Monty Don introduces us to the first episode of Monty Dons' Rhineland Gardens which was first shown on 16 January 2026.
Monty starts by telling us he has travelled following one of the great rivers of the the World, the Rhine, as it criss crosses through 6 countries in Europe, from Mountains to its end at the sea.
The Rhine is 800 miles long and Monty travels most of it, seeing how it affects the people as well places and learning the stories of the Gardens as he goes.
He visits Communities who garden together, as well as passionate Gardeners, the money and power behind the River Gardens as well as when it does not go so well.
Climate Change and man-made effects, as with other series, is very important for Monty to highlight this as well as the history, culture and geography of the Rhine.
Monty starts his journey where the Hinterrhein comes down to meet the Vorderrhein and together in a green and grey flow they make the Rhine in the mountains of Switzerland.
As it grows and travels through Europe it gets bigger until it goes out into the North Sea and Monty travelling that way too.
Presenter
Special Guests
Fabian Reppel
Count Bjorn Bernadotte
Karin Kung-Minder
Roland Raderschall
Dr Stephan Brenneisen
Rolf Fehlbaum
Gardens visited
Alpinum Botanical GardensRechberg Garden (official website is closed)
Oetlinger Buvette Riverside Roof Garden
In this first programme Monty travels through Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Austria and Germany.
After seeing the Rhine source Monty travels up into the Swiss Alps to a landmark above Davos where the World Economic Forums are held to a World famous Garden of a Hotel in the mountainside.
On the hillside Art Nouveau Hotel Schatzalp was originally built for Tuberculosis patients in the 1900's as the mountain air was thought to be good for them as part of the treatment, so the garden was then made.
The garden was then filled with Alpine flowers, which has since been expanded above into a much larger Botanical Garden known as Alpinum Botanical Gardens.
Monty wanted to experience the Alpine feel high above the river but was surprised that the garden has plants from all over the world.
Part of the garden was formed from an Avalanche into the valley in 1968 when it created ledges and slopes which now have plants growing in that enjoy the high altitude from all over the world.
They are displayed in their original origin from the Himalayas to the Americas on the South slope and all thrive in the microclimate.
The Gardening Team is led by Head Gardener Fabian Reppel who tells him the garden has snow for 4 - 6 months of the year but last year it was only without snow for 2 months, July and August!
Snow in June or September could just be 2 cm and quickly melts but in Winter it is a complete blanket and they do not garden at all.
When it melts in Spring they then have water pouring down the streams as well as into the soil and the stream water goes directly into the Rhine.
The altitude of the garden is slightly under 2,000 Metres if it was higher than that the air would be too thin for the plants to survive, and if lower it be too thick and humid.
The UV levels are higher which makes the flowers more vivid in colour.
The Sound of Music film introduced lots of people to the Alps and the white flower Edelweiss and Fabian shows Monty his first ever one.
It is a subspecies of the original as it is in flower earlier and there up to 50 different species of Edelweiss with the majority of those from the Himalayas.
Monty says he been to a lot of Botanical Gardens all over the World and says this one is unique as not overly educational based and more like a garden with its meadows and has the most amazing location.
Monty now off the Monty at the River Rhine to visit the 500 year old Garden whose location and design is directly influenced by the river.
In Chur the oldest City in Switzerland is Haldenstein Castle it was once a military fort but rebuilt in the Renaissance period and it has 10 metre high walls around it.
It position high above the river was for defensive purposes but by the mid 16th Century there was need and it was changed and the wall built to protect it from the river flooding.
Up until the 19th Century the area flooded until a channel was dug to contain the Rhine and the castle gardens were created on the terrace.
Over the years the garden has had stages of neglect but now it is an abundance of Roses, on the walls, Pergolas and in beds surrounded by small hedges.
The Roses were planted 25 years ago by the local Rose Society who come every week to maintain the garden.
Monty shows us a Haldenstein Rose which is used in the gap in the wall to frame the stunning view.
