Episode 2 Countdown to Chelsea

I can't say this is my choice for the most fashionable look

But as we saw yesterday with Joe Swift, I'm about to enter a building

site, so high visibility jackets are de rigour here at the grounds

And what a sight as both garden designers and floral

exhibitors are battling against the clock to get ready for next week's

show, the 101st Royal Horticultural Society's Chelsea Flower Show.

In this edition we'll see the latest progress and pitfalls

Yesterday we had some rain, which meant everything was covered in

tarpaulin. We are trying to waterproof things in the rain. But

we've cracked on and back on schedule.

We re-visit some of the craziest creations ever to

And we profile the Clematis family going for gold.

It's going to be a terrible disappointment for us and everybody

else if one year we don't achieve that.

Having designed a garden here, I know what the atmosphere is

like at this point in the race to get everything ready.

This is the first day the Artisan gardens are moving in, so we will

see how they are getting on later. We'll be following all

of the progress as the show unfolds I first came to Chelsea with

my parents when I was a youngster, Unlike a lot of children,

I always found plants and gardening exciting, so for me

coming to Chelsea was thrilling. I remember the sense

of anticipation and how impatient I felt as we joined the stream of

people walking from the Tube station at Sloane Square to the show,

which seemed to take an eternity. Somehow in my mind, Chelsea in the

late 60s and early 70s was always dominated by the large gardens on

the rock bank with their dramatic They made me feel as

though I'd been transported out My dad was mad about alpine plants,

which he loved seeing at the show and then introduced

into our rockery at home. When I moved in to gardening

professionally one of my ultimate ambitions was to design

a garden for Chelsea, so in 2008 I entered the fray and brought my own

ideas for a show garden here. Although it was one

of the smaller gardens, I can't I reckon I was sleepwalking

by the time it come to I really didn't think I was going to

make it in time We've been here since the crack of

dawn and it now ten to ten, when not finished. It is tweaking and trying

to make everything perfect. What was incredibly encouraging,

though, was the reaction of some of my fellow Chelsea presenters,

like Carol Klein. She's made these terraces made of

slate, inspired by paddy fields. It's a beautiful idea to copy if

you've got a small garden and you love growing roses but have no space

at all. I think it works wonderfully.

That was particularly generous because the spring of 2008 was

so cold that roses were incredibly late getting into bloom.

I was desperate for more flower colour,

so in the end, as others have before me and doubtless will continue to

do, I begged and borrowed a few extra plants from fellow designers

and exhibitors, experiencing the incredible camaraderie at the show.

And, exhausted as I was, I was pleased with the results

You won a silver. It did, I'm really pleased with that. For my first

attempt, I am so pleased and have learnt so much.

So would I do another Chelsea design garden?

We imagine Chelsea often as the place to come for gentle

Controversy and wild 'n' whacky surprises are not often

experimentation with bringing unusual, sometimes even shocking

But recent years have seen more and more experimentation with

back at some of the most talked about and challenging design ideas

We've been looking back at some of the most talked about

Design ideas that really set tongues wagging. Don't be constrained by

convention. This is a shipping container. The perfume Garden also

got a gold, and charts the history of perfume in this country right

back to Elizabethan days. But it has this futuristic nerve centre, it can

be seen right across the showground. The idea is steam is. Through the

rose petals and then drips down into distilled rose oil.

