0:00:03 > 0:00:07I believe that a really good way to understand a culture is through its gardens.
0:00:07 > 0:00:12This is an extraordinary journey to visit 80 inspiring gardens from all over the world.
0:00:12 > 0:00:17Some are very well known, like the Taj Mahal or the Alhambra.
0:00:17 > 0:00:22And I'm also challenging my idea of what a garden actually is.
0:00:22 > 0:00:28So I'm visiting gardens that float on the Amazon, a strange fantasy in the jungle,
0:00:28 > 0:00:33as well as the private homes of great designers and the desert flowering in a garden.
0:00:33 > 0:00:38And, wherever I go, I shall be meeting people that share my own passion for gardens
0:00:38 > 0:00:44on my epic quest to see the world through 80 of its most fascinating and beautiful gardens.
0:01:02 > 0:01:06This week I'll be visiting two countries.
0:01:06 > 0:01:09One is Cuba, a Caribbean island where,
0:01:09 > 0:01:13in the middle of the crumbling colonial grandeur of its urban landscape,
0:01:13 > 0:01:16a green revolution is taking place.
0:01:19 > 0:01:21The other is Mexico,
0:01:21 > 0:01:25a country that has one of the widest range of flora in the world
0:01:25 > 0:01:31and where a rich and ancient civilization is deeply entwined with its plant life,
0:01:31 > 0:01:35and where that relationship has been transformed into art through its gardens.
0:01:38 > 0:01:43I begin my journey in one of the world's most populous cities, Mexico City.
0:01:45 > 0:01:47Then I will head south to Oaxaca,
0:01:47 > 0:01:50which has the most diverse flora in Mexico.
0:01:50 > 0:01:53Next, I'll travel north to the jungle
0:01:53 > 0:01:55and the small town of Xilitla.
0:01:55 > 0:01:58And finally I'll cross the Gulf of Mexico
0:01:58 > 0:02:00to end up in Havana, the capital of Cuba.
0:02:14 > 0:02:16I'm in a cemetery in the middle of the night,
0:02:16 > 0:02:18where a vigil is being kept
0:02:18 > 0:02:21as part of the celebrations for the Day of the Dead.
0:02:24 > 0:02:27On the Day of the Dead, every grave and home
0:02:27 > 0:02:30is decked in a blaze of orange marigolds -
0:02:30 > 0:02:34orange being the colour that the Aztecs believe the dead most easily recognise,
0:02:34 > 0:02:37to guide and welcome the returning deceased,
0:02:37 > 0:02:39so the whole family, living and dead alike,
0:02:39 > 0:02:43are reunited again for just for one day of the year.
0:02:43 > 0:02:47This strange fusion of Catholicism and pre-Hispanic ritual
0:02:47 > 0:02:52has its roots in one of the richest and oldest gardening civilizations of the world.
0:02:52 > 0:02:56500 years ago, what has now become modern Mexico City
0:02:56 > 0:03:00was the epicentre of the Aztec civilization.
0:03:03 > 0:03:08The Aztecs built their huge city on a great salt-water lake.
0:03:08 > 0:03:12But, via a sophisticated drainage system that removed the salt water
0:03:12 > 0:03:16and channelled in fresh water, they transformed the landscape.
0:03:16 > 0:03:19But even before the arrival of the Aztecs,
0:03:19 > 0:03:23the Xochimilca people had built islands or floating gardens,
0:03:23 > 0:03:26which became one of the most productive methods of cultivation
0:03:26 > 0:03:32known to mankind, and the earliest perennially flowering gardens.
0:03:39 > 0:03:43Just an hour's slow drive from the centre of Mexico City
0:03:43 > 0:03:46are the floating gardens of Xochimilco.
0:03:54 > 0:04:00I first heard about these about 15 years ago, and I actually came to Mexico intending to see them.
0:04:00 > 0:04:04I didn't manage to get to them. So I've wanted to see them for a long time,
0:04:04 > 0:04:09partly because the idea of floating gardens, discovered by the Spaniards,
0:04:09 > 0:04:13this incredible civilization that had made gardens
0:04:13 > 0:04:18for agriculture and flowers on a lake, is such an interesting idea.
0:04:18 > 0:04:25But also because I feel I start here and get a grip on these ancient, ancient gardens
0:04:25 > 0:04:29and the history of the place, and that's the right way to begin this journey.
0:04:31 > 0:04:36The original floating gardens are at least 2,000 years old,
0:04:36 > 0:04:41and at the peak of the Aztec empire there were some 50,000 acres under production.
