Monty Don shares emotional farewell message from his garden after announcing Gardeners' World exit

Monty Don left his fans heartbroken as he gave a bittersweet update on his upcoming departure from Gardeners’ World. The beloved horticultural expert announced last month that he is leaving the BBC show after 23 years, saying it was the “right time for a change”. Don, who is leaving after the current series, revealed on Wednesday that he has now filmed his final episode for the gardening programme. The 71-year-old shared a photo of the camera crew packing up in the Jewel Garden at his Herefordshire garden named Longmeadow.“Filming today what will be the very last visit to Longmeadow,” he captioned the Instagram snap. Monty Don revealed filming has wrapped for his last Gardeners’ World episode GettyDon also posted a snap of his Golden Retriever Ned standing with his front paws on top of a stone dome in his caption, writing: “Balancing act.” Viewers flooded the comments of the filming update snap with their dismay over his upcoming exit from the show.“I feel genuinely sad. Every Friday I look forward to hearing Monty say ‘Hello’ at the beginning of the programme. That is all it takes to make me feel like all is well and calm has been restored no matter what my week has been like,” one wrote.“Bittersweet. Thank you for all the wonderful years of watching you garden at Longmeadow,” another added.“I’m not ready for the final episode! Not sure Fridays will be the same without you on Gardeners World!” a third posted.Read MoreDon said of his departure last month: "I have decided that the current series of Gardeners’ World is to be my last. I began hosting the programme 23 years ago, first at Berryfields and for the past 16 years here in my own garden, Longmeadow."Throughout that time - and around seven hundred programmes - I have had the privilege of sharing my own abiding passion for gardens and gardening with an equally passionate, and often equally knowledgeable audience.“But now is the right time for a change. I look forward to continuing to work with and for the BBC on other projects, as well as following new avenues. There are more books to write, more programmes to make. And of course, I will still be gardening, dog by side, here at Longmeadow.""I'm not retiring. I am leaving Gardeners' World, but I have other projects on the go,” he told fans.“Who knows what the future holds, but I will still be working, and still sharing Longmeadow with you here, on Instagram, if nowhere else. Garden designer Frances Tophill is tipped to be a likely replacement PA MediaGardening aside, Don has been recovering from a “horribly painful” knee replacement he had last November.The BBC presenter admitted in April that he was struggling to film Gardener’s World at Longmeadow due to the procedure and said he will likely have another operation in late 2027.“I was finding by the end of a day’s filming I could barely walk upstairs and I certainly couldn’t take the dogs for a walk,” he told Saga magazine.“It was severely limiting what I was doing. I did it so I could keep on working because it was getting to the point where filming was cutting round me limping.”Don went on: “However you do it, a knee replacement is horribly painful. But three months on I’m gardening again and haven’t walked with a stick for a month.“Sarah [his wife] says I’ve been doing far too much stuff, but it’s fine and going to plan – though it can be inexplicably painful one day and then not at all another. At some point, I’m going to have to do the other one – but only when I can fit it in, probably late 2027.”