We wanted to try and create something a bit more leather. Here

it is, rock 'n' roll! This got not only got a gold but it got the most

creative garden award. Whether it is recycled shipping containers or, as

in this example, a heavy metal garden made out of old spades,

Chelsea has never been a stranger to controversial ideas. Take this

ground-breaking moment in 2009. I have a letter. It is essentially

saying that the judges applied the normal criteria but because I don't

have any flowers and this is a horticultural show, I'd

automatically got a 30% handicap. As a result of that, the garden has

failed to achieve the minimum required to make an award. They

don't have a category for being original or cocky. I thought they

might have been clever and given me a plasticine award. And the first

time a garden that landed at Chelsea featured no flowers, it didn't stop

it eventually scooping gold. Well, sort of. It's a one-off, specially

commissioned overnight medal for you. The best plasticine garden in

the world. It's the only plasticine RHS Gold medal. Fantastic, thank

you. You've made me feel really bad now. But when it comes to

revolutionaries, there's only one prime contender. Is a generation of

garden designers, we have to find something new to say all different

levels. There's no point being here just painting a pretty picture that

I've seen a million times before. It would be utterly pointless. Guess,

Irish designer Diarmuid Gavin, a man whose ambition it is to make us

think again about garden design. This was his seventh design in 2011,

the Irish sky garden. It is easy to see them as pure showmanship, but

his execution both in structure, planting and landscaping takes the

breath away. And this was the year it all changed for him. He's tried

seven times and at last it came. His Irish Sky god and finally brought

him that elusive gold. Such was its recognition, it also scooped the

public vote for the People's choice. I'm delighted to say it's Diarmuid

Gavin for his sky garden. Where else all who else would bring a flying

garden to Chelsea? Only he could do that. It has captured everybody's

imagination. The other thing that's important for us is the wonderful

garden he has put it into. He went on the following year to go one

better. An 80 foot pyramid garden complete with its own lift, shower

room, vegetable floor with greenhouse and a helter-skelter for

a fast escape. Was it just ego waving? It's about doing something

different, pushing boundaries and exploring possibilities. The message

is, can we in the future plan in an innovative way to have Gardens in an

increasingly urbanised society? Can we make every use of our space and

resource to create escapes for people? Even Chelsea pensioners

fancied a look, as it was awarded silvergilt and most creative.

Everyone was talking about it. It looks like Trumpton has gone crazy,

it's fantastic. The question is, will anyone ever trump that? Those

gardens had a lot of people talking. There is no Diarmuid Gavin garden at

this event, but one has been inspired by the stars and

constellations. It's been put together by newcomers storming Main

Avenue this year, Harry and David Rich. Talk me through the design of

it. Daily it's based on the stars, the constellation in the night sky.

We've got dry stone walls, Dapple birch trees throughout, and then

they open up to prevail stargazing bowl in the back. The planting, it's

predominantly white, it will echo the feeling of the Milky Way. How do

you feel it's going so far? We have really enjoyed it. Every day we

learn something new and something pops up, it is part of it. How do

you manage to conveying the inspiration of the stars in this

garden? Black. In the daytime you need to show its night. We've got a

dramatic backdrop, to shine and show off the starry night. Reflection

pools which will be still black, rippling black hole. So it doesn't

matter too much that the garden is being seen during the day? No, we've

got features in the benches where we've strolled holes in different

constellations. At night time there's a box light, but they should

shine and you should see the constellations picking up. Any

challengers so far, is it all going perfectly smoothly? Apart from

Harry, no. Many thanks a very good luck. We will see the completed

garden next week. You might be surprised at the

lengths people go to in order to find just the right elements for a

garden here. Yesterday we introduced you to another Chelsea first time

designer, Matthew Childs, on his journey in preparation for his debut

here on Main Avenue. At the centre of his garden will be two birch

trees. Sounds simple, but tracking down the perfect specimens was more

tricky. It is mid January, it's coming up to

630 p.m.. It's freezing cold and we are off to Germany to find my

elusive river birch for the garden at Chelsea this year. I've been

looking all over the place, the UK, lots of places around Europe and we

still haven't yet found the right specimens. So we are meeting Mark, a

colleague of mine that I've worked with before. He is my tree man. He

has found the trees, given me the tip off and hopefully we've found

the right field of trees in Germany which will do the job, so that's

where we are going today. We've just arrived at Eindhoven.

We're now on our way to the tree nursery in Germany, so we are

crossing over the Dutch border. It is really quite grim out and rainy.