0:04:41 > 0:04:46They became the agricultural hub of the great Aztec civilization of Tenochtitlan,
0:04:46 > 0:04:48which was a city of over 200,000 people
0:04:48 > 0:04:52and, at the time, the largest conurbation in the world.
0:04:55 > 0:04:58They're called floating gardens but they're not floating at all
0:04:58 > 0:05:02because they go down to the bottom of the lake.
0:05:02 > 0:05:08But they're built up in layers of vegetation and mud, like a cake, and then they are fixed to a degree.
0:05:08 > 0:05:14You can see the revetments along the side, this paling, but also the trees along the edge.
0:05:14 > 0:05:19The roots go down into the lake and hold the whole thing like a basket
0:05:19 > 0:05:23and the trees provide a little sort of microclimate.
0:05:23 > 0:05:25But the scale of it!
0:05:25 > 0:05:28When you think there are tens of thousands of hectares -
0:05:28 > 0:05:33to do all that by hand is beyond all imagination.
0:05:47 > 0:05:51Beautiful white herons or egrets, I'm not sure quite which they are...
0:05:52 > 0:05:56..standing sentinel on the side of the banks.
0:05:57 > 0:05:59Whoops!
0:06:11 > 0:06:15During the period leading up to the Day of the Dead,
0:06:15 > 0:06:19tangerine fields of African marigolds dominate many of the gardens.
0:06:22 > 0:06:27Many of the floating gardens, or "chinampas", are still cultivated using traditional methods,
0:06:27 > 0:06:31and Doctor Erwin Stephan Otto is the director of a special ecology park
0:06:31 > 0:06:34that aims to preserve this unique and endangered ecosystem.
0:06:34 > 0:06:39We have here about 1,400 hectares of chinampas.
0:06:39 > 0:06:42- The chinampas are quite small, aren't they?- Quite small.
0:06:42 > 0:06:45- So thousands and thousands of them. - Thousands of them.
0:06:45 > 0:06:50So these canals that we see are actually just the remnants of the lake?
0:06:50 > 0:06:55Sure. And they say that in 1850
0:06:55 > 0:07:01there were about 70,000 boats going every day to the centre of the city
0:07:01 > 0:07:05with the products of the area of Xochimilco.
0:07:11 > 0:07:14Is everything always grown on these raised beds?
0:07:14 > 0:07:18Yes, this is the original way of growing in chinampas.
0:07:18 > 0:07:23First they bring special mud from some parts of the lake.
0:07:23 > 0:07:29They leave it one day to dry it out, and make the little squares.
0:07:29 > 0:07:32If it's a big plant you make bigger squares.
0:07:32 > 0:07:34These are small squares,
0:07:34 > 0:07:38and with a finger you put the seed.
0:07:38 > 0:07:41Then you put the vegetation on top.
0:07:41 > 0:07:43In three weeks you have a plant already growing.
0:07:43 > 0:07:48In 12 weeks you have about 25 to 30 centimetes
0:07:48 > 0:07:52and you transplant it to other warm beds.
0:07:52 > 0:07:56This warm bed is called "el macizo" in Spanish.
0:07:56 > 0:08:00You can have 18,000 little plants.
0:08:00 > 0:08:03This mud looks beautiful.
0:08:05 > 0:08:11Well, the nutrients are so high that we don't use any kind of chemicals for this.
0:08:11 > 0:08:13- This is organic.- Everything organic?
0:08:13 > 0:08:15Everything is organic.
0:08:15 > 0:08:20Why? Because we can have six harvests a year.
0:08:20 > 0:08:26The chinampa is by osmosis always wet.
0:08:26 > 0:08:28You need water. Whenever it rains it's OK.
0:08:28 > 0:08:30Otherwise you take it from the canal.
0:08:30 > 0:08:32How fantastic.
0:08:36 > 0:08:42I think that these floating gardens are not just beautiful but they also have a truly potent atmosphere.
0:08:42 > 0:08:48There's a kind of psychic energy that's stored in the place, like a battery, that comes from
0:08:48 > 0:08:551,000, 2,000 years of people tending it in the same way, across century after century.
0:08:55 > 0:08:59And I'm sure that works. I'm sure it's a really powerful thing, that.
0:08:59 > 0:09:04And it's all part of my understanding not just of the ancient Aztec civilisation
0:09:04 > 0:09:08but also the modern Mexican culture that coexists with it.
0:09:10 > 0:09:15Mexico City is a vast urban sprawl inhabited by some 20 million people.
0:09:15 > 0:09:22It's a polluted and chaotic place, full of colour and energy.
