The Full Monty

Whether you consider yourself a gardener or a horticulturist, all that really matters is the joy of creating a beautiful garden, says Monty

I have noticed that I am increasingly referred to in newspapers, online and, for all I know, in conversation, as a ‘horticulturist’. This grates. Not so much because it is wrong – I will come to that in a moment – but because I absolutely do not think of myself as anything but a gardener.

It is a word that I had not come across until five years ago when I was filming gardens in America. We were about to interview a brilliant and charismatic man who ran a magnificent 30-acre garden in South Carolina, and asked what job title he would like us to use. “Senior Horticulturist”, came the reply. The result was immediate consternation. None of us had come across the expression before. The director politely pointed that ‘Head Gardener’ would have much more immediate resonance with a British audience? He did mind. So Senior Horticulturist it was.

Now you might say that this is simply another example of how we are divided by a common language. You say ‘tomahto’, I say ‘tomayto’. But there is much more to it than that, all of which I find fascinating because it is all bound up with how we use language.

It turns out that ‘gardener’ has been in common use since 1300, while the word ‘horticulture’ w1as first recorded in the 1670s, with the first r ecorded use of ‘horticulturist’ 150 years later, in 1818.

It is significant that ‘horticulture’ with its overtones of applied science and learning, and clear differentiation from agriculture, was first used only a few years after the establishment in the 1660s of The Royal Society, in which members were pioneering the sharing of scientific experiments, and rejecting

– at least in terms of science – the hitherto absolute laws of religion.

In the 18th century this process continued and by 1818 – with the arrival of the first horticulturist – there was a steady flow of new plants arriving in Britain from all over the world that required new methods of care and study. Gardening also became hugely popular for the growing middle classes during this first half of the 19th century, with the great John

Claudius Loudon publishing (and mostly writing) The Gardener’s Magazine which was, in 1826, the first periodical devoted to horticulture. His wife, Jane Loudon, wrote widely for women gardeners and was the first to do so. In other words, gardening was expanding hugely throughout this period across a widening swathe of society.

By the end of the 19th century our gardens and the library of plants that we could grow in them were transformed and this vast array of new species, and breeding programmes from them needed a special kind of knowledge, so in 1881 – which seems incredibly recent to me – a new word was coined: ‘plantsman’. To put that into personal context – all my grandparents had been born by that date.

I tweeted about this nomenclature and sure enough, social media being what it is, it produced a predictable flurry of outrage from both horticulturists and gardeners. In fact, the point was to share my bemusement and see what people felt comfortable with. I am quite aware of the possibility that it is me, not the rest of the world, that is off the pace with accepted language and description (and just about everything else).

Insomuch that I do have a level of knowledge and expertise and have spent most of my working life writing, talking or filming gardens then perhaps ‘horticulturist’ accurately describes what I do. However, I do not earn money gardening and I am very much an amateur gardener. The last time anyone paid me to garden was nearly 50 years ago when I was still a student.

I think the reason I don’t want to be known as a horticulturist is because it has too much practicality about it. It is a word that has a certificate wrapped up in it. But gardens to me are magical places that always contain the possibility of beauty and truth and a deep spiritual wellbeing. I am always looking for poetry in a garden over and above plant perfection.

For me at least, there is no higher calling than to be a gardener. Whether I am good or bad at it, or my garden is big or small, makes no difference. As it happens, having knowledge and skill greatly enhances and furthers that goal. But only as a means to the end of making a beautiful garden.

So I respect and admire horticulturists the world over. But for myself, I am very happy to be known simply as a gardener.

For me at least, there is no higher calling than to be a gardener