinging on to their evolutionary niche. You trawl the globe looking for plants that will tolerate your home – lovely as I am sure it is for humans – and the result is nothing like a garden.

‘Gardens are centered in locality, gloriously parochial and dictated by minute details of soil, weather and exposure. Take all that away and you end up with airport-lounge gardening.

‘I could have lied, of course. A gardening column should perhaps wheel out advice like a doctor administering to liver and kneecap alike, but it is not my way.

‘I am not proud of it, indulging in prejudices never added a jot to the sum of human happiness or wisdom. I am also aware that I am lucky enough to have a garden in which to indulge all my horticultural, and that there are plenty of people without one who grow what they can indoors.’