On 25/5/08 18:11, in article , "endymion"
wrote:

My computer died and I have not posted for a long time . Didn't bother to
replace the computer - there is life outside of this virtual world.

Whilst everyone wishes Monty Don all the best and a speedy recovery. The
reality is he leaves a hole in the garden at Gardeners World.

I have to say I am not enamored with the possibilities. I don't think it
would be too unrealistic to say that Monty was a peoples choice promoted
by those in this newsgroup ( the original BBC choice being Dairimud Gavin of
people are old enough and still have brain cells enough to recall) .

So, who should replace him? Or should Gardeners World call it a day and get
the axe from the BBC? Lets face it, its changed beyond recognition and
frankly I only watch half as often as I used to even when Alan was in charge
and that was less than when Geoff Hamilton had the reigns.


I think it's staring them in the face. Christine Walkden. She's a genuine
plantswoman and a genuine gardener. She knows the subject from all ends up
and she can talk to 'ordinary' gardeners as if they were her friends. She
is exactly in real life as she is on screen - no mad hair, or mad clothes,
or any gimmick of any sort - just a really good gardener. It wouldn't hurt
them to bring Peter Seabrook in, either. Let's forget the
presenters-as-celebs and get back to gardening by people who garden. He's
the Sun's gardening correspondent, so there's a huge audience guaranteed
right there!
Alan Titchmarsh learned his trade and has a great gift for communicating
with the camera - but both are necessary, not just a pretty or eccentric
persona.
And as for Chelsea this year - what dreary presentation. Carol is great
when she talks to the nurserymen because she knows so many of them but
overall we thought it was just dull. Yes they put some plants names up on
the screen, no, they didn't put up enough of them by a long chalk and that
b***** music playing over the commentary drove us nearly to fury. Why on
earth does one need that when someone is trying to talk about plants and
give their names? It's not only annoying, it's rude and bad-mannered, IMO.
We thought the whole thing very lacklustre overall and for the first time
really didn't much care if we saw it or not.
In fact, I'm going to get Ray to audition - after 60 years in the business
and with his own nursery, he does have a glimmering! ;-)) But that's the
sort of team they should be building - people who really do the job and know
it backwards, forwards and sideways, not just the ones who do the designing
and landscaping. They're the frame for the plants, they're by no means the
whole story.
--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
'We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our
children.'