But we are hoping that these are going to be the trees. They are

going to be the trees. If they look good on a day like this, they will

look great in May! It's not very long now until Chelsea. We are

mid-January, a few months, just starting to dawn on me how quickly

time is flying. This is a really important trip today for the trees,

because it's such an important part of the garden. If I'm honest, I'm

just full of butterflies. Great stuff.

has been 300 extraordinaire! He has been looking through all of his

contacts for me. It is Chelsea, so you have to go as far as you can to

make sure that you have got the perfect plant. I have been doing all

I can. Looking at bark detail. Chelsea is the pinnacle of

horticulture. That is how far you have to go. Hopefully we will find

them! Let's go! Hopefully these are going to be the trees. We could not

find the streets in the UK. We looked all over. We looked in other

countries around Europe as well. I suppose I have got high standards of

what I am looking for. I want to achieve the best possible specimens

we can. It is just so happens that maybe they are here in this

particular field in Germany. What we are trying to do at the moment is

look at the whole role that we have got here of the river birch. We want

to pick out the ones that have the best shape and have got a good

number of stems. I will also You want something like this?

Definitely. That is beautiful. That is perfect. And that one there. That

has got nice narrow stems at the base as well. These early ones.

Perfect. I think these are absolutely amazing. Look at the

bark. Yes, you have got a beautiful maturity on the stems which gives

you a beautiful peeling bark. The amount of peeling is just fantastic.

It is great. It will only get better as we get closer to Chelsea. Size

wise, they are great. Absolutely perfect. And a good height as well.

Brilliant! High-5! Those early ones. Now we need to tag them. Let's tag

what we want. We have got five trees for the garden but we have tagged

seven. That gives us a few more options close to the time of Chelsea

in case we get any major gales. About today, I am this happy.

Really, really happy. I can sleep tonight.

Well, that was back in the depths of winter.

I am with Matthew now here in his garden.

Where in the plan are they going to go? There is going to be one right

where you are. Around the edges so they form a sense of enclosure. We

wanted to get the best we possibly could. I looked everywhere. It was

worth going to those lengths. Some people may say that is extraordinary

lengths to go to to find some trees. Are they perfect specimens? This is

Chelsea, so we are trying to put the best specimens we can into the

garden. Just to see them here now with their foliage on, is fantastic.