Monty is following the river Rhine north across the border into Liechtenstein, which happens by just crossing the river, for his first ever visit.
This gives an amazing view of Vaduz Castle is the home of the Prince of Liechtenstein.
Monty is meeting an Author Ben Coates, a British Journalist, that lives in the Netherlands and he has written the only book that follows the Rhine whole journey.
Monty asks about the Rhine and how its effected the culture of the people by having its own culture. Ben says it has 2 functions, to divide and create borders but it also unites people by creating trade and an income, within the towns as well as other countries.
They are only 50 miles from Italy so when the Roman Empire was growing the Rhine was its boundary.
The mountains create a lot of water when the snow melts and this is the main source of the Rhine, as well as periods of heavy rain and the lakes like Constance act as an overflow.
This means it can be used as a shipping route all year long.
Monty continues his journey down the mountainsides it gets more busier and they arrive across the border again and into Austria, to the busy town of Bregenz.
Monty 3rd country today and he sat looking over Lake Constance and everyone out partying and drinking enjoying the weather.
The next morning Monty on a ferry on the huge lake, which is fed by the Rhine and it borders, Austria, Germany and Switzerland.
Monty is visiting the Island of Mainau on the German side and the whole island forms one of the most popular gardens in Germany.
Mainau is know as the Island of Flowers and is a total of 45 hectares of both formal and informal gardens and includes some stunning Italian water steps.
At the top is a Baroque Castle with a huge glasshouse and stunning Rose Garden.
Monty arrived before it was even open but it is not long before 1000's of visitors arrive and they are looking at the dramatic brightly coloured Rose garden which is so different from English ones.
The garden also contains 'Floral Animals' and Monty not sure about them, they are funny and cleverly done but not something he have at Longmeadow but the visitors love them.
Mainau has a huge, diverse range of plants and this is made possible by the Lake ability to store the Summer heat to use in the Autumn, making its own mild microclimate.
The terraces give a Mediterranean feel overlooking the lake.
Count Bjorn Bernadotte runs the Lennart Bernadotte Foundation met with Monty in the gardens he grew up in and knows every part of it.
Monty asked him about creating such a big garden and when did it start, Fredrich I bought the island in 1854 and started the tree planting and his wife Louise started the Rose Garden.
The Count father came in 1933 when he was 23 years old and began farming on the Island, then moved on to opening the garden to tourists.
Monty asked what are people looking for in the garden, the Count replies 'emotions' and its different for German visitors to English visitors.
British see more of the design and art in the garden but for the German visitors its more of just a place to be in and have a good day out.
Grand Duke Fredrich planting scheme in the 19th Century has meant that 150 years later the trees are very impressive, with over 500 mature species of trees.
The Count says they make sure they are kept healthy but the soil at most is just 2 metres deep, with solid rock underneath so the tree roots grow flat and when watered it goes through and back into the Lake.
They plant new plants with Climate Change in mind and this is something that affects us all.
Monty sits and reflects on his visit and the affects of Climate Change in the newest area of the Garden which is planted with Ferns and Fuchsias which has a complicated misting system, to cool it and increase humidity.
Climate Change has made the temperature rise making it harder for the plants to flourish like they did before this change.
Mainau although a historic Garden is being modernised to current trends and tastes as well as all the challenges.
Monty is on the Island of Reichenau to reflect on his visit and the size and what they are doing with the Garden and at its heart is an amazing Arboretum and it is the Trees themselves that make it well worth a visit.
On Reichenau is a smaller Garden with history and the Island is also on the German side of Lake Constance.
The Island is larger and in 8th Century was a place of learning with its Abbey and has pretty houses and Gardens.
A Abbey has been there since 724 but the reason for Monty visit is that Abbot Walafrid Strabo in the 9th Century wrote one of the original gardening books about essential plants for medicinal and culinary purposes for the Monks.
The Gardens have been recently restored to celebrate Walafrid's ideas and this includes a central Flower Meadow bed surrounded by pleached Limes forming a Cloister.
