Episode 3 Countdown to Chelsea

Welcome back to the grounds of the Royal Hospital,

where what looks light a gigantic building site is in the process

of being transformed into the eagerly awaited Royal Horticultural

And as our team have been showing you in earlier episodes,

we're able to bring you the full story as both exhibitors

and designers battle against the clock to be ready for next Monday.

Ahead in this episode of Countdown To Chelsea:

The latest developments in the efforts to create gold

Work that crucial stage where we got a lot of shrubs going in. Still a

lot of tiptoeing around each other, but fingers crossed everything has

been going really well. We remember the day when the

world?s most eagerly watched flower The Chelsea Flower Show has been

disrupted by a pair of breeding blackbirds. They show no sign of

leaving. And how the centenary of the

First World War is being marked It is called no man's land. That was

the area where the battle was fought again and again and again. He went

on top on the first day of the Battle of the Somme.

The BBC has coverage right across the event next week, so we

will see how everyone?s gardens and floral exhibits turn out.

The stresses and strains involved are immense,

It's a sobering thought that I first came to Chelsea 30 years ago,

I was here helping my brother Neil, who was building a garden.

Since then, I've been back practically every

year, either designing my own gardens or on the TV coverage.

It's a place that really gets under your skin.

I grew up in a family of keen gardeners - my mother worked

in a garden centre, so I guess I had this interest in my blood.

Of course, I'd heard of the Chelsea Flower

Having helped my brother to create other people's designs,

I had my first opportunity to show what I could do back in 2001, with

a deliberate attempt to create a different type of garden in which I

chose rugged materials, including limestone, steel and crushed

It started off as a bit of a disaster.

I didn't really have a clue what I was doing and I ended up sleeping

I was awarded a silver gilt medal, which after all the effort was

a bit of a disappointment - maybe I was lucky just to have finished!

Since then I have been lucky to win six Chelsea golds,

In 2005, a near disaster was caused when a

substantial part of my design for a garden was involved in a car smash.

Amazingly, that garden won me a gold medal.

Our sculptural fans got ripped in a car accident. That's gone, so we now

have an extra 12 is why meters of planting to do, which is about 1200

plants, maybe. So it goes to show that even when

you have to throw the design out, And my highlight came in 2010,

when I won not just a gold May I congratulate you on a

fantastic entry? Absolutely marvellous. Wonderful.

No, no garden for me this year, I have the joy of just sitting back

Before I head down to see what's happening on Main

Avenue, let?s catch up on some other memorable days from past shows.

We all enjoy watching the coverage of the show to see all

the beautiful creations and floral displays, but sometimes

Chelsea Flower Show can make the news for less expected events.

That annual blaze of colour the Chelsea Flower Show is about to

bloom again. The rain may have ruined the potatoes, but it has not

ruined the flower show. Britain's gardeners have been increasingly

bogged down by the Thames. Whatever the weather, two things up ashore.

Firstly, the Chelsea Flower Show will always make it to the news, and

it will go on regardless of how hard is it rains. By far this is the

worst spring and I can remember. There has been very little sunlight

and we've been putting a lot of heat in the greenhouses but it's been

nearly impossible to have any blooms. After 36 consecutive days of

rain, this spring has been a nightmare for a Guardian -- a

gardener. It has not been easy to compensate for the lack of sunshine.

It looks as though those weather conditions are beginning to A is

with dry weather in many areas today. We've got wet feet! So, the

weather can't dampen spirits, but one year at power of blackbirds did

manage to put a spanner in the works. There's been a disturbance at

the Chelsea Flower Show. It's been disrupted by a pair of nesting

blackbirds. They show no sign of leaving. The garden displays have to

be dismantled now there is an end to the show. But there is one

exception. Busy ming, all 60 four gardens will be -- this evening, all

64 gardens will be dismantled, apart from this one. That will stay here

until the fledgling 's have blown their nest. All manner of stories

make it. There was the national debate in the 80s about whether to

use a cylinder mower or to hover. That became the subject of one of

the gardens, as Peter Seabrook found out. This spring there is a battle

of lawn mowers. Will it be the hover mower or the cylinder mower that is

going to chop down the petunias and the daisies? Then there was this

plant which was so rare that its owners had it micro-chipped and

given round-the-clock protection to ensure it was safely returned to

South Africa. But the most injury news story of the 80s featured these

little chaps, is a bow about a rule came to a head. One unusual feature

is a protest by the manufacturers of garden gnomes because the show won't

let them in. It seems Britain's garden gnomes are not happy at being

excluded. Some have even changed -- chained themselves to the railings

in protest. Royal number 14 prevents the sale of any concrete. Why? I

don't know. I think you should ask them that question. Do you feel this

is unfair to gnomes? Of course it is. By the Centenary, the society

did a U-turn and let the little fellows in for just one year. We

decided for I Centenary it would be good to have a bit of fun and to

raise some money for our appeal. So, unlike so many news stories, this

one had a happy ending. I had to appeal to the gnome office!