They looked like prize specimens. They are perfect. About everything

else? How is going? We are right on target. Yesterday we had some rain,

which made everything was covered. We are trying to waterproof things

in the rain. Today the guys have cracked on and we're right on

schedule. We are back with you tomorrow to see how you are getting

on. This is the most exciting place for

me at Chelsea, the floral pavilion Coming here as a child,

I loved the sound of the canvas flapping and beams creaking like a

ship in full sail, combined with the And those heady aromas will be back

next week when the show opens. Every exhibitor spends months

planning and preparing for the show. Then there's often quite a bit

of praying that Big blooms always deliver

a fabulous splash of colour, but can they be relied upon when Mother

Nature may not be co-operating? We've been out to see preparations

for one Essential. Tea and coffee first

thing in the morning. The day does not start until you of that tea and

coffee! This time of the year as we head

towards Chelsea, it takes over our life. It is actually starting to get

a little nerve wracking now. Lovely to have the sunshine. We do not want

the Clematis to flour until the week of Chelsea. We are trying

desperately to hold things back. We are full of boards and we are just

over five weeks to press day when we need the plants at their absolute

peak. It is quite a challenge. We started the nursery really

because my dad was a hobby gardener. Dad had seen this Clematis

and was just so overwhelmed. It started the whole thing. I grew up

here working with my grandparents and my parents, but my grandparents

especially. The plants are what brought us together. To me, they are

not just a planned. Our lives are calamitous. That is a lovely way to

be. -- Clement is. Our first Chelsea was 2001. Dad was helping with the

show plans. To be invited to exhibit at Chelsea was just amazing,

really. Scary, quite scary. We started with a silver medal and in

2007 we won our first gold medal. We have had gold medals ever since. The

problem is there is only one place to go after that. People often ask

me which is my favourite. You cannot have favourites. You just look at

each flower and they are so beautiful. One of the joys is that

all the people we meet, the places we go, each time you see that

flower, it reminds you of the people and the places on your trip. It is a

very personal memory. It is always difficult to pick one favourite. I

tend to think of Louise Roe as my favourite, because of the delicate

flavour. It is a beautiful frilly flower as well. Both of my parents

have got a Clematis named after them. My mum, Dorothy told her, her

as flowers really well through September and October. The one named

after dad is a beautiful purple one. They are very special, yes. And I

can usually get mum, Dorothy, into flour for Chelsea. Although mummy is

not here any more, her plant can come to Chelsea with us. She would

be so pleased. We are in the hothouse know where we

keep the temperature higher. Less ventilation. That brings on the

later flowering clematis. I am pretty confident we will be all

right with some. Others, it is too early to tell. Will there be enough

to make a reasonable display? We end up using around roundabout six to

700 plans during Chelsea week. -- 600 to 700 plans. You have worked so

hard, having had seven gold medals in succession. It would be our

absolute joy to get an A. It would mean a lot to us. It will be a

terrible disappointment for us and everybody else if one year we do not

achieve that. People just really expected. Even if we did not get a

medal at all, as long as the visitors came to our exhibit and

just stood there and looked and admired the flowers, that is worth

all the work. It really is. We will be looking out for that

display next week. As well

as the high profile gardens on main avenue there are just as captivating

but smaller artisan gardens being created on Ranelagh Avenue on the

bandstand side of the show ground. It's where some

of the freshest ideas can emerge. A few years ago, a keen interest was

taken in a garden inspired by a wild landscape familiar to many of

us from days of childhood reading. In our spotlight on

Inspirational Spaces for Designers, we followed Tracy Foster

as she went on her quest back in 2012 to create a corner of

Chelsea inspired by Bronte country. I would say three of the great loves

of my life are Yorkshire, gardening and literature. So I am really,

really excited to be able to produce a garden at Chelsea based on that.

The Brontes lived in that direction, probably about two and a half miles

from here. They lived in the Parsonage, which is now the the

Bronte Parsonage Museum. When I come up here, I feel a real sense of how

wild it is. It is incredibly beautiful scenery. But then at the

same time it is very bleak and there is a kind of tension between the

beauty and the bleakness. I think it was very special to them. I think

this was their escape. Life at home must have been very difficult and I

think this is where they came for their freedom and to let their

imaginations run riot. There isn't just the literature that the family

have left. There is a legacy of other things. That includes the

paintings they did. They were quite accomplished painters and did

studies of all sorts of things, including botanical studies, which

are very useful. This is a painting that Charlotte did of a pansy. I am

hoping that I will be able to include this in the garden at

Chelsea. It shows really that as well as observing the landscape,

Charlotte has homed in on the detail. I have also selected some

books to indicate the sort of books that the judge would have read. I

have picked out two volumes along with a pair of Victorian spectacle

of the time similar to the one that Charlotte would have worn. There may

be no flowers out at this time of the year but it is still absolutely

stunning scenery. It has a certain magic. It is the sort of place woody

vegetation -- where the vegetation gives it a certain smell, a certain

feel. It is completely unique to this place. These days I am getting

so close to landscape, I have been leaning over and photographing.

People have been asking me what I am doing. I am looking for a level of

detail. Coming here again and again is helping me to soak that up and

get that feeling. Hopefully when I am at Chelsea, I will be able to

recreate the of being here. -- the feeling. And that idea came

to fruition for Tracey in 2012 as we saw on the programme when Toby took

a tour. Tracy, you have made it? Yes, I'm

here. I have built it. Everything went really well and I am really

pleased with it. It is a bit of a moody garden, I think. It seems to

have picked up that moodiness, which is absolutely brilliant. The

atmosphere in the garden very much depends on the weather.