The highlight for Monty is the Herb Garden and the beds contain the 24 Herbs Walafrid wrote about in his book.
To the modern Gardener they are a strange mixture of Roses, Sage, Iris and ones no longer used like Rue and also include vegetables.
This was however a normal Monastery Garden for 900 years not just here but across Europe and it all started in this Garden.
Monty visit to Lake Constance had him criss crossing borders and this Lake is fed by the Rhine, running right through the Lake.
Monty back in the car travelling across borders in the Swiss region of Thurgau which is made fertile by being so close to the river.
He is on a farm to visit a garden at the home of Karin Kung-Minder who has lived her since 1997 and have spent 25 years making the garden.
When they arrived it just had the Vegetable Garden and Karin started getting more and more land off her non gardening husband.
The garden has different rooms and themes as it wraps around the house, there is a Gravel Garden with very healthy looking plants self seeding through the paths.
Karin says healthy, happy plants stay in the garden for ages as she does not have the time to look after just 1 plant.
Monty notices all the Bees and Insects in the garden as they move into the Shadow Garden and is made up of Ferns, Flowers and Rose covered Archways.
Karin encourages the Biodiversity in her garden as it is agricultural land there no structures to keep biodiversity and wildlife on the land.
In Karin house every window overlooks the Garden and this acts as the paintings for the house as they enter the Nature Garden this one very different.
In the garden is a huge Natural Swimming Pond which Karin uses whenever the water is warm enough to swim.
There is a lot of Dragonflies, Frogs and Snakes who come after the Frogs and has happened as she was swimming!
Monty asks about the Neighbours and her Friends thoughts on her Garden and Karin says they first thought she was a 'Lazy Gardener' due to the amount of weeds.
Karin sees the weeds as Native Plants and her passion is to educate them that this garden is beautiful like it is. Monty agrees.
They go through a gate to the newest part of the Garden which is something Monty loves, a Dog Garden.
Karin whistles and 2 dogs come running and Monty loves greeting them and asks whether they jump around in her big flower beds.
Karin says the dogs do not use the garden unless she with them so she can tell them not to go on the beds.
Monty says the garden works for dogs and people and talks to Karin about the British Culture for gardening and do the Swiss have the same?
She says a lot of people have space round their houses in Switzerland but they keep the area clean which is not good for nature.
Karin tells people she enjoys her garden and working in it, it is a passion and good for her health and wellbeing.
Monty ends his visit by saying driving through the Swiss farmland it was very Austere so he was not expecting to find this sort of garden on a farm and goes against the usual Swiss way of keeping their outdoor space.
Monty going back to where the Alpine Rhine turns into the High Rhine by going down the very dramatic Rhine Falls.
The force of the water going down these Falls attract the tourists and these are the biggest natural waterfalls on the Rhine.
In the early 19th Century these became a favourite with the Romantic Movement with Poets and Painters visiting to capture the beauty of the Falls.
Near to the Falls in a Village called Osterfingen full of timber framed houses in its small main street and most of the houses have beautiful front gardens.
The story of the gardens is a common one for all across the streets of Europe and a local Historian was looking into the change in use to parking spaces or paved areas so the locals decided to preserve their traditional gardens.
They set up a Local Group to preserve what every street once had in their front gardens and these are open for everyone to see both locals and visitors to the Village.
Monty stops by to talk to Barbara Linsi in her garden and she tells them people come and visit and all the gardens are ones people can copy ideas from for their own gardens.
Monty asked if young people come and Barbara says mostly older people but they are getting more young people as they are interested in nature and being outdoors more.
He tells her garden looks amazing and say their goodbyes.
At 5 o'clock every day the church bell rings to say the working day is over and the village really is still very traditional and 'old fashioned'.
The Village has a Blacksmith, Farms and a even a Shoemaker and the gardens fit in well with this and form a good balance.
Monty heading to the city of Zurich which is the largest one in Switzerland and the centre of finance, industry and education.
It is on the Northern tip of Lake Zurich which feeds into the Rhine.
