Monty Don’s pet hate: gardeners being called horticulturalists
If there’s one thing that really riles Monty Don, it’s gardeners describing themselves as horticulturalists.
The leading gardening expert, author and presenter of Gardeners’ World on BBC2 expressed his consternation at the conflation of the terms and what he deemed a rise in people wrongly labelling themselves as horticulturalists. He called it an “unnecessary and pompous inflation”.
“There are lots of words and expressions in current use that irritate me … but one that is particularly pertinent seems utterly unnecessary: since when did the term ‘horticulturalist’ replace gardener? And why?” he wrote on Twitter/X.
Don, 68, also expressed his “intense irritation” at being referred to as a horticulturalist himself.
His comments drew impassioned responses online, with some social media followers expressing their disagreement with
