Saturday nights at our place are a bit special and the ritual goes something like this: First, we make pizzas together late in the afternoon, rolling out the homemade dough and adding lots of favourite toppings. Then, while the pizzas cook, the kids have an early bath. Once dinner is ready we all gather in the lounge room to eat and watch our favourite TV show – Gardening Australia. The kids get so excited that when they hear the theme music, up they jump to perform a giggly little jig.
Consequently, it will come as little surprise to learn that tonight’s episode will be a poignant one in the Russell household. It’s Peter Cundall’s last show. After a career in the gardening media spanning 40 years, and 20 as host of Gardening Australia, the self confessed “old codger” is retiring. Kind of, anyway. Despite turning 80 last year, Pete will be doing some gardening media in Tasmania and will offer prominent support for a range of environmental causes.
Peter Cundall is one of my gardening heroes. He’s the anti-Jamie (Durie) of the gardening world. Elderly, earthy, unfashionable, quirky, wise and genuinely passionate. He’s not a former stripper, or a glamour-puss. Where Durie relies heavily on the whiteness of his teeth to create an image, Pete, who seems to have a few molars missing-in-action, comes across as a kindly, but mischievous grandpa. He usurps the television status quo, and that’s one of the reasons I like him.
To be fair, I have to admit that Jamie Durie has his place. I certainly can’t claim to have won a gold medal at the Chelsea Flower Show like he has, and I’m prepared to acknowledge that he’s helping popularise gardening amongst a younger demographic. But there’s a slickness and lack of charm about him that makes me wonder whether he’s only really in it for the money. If that’s true, it would prove quite ironic really. In my view, gardening is the single greatest amateur pursuit that exists. It’s the domain of enthusiasts, true believers, and in this regard, golden boy Durie is no match whatsoever for daggy old Pete.
Cundall is the very embodiment of an enthusiastic amateur. I’d be surprised to find a single viewer who doubts the man’s sheer passion for gardening, and he conveys his love with uncharacteristic charm and warmth. If you need proof, watch the energy with which he prepares a garden bed for the coming season, or the joy he gets from pruning a fruit tree. When Pete gets stuck in while filming a segment in his vegetable patch, he really gets stuck in and isn’t afraid to get his hands, or knee pads, dirty.
One of my favourite Gardening Australia episodes was when Pete visited Dame Elisabeth Murdoch at Cruden Farm south east of Melbourne. It was a classic. Here was the octogenarian Pete, describing himself as a half-deaf “old geezer”, getting a guided tour of the famous garden by the 99-year-old Dame Elisabeth driving an electric buggy. The garden was stunning and beautifully filmed, but what really struck me was the almost childlike sense of wonder the pair had about the natural world. There was a total lack of cynicism, but oodles of passion for life and gardening.
This kind of passion is sorely needed not just in the gardening world, but in almost every type of endeavour, the majority of which have given themselves over to self-proclaimed experts, bureaucrats, and greedy corporate schmucks.
They are the enemies of genuine passion, and I try to avoid them whenever I can because for me, growing plants is a consuming passion. I love it, as I’m sure you do too. Don’t be ashamed of the fact, celebrate it. Wear your heart on your sleeve and let your enthusiasm for gardening rub off on those around you, particularly our nature- starved kids.
Whether you’re a long-time viewer of the show or haven’t ever seen an episode, it will be worth your time to tune in to Gardening Australia at 6.30pm tonight on ABC1. Witness the final appearance of a wise old soul who’s filled with genuine enthusiasm for life and the natural world.
Thanks for the memoires Pete, and best wishes. You’ve inspired our family enormously and though the pizza will be good, Saturday nights will be just that bit poorer for your absence.
First published in the Toowoomba Chronicle 29th July 2008