Monty in the Baroque style Rechberg Garden overlooking the city whose Mansion was built in the1760s by a Silk Trader who used the Rhine to transport their wares.
The layout of the Garden has changed over the years as its uses have changed from a home to a University and taken over in 1985 by the Local Government and then opened to the public.
The garden took 30 years to restore to how it was originally in 1760s which was at the end of the Baroque Period.
It has symmetrical flower beds, the terrace steps, fountains and lots of small Topiary, it was not until the 10th Century that Topiary got larger.
This sort of formal garden you would expert to find in the middle of 18th Century Switzerland for a home of a successful trader.
Monty now in the suburbs of Zurich by the Railway Station to visit a garden thats trying to be a building or vice versa!
The idea at the time was to future plan its architecture and green spaces and the result was a building clad in plants making a steel and greenery surrounded park.
The 100 metre long by 35 metre wide structure is covered in climbers that create a very dramatic urban building.
It has a series of balconies like a theatre and from these platforms you can look down on the enclosed piazza and people below.
Monty says as a gardener he is intrigued by the structure and greenery and how it all works together, showing you glimpses of the City surrounding it.
It like an arbour and Monty likes it and how it not like anything a garden or building should be or could be.
Monty meets with Roland Raderschall, the Landscape Architect who says its a building but not a building, the rain comes in, birds are flying about but its a building as well as a garden.
Roland was part of the Landscape Team that designed the building / garden at when designing it they could not visit the site and came up with the idea of inserting a simpler sized building to the rest but vastly different.
Monty said he seen all sorts of green walls but usually they are on solid existing buildings this is completely different, more delicate and has light filtering through it and is exceptional.
He asks why did you use climbers and Roland says planting them in the ground really lets them grow how they want.
If a plant dies they do not replace it more than twice and they collect rain water through the gravel and used to water the plants.
The climbers were supposed to cover the roof but he likes it open too as they do not seem to want to grow across.
In Winter the structure is just the bare steel and the architecture become the main attraction but in Spring the flowers of the Wisteria and Roses come out.
In Autumn the oranges and reds of the Russian Vines look stunning almost as if in flames.
Monty asks how to people use the building and he replies it very busy at lunchtime, it is shaded and also by teenagers and dating couples on first dates.
Monty says people will ask is this even a garden but thats not important, it a skeleton of building with plants that cover the building and change as per the seasons which people in a busy city can use to relax in.
It works as a garden so it does not matter what it is called.
Monty heading North to join the Rhine at Basel which grew because of the river as it brought easy ways to transport goods and people.
Not far from Basel and alongside the Rhine is the oldest Roman settlement in Switzerland is Augusta Raurica, a Roman Fort which have been extensively restored over the years.
It was built in 40BC when the Rhine was the border of the Roman Empire and Monty touring the ruins of an Amphitheatre and at one time 20 thousand people lived in the fort.
The remains of the Fort is now part of the local community and the fort became obsolete about 100 years after it was built as they no longer need to defend their territory.
A Town then grew around the Fort and the Rhine not only important for transportation, Industry and Social History but also for Military purposes.
Basel or Basle if French is right on the Border of France and Germany and during the 20th Century it became and important place for the Chemical and Pharmaceutical Industries.
The Rhine an important part of everyday life, people use it to commute not only on it but also in it, swimming to work!
Oetlinger Buvette Riverside Roof Garden
There are bars and restaurants along the river front and Monty visiting a Cafe to see it roof Garden.
In Basel flat roofs on building by law have to have a green roof and this is the idea of Dr Stephan Brenneisen who is a pioneer of Urban Biodiversity.
Monty tells him the roof garden is rather beautiful and Stephan points out it contains food, herbs and tea to use in the Cafe which Monty did not realise.
It is full of Bees, Butterflies and other insects making it the perfect Roof Garden for them.
Stephan began his Green Roof passion after building a trial one in 1995 and found rare species on the roof which proved that these could become habitats for insects along the Rhine that don't exist elsewhere.