No gardens inspired by the Bronte 's this year. Amongst this year 's art

Gardens is a different celebration of Yorkshire. It is designed by

Alistair Baldwin. It is called to add a Yorkshire. That suggests a

cycling connection Kilmer --? Yellow macro yes, you're right. The Tour de

France starts in Yorkshire for the first time this year. We are looking

to represent that. What are you homing in on what these aspects of

Yorkshire? What are you looking to capture? So many people know the

rugged countryside of Yorkshire, particularly new North Yorkshire,

the mourners. So part of the garden will be rugged and wild in its

field. By contrast, the rest of the garden will interject into the rural

landscape and be more engineered and polished. You've just come on site

to date, how is it going so far? Very good. I'm in safe hands, it is

the lads' fifth or sixth garden. We've had it planned for months,

it's a question of bringing the path down and assembling them into the

garden. That sounds good in theory. I'm sure it will be good in practice

as well. I hope it goes well and I will keep a sharp eye on you.

Every day we are following the backstage team who are

From the caterers who will be pouring thousands of cups

of tea next week, to the drivers delivering delicate plants to the

show, there are hundreds of people we are calling Chelsea Champions.

We are about to join one of the unsung heroes.

It's Gemma Price, she manages an all-female team in managing the

construction and building of the site. My name is Gemma Price and I'm

the operations manager for the RHS Chelsea Flower Show. I'm ultimately

responsible for the build of this show, the tents, making sure they

are built to schedules on time, the likes of the catering arriving. I

generally catch up with all my contractors, plumbers and

electricians. It's reacting to any problems and issues as and when

things crop up. No day is the same. What is your location, and after a

progress update? We are down here every day from 7am until 8pm or

9pm. It's quite intense, but there are three of us, myself, my deputy,

Joey, and Rachel, my assistant. It's very exciting. I don't think people

understand that when we first come in there are just a couple of

fields. We have to build a little town and then we put the flower show

in the town. It doesn't appear spontaneously. It's lovely to see it

being built and the finished product. The width of the slats on

the stepping are a bit worrying. When you see them in situ, my finger

can go down that. Someone in high heels will go straight through that.

And we will have high heels here because it's a corporate space. Are

you thinking the same? Absolutely. We are troubleshooters. We are

responding to problems as they arise. General snapping, picking up

on any small issues we can rectify now as it is in build, because once

it's built we can't always rectify every single problem. We are still

halfway through the build phase, but so far so good. We've had some good

weather behind us, apart from today when it rained. We've got a leak in

the roof, so we are going to try and find out where the problem is and

how long it's going to take to fix. I'm looking for Gavin, he's possibly

up on the roof. Gavin, are you all right? How long is that going to

take? Five minutes. Cheers, guys. Looking at my watch, it's just past

4pm, we missed our tea slot. The best part of the day! One of the

stands want to bring three hedgehogs. They are arriving at 11

and leaving at 230. Health and safety, they had hedgehogs at

Hampton Court Stakes tour, we need to check the regulations. We get

some really odd requests, we couldn't even dream them up

sometimes. Lulu has sent an e-mail over asking for a ticket. Shall we

ask her to sing for it on the bandstand? We are going over to our

hospitality area, our private catering. There's been an incident,

so I'm going to see what's happening. Last night there was some

damage to the wall up near the Royal Hospital. It was probably done by

one of the forklift drivers. We are having a look at what damage there

is, because we need to let the hospital note there is damage to

their property. What happened? It's clearly done by a forklift with a

big wheel. It's totally annihilated. Gemma to Ken. Can you get him to

meet us by the wall that's damaged? It's not that straightforward of a

job to fix, it's not like a brick wall. These things do happen, we

just need to make it safe. We just need to make sure we find out who's

done it and have a word with them about safe driving. There are so

many forklifts on site that these things do happen, but it is to take

care and respect to the hospital because it is part of their garden.