There are no gnomes planned for this year ? thankfully,

But one subject that may surprise some visitors to Chelsea Flower Show

this year are the gardens and exhibits that are being created to

There are two show gardens and more recognition of the

Charlotte Rowe is building a garden on Main Avenue inspired

Charlotte, talk is through your plans. Really, it is a conceptual

garden based on the idea that the landscape is badly scarred in the

Western front. We've got three zones. There is a crater. There is a

lost Gardens area which kind of indicates what would've happened to

some of the villages and towns which were partially destroyed during the

First World War. And behind me is a grass mound which represents some of

the Earth and craters and tunnels and trenches that were left after

the first War. What is it called? It is called no man's land, the area

that lies between the two front lines. It was in that area during

the world more that battles were fought again and again. Tell me

about the family story will stop --. Well, on the 1st of July 19 60s my

grandfather went over the top for the first day of the Battle of this

and survived. I was able to track down the spot where he went over the

top, so some of that has me today. Brilliantly. What aspects have

directly inspired the landscape? The landscape of the Somme has managed

to survive. Literally all the trees with stumps, the topsoil was taken

off completely. They were huge craters and holes. But it has come

back and in some areas you can see traces of that conflict. That is

what I'm trying to show. The land can be badly scarred but can come

back and regenerate, just like the human spirit. Who is putting this

party together? The national army charity. Their purpose is to help

soldiers and their families when they come back from conflict and

help them not go into no man's land, so that is the tie-in between the

garden and the charity. Thank you, it is looking fantastic.

We will see Charlotte?s completed garden next week -

indeed we followed her on an inspirational journey to

the Somme battle fields which we will show next Tuesday evening.

Another designer who we are following

in our coverage is first time Chelsea designer Matthew Childs.

We?ve been showing his story in the busy preparations over

And with all that that entails I can tell you that moving house right in

the middle of things is probably the last thing anyone taking on this

Today, madness is happening. We moving house. We're moving harm --

home but also moving garden. It is sad because we've lived here for

eight years. We put so much into it. He has been very excited to be

moving, but the biggest thing for him is the emotion of leaving

somewhere we've loved and enjoyed living for so long. It has been a

great house. If the next base is half as good as this place, we will

be very happy. When you leave a place like this, it's not just plans

and materials. It has memories as well. It is really hard to be

leaving somewhere, a garden, which you put so much into. Every year, my

plants die in the winter. So at my new place I've got my first

greenhouse. So I'm looking forward to putting plans under cover! I'm

really excited about that. The problem with me is - don't tell

Richard Beers - but I just get so heavily involved in my gardens.

Chelsea is just everything. I think about it every minute of the day and

I dream about it every night. He does say that Chelsea is the

priority. Hence I think he's left Richard to sort some of the things

out while he's been doing Chelsea. We've completed on sale said the

sale is coming through any minute. we haven't completed on the purchase

yet. It must be imminent. Everything happened at once. If we

get it done now, we will be starting the New Year with all of this stuff

behind us and we can move forward. The garden at Chelsea this year is

all about nurturing potential for the future. And it is all about new

opportunities. So there is a huge parallel today with what is

happening in my personal life with moving house and moving guard tonne

a brand-new garden where there is so many opportunities for me as a

designer and a gardener, to experiment and to grow and to go

wild and I think the garden at Chelsea, what I would love people to

take away from it is the idea that throughout life, around every

corner, it is a rollercoaster for us, but there are new possibilities

and National Union of Students and it is about nurturing that potential

for the future. He really wants to do well. It's the big one. It's the

big one, isn't it? When you see the budget and meeting the Queen! We

just found out we've completed. We're going to move on. This is it.

Say goodbye. A lot of memory, eh? A lot of

memories. Happy ones though. We've arrived! A big smiley face.

This is the reason that we have moved because we have now got this

amazing garden to play with and work with. There is just trees

everywhere. There is a big herbaceous border. It is just

really, really exciting. I found my greenhouse. Everybody else is

working inside and I'm playing with my plants already. But we're in. I'm

going to cope with doing the Chelsea garden, by not doing anything to

this garden until after Chelsea and then this will be my next project.

