Season 1
10 episodes
59 min. per episode
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Monty traverses diverse landscapes, unearthing hidden stories and personal connections that bloom amidst breathtaking gardens worldwide.
Episodes
Monty visits Mexico, starting with floating gardens, the heritage of the Aztec capital Tenochtitlan and even older Precolumbian cultures. Next the non-planted, partly vertical gardens of Luis Barragan, and eccentric Englishman James Edward's staggeringly vast and inspired surreal garden in the jungle. In Cuba, Monty concentrates on productive, communal city gardens in Havana, the surprisingly efficient post-soviet way to supply their own food and medicines.
Monty starts his tour of Australia in Syndey, like colonization did, initially struggling to establish any agriculture. A public park and royal botanical gardens demonstrate how most ornamental plants were introduced from Europe, the home country (which in turn imported from elsewhere). A seemingly wild native plants park in the desert calls to contemplate what a garden is. Next Melbourne, the country's gardening capital. Finally overseas to New Zealand.
Monty enjoys his first visit to exotic, history-conscious India. In the north, he compares the majestic, yet rather austere Mughal gardens in Agra's imperial capital area, especially the unique Taj Mahal, with the maharajahs' more exuberant lust gardens in Rajasthan. Next the gardens and plantations in Kerala, the ancient home of spice and tea growing, and British parks as in Delhi, with special admiration for a living man's vast recycling park.
Monty Don visits the world's 80 most inspiring gardens. This time he is in South America, a continent twice the size of Europe and the home of more than 50,000 endemic plant species. In Rio de Janeiro, Monty visits the private garden of Brazil's most famous artist, Burle Marx. He views the ingenious floating gardens of the Amazon. He visits a crumbling estancia (ranch) in the windy Pampas. He ends his journey on the Pacific coast of Chile in a garden that sits harmoniously in its landscape.
Monty starts in New York state, not Manhattan but East Hampton, a rich sculptor's garden which serves as background for his extensive art collection, yet in Monty's eye it also turns architectural plants into 'art objects'. In Virginia, focus on founding father and president Jefferson's estate, more of a test area, almost a lab extension. Finally, in California's lush climate, extravagant Hollywood gardens.
In this stunning series, Monty Don sets off on an enchanting journey to visit 80 of the world's most celebrated gardens, from ancient to modern, large to small, and grand to humble.