This is a pretty typical day. Things like this happen all the time. I'm

hoping there's going to be nothing major to date, so this is a normal

day for me. OK, guys, we are going to make a start. Thank you everyone

for coming today. It's been quite a busy day, so we've got a couple of

reminders for you from myself, Joey and Rachel. There has been some

damage to the wall last night on a wall. It will require one of Ken's

guys have the data fix the wall again. If there is an accident, it's

much better that you tell us. It's not a witch hunt, but the sooner we

know about the problem, the sooner we can fix it. I absolutely love my

job. I'm very lucky to be in this role but now I think I've reached

the peak of my career with this show, because where can you go from

here? It's pretty special. We mustn't forget that this place is a

home to the hundreds of Chelsea pensioners resident in the Royal

Hospital, just a stones throw from here.

They're always keen visitors to the show, as we saw earlier

when they climbed Diarmuid's towering triangular triumph.

Some of them are pretty keen gardeners too, as we discovered when

we followed them to their nearby allotment a couple of years back.

everything up and start again. But how could I?

IM higgledy-piggledy. I have got no pattern. I just stick things in and

they seem to grow. I love my roses. My special ones, Royal William. What

do you think of my sweet peas? Don't forget the weeding. Look at all the

parts. When you get perfectionists like Lee, everything has to be

perfect. The others grow things for vegetables which they can give to

the nurses if they wish. It is nice to give the nurses some flowers. The

girls who look after us so well. A bunch of flowers goes a long way.

Rosemary for remembrance, of course. My jasmine smells nice. That is my

Glenfiddich rose, the colour of my whiskey.

If I pick them, I give them to the first pretty girl I made. They are

gorgeous, Paddy. Thanks. I wish I could talk about football something

else. But my topic of conversation is Army, and perhaps a bit of

gardening. That's me. And with me now is Paddy Fox, who

lives here at the Royal Chelsea Hospital. What was your reaction to

the film? Yellow macro is fantastic. I have never been filmed before. To

show my beautiful flowers in my allotment... I had the most

wonderful dahlias and irises. How is it looking good? I have moved to a

smaller allotment now. I have transferred everything over. Again

it is looking very good. My camellias are looking better over

there than they were in the other one. What does the Chelsea Flower

Show mean to you? It is one of the highlights of the year to see it go

up from nothing, and to meet people from all over the world and see the

most fantastic floral arrangements. And then to see it all come down to

nothing. What is it like almost -- having such a big event almost

landing in your own garden having such a big event almost

landing in your own every year? It keeps us busy. If you come you will

see Chelsea pensioners wondering around. It is a great interest to

all of us. Do you like the traditional gardens are the modern

designs? All, yes. Traditional. I hope you getting free? We do. Just

like this? That is wonderful, Paddy. Thank you very much. We will be

watching out to see if the residents bring any their own products to the

show next week. I cannot wait until the show gets underway. We will be

on air in this time slot next Monday. There is a preview the

finished show on Monday -- Sunday. Wildie Gardens live up to

expectation? Join us to find out. If I were choosing some of my favourite

gardens from Chelsea's past, here are some caucus.

-- corkers. Hats off to top designer Andy Sturgeon. His 2010 garden was

exceptionally well deserving of its best in show award. I am absolutely

thrilled that I have won it finally. It was a powerfully masculine

garden. in 2009 made me admire her canny use

of a tiny budget. The total cost

of three gardens was just ?15,000, which is minimal compared to the

six figure budgets on Main Avenue. The first was the Banker's Garden

that borrowed ideas from a well-known board game,

like water works which represented Then there was the Offshore Garden

representing attempts by some to conceal assets away

from the tax man. How have the public reacted to this

garden? They love it and see it as great fun.

And the Overdrawn Artists Garden completed the trilogy featuring

materials gleaned from scrapyards and borrowed planting.

And Andy Sturgeon will be with us this time tomorrow for his own take

on Chelsea. I hope you've enjoyed the behind-the-scenes tour. It looks

set to be an interesting year. We will bow out in musical style with a

celebration of something we are all hoping to see next week... Sunshine!

A new era blooms at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show,

with a fresh crop of exciting young designers.

And you must be the famous Dr Quirke.