On 2013-09-01 14:33:43 +0100, stuart noble said:

On 01/09/2013 12:11, Sacha wrote:
On 2013-09-01 10:32:54 +0100, stuart noble said:

On 01/09/2013 08:47, Martin wrote:
On Sat, 31 Aug 2013 20:59:32 +0100, "Trevor Appleton"
wrote:

For the last 17 years since Geoff Hamilton sadly departed this
world, our
household expression for watching GW at 8.30 on a Friday has been
putting
'Geoff' on. No one could replace him and certainly not Titch or
Toby, or
even Montys first charge of the helm.

However I can finally now say that I feel we have someone I like
equally as
much as Geoff - good old Monty!!

I wish we could say the same.

Do you watch Beechgrove?
http://www.thebeechgrovegarden.com/


Having just watched his prog on Japanese gardens, Monty comes across
as a bit of a fruitcake. Zen doesn't work here because there's no one
to spend all day maintaining perfection. Anyway, a rock in the middle
of a load of gravel doesn't do it for me.

Ray always maintains that Japanese gardens made by Westerners don't work
properly and he may have something. We saw a beauty at Huntington
Gardens in California but it was designed by a Japanese and I'm pretty
sure it was maintained by one, too.

I quite like the one in Holland Park (West London) but, again, it needs
more tending than anyone can afford to give it. In a way I suppose it
sums up the Brits just as zen reflects the unbelievable orderliness of
the Japanese.

The process of the tending is part of the Zen experience and I think
you're probably right that raking gravel and placing boulders 'just
so', doesn't go along with our outlook generally. ;-)
--

Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon
www.helpforheroes.org.uk