They studies Beetles at first then Spiders, Bees and Butterflies etc who are mobile to look at what habitats they are using.
They then started encouraging people to have Green Roofs then with the Government who made the regulations part of the building code.
Only in Basel it is defined as to what sort of plants you can use like Native plants so its the normal habitat thats also affordable, just on a roof.
Monty says its good it can be done easily and are people gong up on the roofs to use the garden?
Stephan says no its not a typical garden and they not suitable to use like that its just for the habitat and to show people the insects they attract.
Stephan takes Monty to see a project on a much bigger scale he takes him to the University Biocentre.
On the top, 73 metres up they have made a green roof and this looks over some of the other 6,000 green roofs.
This is his Research Lab and it has 10 pitfall traps and these traps the insect life like Beetles and Spiders.
This proves he type of insects you can attract to such a high roof top.
The reason Stephan got involved with this green roof was all down to Crows who were picking up his gravel and dropping it off the sides, smashing the windows.
He was asked to stop them 3 years ago, so he said lets cover the gravel with turf rolls and this is how it is today.
In another 3 years time, it wont change as it is a prairie style and at the moment all burn out but will go green again in the Spring.
Some years some species will be more dominant due to the weather but in 20 years it will probably still be very much the same as now.
A lot of gardeners would want to cut it down and mow it but Stephan more relaxed and just lets it grow.
Monty says we need more roof gardens in our Cities to improve the wildlife, even if they don't look that nice.
He says this sort of roof garden is self-sustaining and needs no looking after but by June it is dead looking due to the hotter Summers, but will be green again each Spring.
Great for Wildlife but not the best to look at, this is real rewilding.
Monty on his way to the final garden of the programme and he crosses the Rhine to the German side to visit the Vitra Campus.
This is where the famous German Furniture Manufacturer is based and a fire in the 1980's it was rebuilt using well known Architects for the different buildings.
As well as the buildings they created a Garden designed by the famous Dutch Garden Designer Piet Oudolf who gardens are very natural and free flowing.
He uses large open beds full of Grasses and Perennials in swathes.
Monty meets with Rolf Fehlbaum, who family founded the Factory and funded the garden.
His Mother was from the area and he remembers as a child that the first factory was built in his Aunts garden.
As it expanded over the years more and more Cherry trees were chopped down in the garden he used to play in.
Now the garden has put some nature back on the site and Piet was the only designer he wanted for the project.
Monty asked was that because you wanted this style of garden or for what he decided to design.
Rolf says he wanted his design idea as he wanted it a wilderness and admired his composition as the garden changes throughout the year.
The planting in the garden is in seasonal cycles and to celebrate each stage from growing right to decaying.
Monty says the Campus has the Architect designed Art style buildings and asks if Rolf sees the garden as another piece of Art?
Rolf sees it as a garden and a very important element and they are thinking due to Climate Change viewing the Campus as a Biosphere and doing more to be more cooperative with nature.
Within the garden there are a few circular grass viewing areas and from it you can see how the garden is constructed and the waves of planting that is very European and Piet Oudolf is very good at.
This is a garden to admire, like a show garden that people come to visit and its full of drama and beauty.
Monty back at the Rhine where it borders France and Germany to end this episode and its come a long ways so far from the cold, greyness in the Mountains.
From the Alpine Garden in Davos as the River tumbles down to Liechtenstein then to Lake Constance in Austria.
Then it flowed to Mainau Island to water the Trees and then to Switzerland to Karin's Garden.
Then to Basel and the roof gardens and Monty been surprised not only by the boats using the River but also how the people use it to not only swim but also as a place to meet socially.
This usually happens in Parks in the Cities but here it is the River that the place to be to socialise and enjoy being outdoors.
The journey so far ending up in a Piet Oudolf designed garden, a design he will see more of as he carries on his journey through Germany, ending up at the Coast.
Monty Don's Rhineland Gardens 💧 Episode 2
All Photographs are copyright of BBC.com
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