0:09:22 > 0:09:27The Floating Gardens were absolutely fundamental to the old city.
0:09:27 > 0:09:30But modern Mexico City is a vast place.
0:09:30 > 0:09:34It's unruly, noisy and seemingly unregulated.
0:09:34 > 0:09:39And one of the truly great architects of the 20th century lived right in its middle.
0:09:39 > 0:09:47His name was Luis Barragan, and he made thoroughly modern houses and gardens.
0:09:47 > 0:09:51But he believed that all of them should reflect the true spirit of Mexico,
0:09:51 > 0:09:54which is why I'm on my way to visit his home.
0:09:59 > 0:10:04Luis Barragan is recognised as one of the 20th century's most influential architects.
0:10:04 > 0:10:06But he is less known for his gardens,
0:10:06 > 0:10:10which are also modern but rooted deep in Mexican culture.
0:10:11 > 0:10:16And I consider his gardens to be so significant that, whilst I'm here in Mexico City,
0:10:16 > 0:10:21I'm taking the opportunity to visit three different ones.
0:10:26 > 0:10:30He lived here, at Casa Barragan, until his death in 1988.
0:10:30 > 0:10:34The garden now seems very overgrown and probably
0:10:34 > 0:10:37doesn't resemble Barragan's original vision for the space.
0:10:40 > 0:10:44I've seen pictures of gardens and buildings by Barragan,
0:10:44 > 0:10:48but this is the first time I've ever been in one.
0:10:48 > 0:10:53I remember reading that he said a garden should be a refuge, a place of stillness.
0:10:54 > 0:10:58This is completely enclosed. In fact the walls are so high, it's like being in a shaft.
0:11:06 > 0:11:10The roof terrace is a revelation.
0:11:10 > 0:11:15It is dramatically filled by shimmering colour, sunlight and crisp shade.
0:11:15 > 0:11:17To discover more about Barragan
0:11:17 > 0:11:21I've met up with Mario Schjetnan, a fellow landscape architect
0:11:21 > 0:11:25and friend of Barragan's for over 20 years.
0:11:25 > 0:11:28There have been discussions, whole discussions, seminars,
0:11:28 > 0:11:31saying Barragan is not a landscape architect
0:11:31 > 0:11:34because he doesn't work with plants. It's nonsense.
0:11:34 > 0:11:38It's about sky, it's about light.
0:11:38 > 0:11:41It's about the notion of connecting the sky
0:11:41 > 0:11:45with the horizontal, with the ground. That's landscape architecture.
0:11:45 > 0:11:49There's one element missing, and that is the human.
0:11:49 > 0:11:51You do need the human aspect.
0:11:51 > 0:11:52Absolutely.
0:11:52 > 0:11:56That's why landscape architecture and gardening are an art.
0:11:56 > 0:12:03And yet it is the most human of all arts because you inhabit it.
0:12:03 > 0:12:05It's not a picture.
0:12:05 > 0:12:07It's not a sculpture.
0:12:07 > 0:12:10You are completely surrounded.
0:12:10 > 0:12:13For instance, this marvellous terrace in his house -
0:12:13 > 0:12:17there is not a single pot, or even a single furniture.
0:12:17 > 0:12:19It's about this basic cell.
0:12:19 > 0:12:23It is about the void and the connection with the sky.
0:12:23 > 0:12:28And then you can only barely see the tops of trees.
0:12:28 > 0:12:33Once I asked him, "You talk very much about mystery in your work."
0:12:33 > 0:12:35And he said, "Well, mystery is very simple.
0:12:35 > 0:12:38"Mystery is a tree behind a wall."
0:12:38 > 0:12:44Because it intensifies the notion of what's behind that wall.
0:12:44 > 0:12:46Is there a beautiful woman?
0:12:46 > 0:12:51Is there a beautiful patio? Is there water in that patio?
0:12:51 > 0:12:56So the beginning and the end of high art is in the garden.
0:12:56 > 0:12:58In many ways Barragan was a maverick,
0:12:58 > 0:13:00and his work was widely denigrated
0:13:00 > 0:13:04by the Mexican architectural establishment at the time.
0:13:04 > 0:13:09His desire to break with convention led him to build houses and gardens in improbable situations.
0:13:13 > 0:13:18El Pedregal de San Angel is a volcanic area which was formed
0:13:18 > 0:13:21when the Xitle volcano erupted 2,500 years ago.
0:13:21 > 0:13:23The remains of some of the landscape
0:13:23 > 0:13:27have been used here to create land art on a giant scale.