We can meet Matthew now who has a few days left to complete his

design. You haven't seen much of your new home, I suspect, recently,

how is that going? I haven't seen much of it. Any time I have spent

has been in the garden. It is a bigger garden. Not a lot of time

there. It has been all here. What about the stresses and strains for

your partner as a result of this? We're not speaking anymore. No, we

are. There has been a real support. You need that when you are doing

something like this. Somebody that understands that you get so into it,

that you just can't think about anything else. We will get back to

normality after Chelsea. Any other problems of late? No, we are at the

crucial stage, we have shrubs and plants going in. Still a lot of hard

landscaping to go. Everything has been going, fingers crossed, really,

really well. No, really good. It is looking like a great garden. I'm

interested to know how much a garden like this costs? That's a really

dirty question. You can tell me that. You have done more of those

than I have. I haven't done this one. How much is this one? It is

really good value for money because, look how much we're achieving and

we're just creating a beautiful, beautiful garden here and wouldn't

you rather that plants and trees for people to look at than a billboard.

How much was that again? LAUGHTER

Not very much. Not as much as some of the others. Fair enough. Thanks,

Matthew and good luck. We will be catching wup Matthew tomorrow to see

how his hard landscaping is coming on. There are all sorts of

influences to be taken from an event like the Chelsea Flower Show, but

the plants are the stars of the show. The beauty and complexity of

mother nature has provided an inspiration.

William Morris, possibly the biggest name in British design of the 19th

century and I believe his work now is every bit as fresh, every bit as

relevant because he loved it natural. He embraced nature for all

its undulations, for its lack of symmetry, for its warts and allness

and I think it is that that makes his work totally timeless.

At the time, high Victorian gardening gas all about con trifg

nature. It was about bright, brash colours and perfect shapes. The high

gh Victorians loved the fact that tulips did this. Morris, had a

different attitude to the tulip. What fired William Morris'

imagination and turned him on as a designer was the fact the tulip

could be less than perfect. It could be stripy. It could be crazy. It

could let its hair down. It could grow in the most extraordinary

directions. In this pattern, you can see that William Morris liked most

gardens and understood when the tulip is not at the height of its

perfection, it is still absolutely ravishing when it has gone blase and

when the petals started to droop that's when it starts looking at its

very best. He was a great fan of the lily and

even when he drew it in a very stylised or abstract way, you can

tell he understood and he loved the way that it grew. It does feel as if

it is Hart of nature. -- part of nature. He didn't like

plants that were in anyway exotic or imported or that came with a carbon

footprint. He liked it home-grown and if he possibly could, British,

like the straightforward marigold, but unlike everybody else, he didn't

do it in fabulous technicolour, he celebrated the beautiful marigold in

black and white. This garden is like a walk-in

William Morris wallpaper, because here, nature rules OK. It is crammed

full and it is about investigative beauty and vegetative. It is herbs

and fruit, just like this artichoke. William Morris loved things fob

pretty in the guard -- to be pretty in the garden, but he loved it more

when plants were beautiful and useful.

Laurence with a report on one of his favourite designer. A garden in the

process of being built for this year's Chelsea Flower Show is called

Positively Severn Trent and Barry and Anita are on the team. Can you

explain the garden to us? The design sweeps around this lovely blue pool

here and the footway hovers over the water. At least it appears to, which

will be exciting. The big steel archways carry water which appear to

jump between them over the Perspex plates. What has it got to do with

Severn Trent? The theme -- Stoke-on-Trent? If you were to drill

down two miles underneath the city, the geology is warm. If you were to

pump water down and bring it back up, it is almost boiling and we're

going to use that to heat homes and new businesses that come into the

city. So it is fantastic. Barry, where are the inspirations

for the detail, where have they come from? We have the lovely clean lines

of the granite walling and this lovely Cumbrian slate in the pool

which gives a lovely colour. It gives a lovely glow when the water

hits it. We're going to have a white theme with this lovely glade of

birch and that moves to a lighter pink and then it goes to a darker

pink and then to a crimson which represents the heating up of water.

It is about energy flowing from the past and into the future. Which bits

of the garden are you most excited about seeing? I'm excited about the

whole garden. It is a really exciting garden at Chelsea this

year. Well, it is coming together really well. Good luck with it all.

Thank you, Andy. You're watching exclusive footage of the efforts to

create the Chelsea Flower Show. Still to come, we follow the team

make the road run smoothly. A Chelsea champion known as Steve

Terrific. I do three shows for the RHS, Chelsea is the hardest one

because of the logistics because the site is a very tight site and you

will see all the plant machinery, the lorries coming and at times you

think is this really happening? There is so much happening. It is a

huge jigsaw puzzle that's got to be built correctly. Nigel Slater shows

us his own green retreat. It is probably about 30 meters by eight.

