Monty Don is leaving Gardeners' World after more than 20 years as the show's lead presenter, closing a run that helped shape how many people think about gardening. Claire Ratinon said, "I’ll miss Monty Don, and I know I’m not alone in finding the show a balm for the soul."
Ratinon also wrote: "It’s finally happened." The departure opens a search for Don's replacement, with Frances Tophill appearing to be the favourite in the shortlist she discussed.
Claire Ratinon and Longmeadow
Ratinon has been growing for more than a decade, and she said Don has been a steady and wise presence through that time. She contrasted his two-acre Longmeadow garden in Herefordshire with her own small, chaotic and mostly gravelled space, where she has only a few veg beds at the end of the garden.
That contrast sits at the centre of the change now under discussion. The show has been presented as successful in its current form, but Ratinon said the idealised garden setting can sit far from what ordinary gardeners can realistically achieve.
Frances Tophill and Gardeners' World
Ratinon said the favourite appears to be Frances Tophill, who would be her first choice from the shortlist too. She did not set out a final selection, but her timeline points to a choice being made after Don's departure rather than alongside it.
Her wider case is for a show that follows ordinary gardeners in ordinary conditions. She wrote that people who are time-poor, resource-light and chaotic in their execution should be shown on screen, not only carefully managed plots.
Britain's weather and climate
Ratinon argued that the UK's weather and climate vary massively, and that a gardener in Cornwall faces very different conditions from a gardener in Cumbria. She said a better format would show what is possible, and impossible, in different parts of the country through a growing season.
She compared the idea to Top Gear, saying she was thinking of it as a show built around a consortium of gardeners and their outdoor spaces. Her answer to the replacement question leans toward Tophill; her answer to the programme question is a version of Gardeners' World that looks more like real gardens and less like an exception.