0:13:29 > 0:13:35This boiling, smeared landscape at El Pedregal
0:13:35 > 0:13:39inspired Barragan to buy land for
0:13:39 > 0:13:44what amounted to a housing estate in the mid 1940s.
0:13:44 > 0:13:48At the time, the Mexicans thought he was crazy,
0:13:48 > 0:13:50and it didn't make him any money.
0:13:50 > 0:13:51But there was a sort of
0:13:51 > 0:13:57inspired artistic craziness that Barragan tapped into.
0:13:57 > 0:14:00He needed to break the mould to move forward.
0:14:00 > 0:14:03And it was on this landscape
0:14:03 > 0:14:08that he developed a new style of house and garden.
0:14:10 > 0:14:18He created a series of extraordinary gardens here, like surreal volcanic orchards,
0:14:18 > 0:14:20using the quality of the rock and its textures
0:14:20 > 0:14:23to contrast with strategically placed trees and shrubs.
0:14:25 > 0:14:28Today the area has changed dramatically,
0:14:28 > 0:14:31with only a few of Barragan's gardens remaining.
0:14:31 > 0:14:38I've come to Casa Prieto, to meet Eduardo Prieto, the grandson of the original owner.
0:14:38 > 0:14:42And the same family has lived here ever since it was built in 1950.
0:14:42 > 0:14:45And I really want to see is what it's been like to grow up in,
0:14:45 > 0:14:52and still to live in, a Barragan house and garden rather than just visit one as a work of art.
0:15:03 > 0:15:09It took Barragan two and a half years to build Casa Prieto,
0:15:09 > 0:15:12but he designed the garden first.
0:15:18 > 0:15:21Does it work as a house to live in?
0:15:21 > 0:15:23It works because I am used to it.
0:15:23 > 0:15:27I don't know if the scale
0:15:27 > 0:15:29is something that other people could live with.
0:15:29 > 0:15:35The house itself has a very open plan, and then there are these huge windows
0:15:35 > 0:15:40that make it seem like you don't know where the house ends and where the garden starts.
0:15:40 > 0:15:45I suppose the house was pretty revolutionary when it was built, and that it was breaking new ground.
0:15:45 > 0:15:48It was for city life,
0:15:48 > 0:15:51but it also has a lot of Mexican tradition
0:15:51 > 0:15:55in its proportions and in how people live in it.
0:15:55 > 0:15:58It is sort of very solid to the outside
0:15:58 > 0:16:00but to the garden it is very open.
0:16:00 > 0:16:03And this is how people live in the...
0:16:03 > 0:16:06sort of... the countryside.
0:16:09 > 0:16:15At Casa Prieto, Barragan drew his inspiration from the traditional Mexican hacienda.
0:16:15 > 0:16:20Rural pots, sculptures and his obsession with horses
0:16:20 > 0:16:23were all integrated into the architecture and landscape.
0:16:25 > 0:16:28Across the city is my third Barragan garden,
0:16:28 > 0:16:32where he continued to develop his style of balancing massive volumes
0:16:32 > 0:16:35of colour, light and shade
0:16:35 > 0:16:37fused with very Mexican motifs.
0:16:43 > 0:16:47This is Casa Galvez, the last of the Barragan houses I will be visiting.
0:16:47 > 0:16:52And immediately you come in, you've got the trademark Barragan pink leading you to the front door,
0:16:52 > 0:16:56but he's lowered the ceiling, confining the space.
0:16:56 > 0:17:00Then in the courtyard you've got the Barragan pots and the colours,
0:17:00 > 0:17:04but it is quite formal with these massive walls.
0:17:04 > 0:17:11I guess in summer this fig tree will be a very shady, bulky green.
0:17:11 > 0:17:16You come round the corner and immediately, brilliantly, it's transformed,
0:17:16 > 0:17:20because the white becomes pink, it's a private space,
0:17:20 > 0:17:24and this great wall, you realise, exists to block off access to the window,
0:17:24 > 0:17:29so the pool and the pink landscape is primarily designed to be viewed
0:17:29 > 0:17:31from the inside of the house.
0:17:44 > 0:17:46But when you come through the house,
0:17:46 > 0:17:50into what is the completely private space,
0:17:50 > 0:17:55everything explodes out and you get these vast walls of colour,
0:17:55 > 0:17:58walls, of course, which create privacy.
0:17:58 > 0:18:05But the effect is one of complete generosity of light and colour and space.
0:18:16 > 0:18:21This garden at Casa Galvez does pull together all the elements
0:18:21 > 0:18:25of Barragan's work and put it into a domestic setting.