Which means I've got to cram everything in which is why it is

such an incredibly busy space. In the Great Pavilion around 100 of

the leading growers and breeders will be displaying their best

specimens next week. There are passionate amateurs who work

incredibly hard too in order to prepare for the major event in the

health authoritiy cultural calendar. People like Reg Bolton of the

Federation of British Bonsai Societies. We went to visit him

whilst he was making his preparations.

Being able to miniaturise trees to have a collection in the garden

gives me great pleasure to watch and see them grow and to style them into

bonsai. I started bonsai in the late 1960s

mainly because I have always been fascinated with miniature things and

I just thought I would like to have a try with it. Part of my background

is my parents had a small holding and I was involved in helping with

the floral arrangements that mother did and I just got interested in the

growing of plants. The translation of bonsai is a plant in a pot. A

bonsai is just an ordinary plant that you can start from a seed, from

a cutting, which you can grow in a wooden box or a big tray or even in

the garden and then you start training them from the word go.

This is a standard tree that you would buy from a garden centre. It

is a Chinese Elm. It is a good starter tree. They are forgiving and

if they are looked after, they will grow well. It is develop for a

bonsai to develop a good root system. You don't want big, heavy

roots of the finer the root system, the finer the top will be. These

trees don't want to live indoors, they have got to stay outside.

That's the problem. It is an attractive little tree and people

will take it indoors and wonder why it dies. I try to model some of my

trees on trees that were in this area many, many years ago when they

were children and especially the big horse chestnuts and the elm trees

which sadly today are gone. If I was pushed to say which is my

favourite, it is this one. This is an I shall elm -- an English elm. It

is one of the first trees I started and it has grown from a root sucker

which I took from a tree felled about 100 yards up the road. So it

is a bit sentimental, but it is one of the things that I would never

part with. Chelsea to me is very, very special.

It's the most important event for me in the year. There is a great deal

of comradery and the excitement, the build-up, when people come in, they

don't realise you have been busy getting the trees ready. When it

comes to Chelsea, if you don't take the extensions out, when you come to

cut them back, the tree will have lost its shape and the leaves won't

be at a good standard. It has got to be done now to keep the tree looking

its best really. Sometimes you have got a tree that you might have

selected for Chelsea and then something happens to it and you

can't use it because it is not up to scratch. This one is very late in

bloom, it's an unusual tree, it is a Japanese white beach. It's got a

beautiful delicate green foliage, but for some unknown reason it never

gets ready for Chelsea. No matter what I do to it. It does what it

wants to. For someone starting out, they think to themselves, I couldn't

do that. But I always say to them, if you can grow a pot plant and keep

it alive, you can grow a bonsai. People are only too willing to share

their knowledge and experience and help you along the way. Nothing is

more pleasant than to sit outside with a cup of coffee on a day like

this and look at your dreams. And Reg and others

from the Federation of British Bonsai Societies will be

exhibiting here next week. Time to catch up on today's Chelsea

champions, the men and women working hard often without full credit

for their efforts to make this Today we are following the

remarkable man called Steve. Have a look at your map, I will run

by the three stands that are coming in tomorrow. My name is Steve and

I'm the manager of traffic for the Chelsea Flower Show. I manage the

first thing that comes on site right to the last thing. You are looking

at between 300 to 400 on a reasonably busy day. Turn right by

the horse, that is something you don't newly say. Chelsea is by far

the hardest show I do, simply because of the logistics. It is a

very tight site and all the plant machinery, all the lorries come in.

At times, you'd think, is this really happening? There is so much

happening. It is a huge jigsaw puzzle which has to be built

correctly. Everything is on laptop, but I'm old school. I tend to work

with paper as well. I've got down all the teams that are working on

the show. Time for a chocolate. Steve, where are the towers? They

are being held up, as soon is they've driven away we will get the

towers up. One funny story, about eight years ago Pierce Brosnan's Mum

was here. His mum was inside with his tickets but he was outside.

Security wouldn't let him in. I said to the boys, you've got to let James

Bond in. So I escorted him in, he introduced me to his mother who gave

me a kiss. My other job, I work in show business. I used to be an

actor, I used to do a lot of musicals until my mid-30s. A lot of

West End work. I now play game in pantomime, I have done so for the

last 14 years. My father, who sadly passed away last year, he did it as

well. My grandfather was a producer, but he did it as well, so I'm a

third-generation game. Most fathers get golf clubs to give to their

sons. My father gave me a miniskirt and a cape and said, this is what

I've worn. You will get a laugh. And he was right. On the stage, I should

say! Steve uses a lot of physical movement when he's directing

traffic. Being on stage definitely helps them. Manoeuvring on site is

always a tricky operation, as you can see. I'm amazed. I don't think I

could never do it. When I'm not in pantomime wearing a dress, this is a

stage. We're ready to bring the lorry in. Thank you, Steve. It's

tiring because it is a long day but you feel privileged you've been

allowed to work on the Chelsea Flower Show, and you are achieving

something, because you suddenly realise it is hugely popular.

Hundreds of thousands of people come here. You need to be on top of that

and in control. We try to make it the safest site in London. It is

something special. The boys take pride that they can tell people, we

work on the Chelsea Flower Show. Catering for big events is

a familiar challenge for food His secret for relaxation away

from such stresses is the green haven that's been created

just outside his kitchen. And the man who came up with

the ideas is someone who's going to be bringing his presence to Chelsea

this year, as Nigel explained when we first visited

his garden during the Chelsea Flower I remember the first day I saw this

garden. I was intimidated, I think, by the fact that I got to do

something with it. It was a lawn that had become unloved, it had a

few wild which of course ended up being weeds that I've been picking

out for the last ten years. It's probably about 30 metres by eight.

That means I've got to cram everything in, which is why it is an

incredibly busy space. I had Monty Don round for a bite of lunch and he

was asking me, what a you going to do with the garden? I said, I really

don't know. I just want everything. The only thing I didn't want was a

lawn and a water feature. Monty drew on the back of an envelope a little

plan of what the garden could be. Small, very contained beds just

bursting with things. I think I probably should have given him more

than a bowl of soup and a slice of bread, even though it was a

home-made loaf. This started as a herb bed but then other things got

in there too. There is rocket. Fragrant roses. I have to have dark

red roses in my garden. In the summer you break them up over a bowl

the peaches and it is the most beautiful pudding. I think my dad

was a huge it -- influence on my garden. He almost smell of potting

compost in the garden. When I open a bag of compost, that is what I think

of, my dad. This is the busiest of the beds. At any one time, I can

have garlic, radishes, beans, sweet peas, Chard. In amongst it all the

strawberries. There is one called Chelsea pensioner and I have to say

about it purely because of the name. And it's turned out to be a cracking

strawberry. Not too big and very sweet. This is a west facing garden,

it's got a very sunny side. This site truly bakes. And it's got a

very shady moist side. The problem with this is varied little bit too

much shade. Lettuce works in the shade. But I'm after something that

will appreciate drier should, shady patch. That's what I'm looking for

at Chelsea this year, actually. This is a really important space for me.

It's a space that I need as much as want. It's where I come to escape,

and that's why it's got a gate. Because I felt I needed to go into a

space and to close the door. Where there is no mobile and no e-mail and

it is just me and a cup of tea and maybe a piece of cake and that's it.

One of the loveliest things anybody has any -- ever said to me about

this garden was that it looked like it's always been here. And I feel it

has. And the man responsible

for coming up with those ideas for Nigel's garden, Monty Don,

joins the Chelsea Flower Show team next week when he will be presenting

the shows on BBC Two. I'm looking forward to bringing you

the afternoon coverage in this slot I can't wait to see these gardens

finally finished, because only then will we know

if they have pulled it off. I hope so, because Chelsea needs

bold and new ideas that we will look And which would I chose

as the best from past years? OK, here's three that I think

really broke the mould. Back in 1997, Christopher Bradley

Hole made a refreshingly modern It stood out because it had very

strong architectural and sculptural qualities which still stand the test

of time but were very new then. These inscriptions were

wonderfully sophisticated. And this garden was

the first I can remember to strike the balance between plants and hard

materials which allowed the Cleve West and Johny Woodford,

a sculptor, in 2001 created a really surprising

and brave garden which was daringly It was as if the pair were pitted

against more conservative ideas People say your gardens are always

set out to shock. Is that deliberate? No, I often do things

for myself, so it is often things that people haven't seen.

And finally, to my mind, the best small garden I can recall

was Phil Nash?s steel and glass garden in 2004.

What I really liked was the lighting which made it

He used tropical and architectural plants in a very appropriate really

Let's hope we have more show stoppers next week.

Tomorrow my colleague and fellow Chelsea award designer

Chris Beardshaw is here with his own personal take.

A new era blooms at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show,

with a fresh crop of exciting young designers.

The very nature of the American personality was defined.

When the first travellers crossed America, they were faced with this -

from snow-capped mountains to arid plains and thick forests.