0:18:25 > 0:18:29I guess for most people that's how they see gardens - they're attached to homes.
0:18:29 > 0:18:36But it actually doesn't lessen my opinion that the distillation of his work, the essence of it,
0:18:36 > 0:18:42is to be found at Casa Barragan, on that roof terrace,
0:18:42 > 0:18:45where you just have light...
0:18:47 > 0:18:49..volume...
0:18:49 > 0:18:51colour...
0:18:51 > 0:18:53in its purist form.
0:18:57 > 0:19:01Barragan chose to live in the middle of Mexico city
0:19:01 > 0:19:06but he drew much of his inspiration from the Mexican countryside and its traditions and folklore.
0:19:06 > 0:19:12So I'm now leaving the city to learn more about the landscape, culture and history
0:19:12 > 0:19:16of this huge country through the medium of its gardens.
0:19:16 > 0:19:22I'm going south to Oaxaca, the historic home of the Zapotec and Mixtec peoples,
0:19:22 > 0:19:26which contains 157 indigenous languages
0:19:26 > 0:19:29and has more than a 1,000 species of plants native to the region.
0:19:33 > 0:19:39The landscape here is dominated by the fluted stems of organ-pipe cactus.
0:19:39 > 0:19:42These cacti form an integral part of the local culture.
0:19:55 > 0:20:01Ive taken a few minutes off from the road to Oaxaca to stretch my legs here in the Cuicatlan valley,
0:20:01 > 0:20:07which is apparently the place that holds the biggest range of cacti anywhere in the world.
0:20:07 > 0:20:11And they're everywhere; tiny ones to these beautiful vast ones.
0:20:11 > 0:20:15And it's a strange, sort of surreal landscape.
0:20:17 > 0:20:18Very beautiful.
0:20:24 > 0:20:30The scale of these gnarled and scarred plants is truly breathtaking.
0:20:36 > 0:20:43But I'm carrying on further south to the magnificent mountain-top ruins of Monte Alban.
0:20:43 > 0:20:47It is an astonishing, awesome site.
0:20:47 > 0:20:52This was the Zapotec capital between 200 and 900AD.
0:20:52 > 0:20:58For over 700 years, this was the centre of a sophisticated, powerful culture,
0:20:58 > 0:21:02but then it was abandoned by 1000AD, and no-one knows why.
0:21:02 > 0:21:06The levelling of the mountain top to create this plateau
0:21:06 > 0:21:09is an astonishing feat of engineering.
0:21:09 > 0:21:11Wow!
0:21:11 > 0:21:15The ruins here are on a scale as monumental as Rome or Athens,
0:21:15 > 0:21:22and it doesn't seem fanciful to me to see the shapes and scale of Barragan's work in these ruins.
0:21:22 > 0:21:25The reason I have come here in particular,
0:21:25 > 0:21:30as if the beauty wasn't enough, it is staggeringly beautiful,
0:21:30 > 0:21:34is to get this sense of an ancient culture,
0:21:34 > 0:21:38a culture that was as sophisticated as practically anything
0:21:38 > 0:21:41that has happened in the West thousands of years ago.
0:21:41 > 0:21:48A culture that understood gardens, understood plants, and applied it to their lives.
0:21:48 > 0:21:52And you get this mix of plants in a landscape
0:21:52 > 0:21:56and humanity and history all coming together.
0:21:56 > 0:22:00If you get that feeling in a place, then you're armed and informed
0:22:00 > 0:22:06and can get much closer to the modern gardens.
0:22:06 > 0:22:11Although the conquistadors plundered and pillaged their way across Mexico,
0:22:11 > 0:22:14it seems that the Spanish never discovered Monte Alban,
0:22:14 > 0:22:18and so, thankfully, it has remained relatively intact.
0:22:18 > 0:22:22It's not just historical landscapes that are part of the culture.
0:22:22 > 0:22:25In the small town of Tule, just outside Oaxaca city,
0:22:25 > 0:22:28is an ancient botanical monument I have always wanted to see.
0:22:28 > 0:22:34I've stopped off to see this, which is the Tule Tree, which is a Montezuma cypress,
0:22:34 > 0:22:38and is reckoned to be the biggest tree in the world and certainly one of the oldest.
0:22:38 > 0:22:42Now, I have seen photographs of it, and it is certainly worth a detour,
0:22:42 > 0:22:45if not coming to Mexico just to see it! It is very, very famous.
0:22:45 > 0:22:50But nothing, nothing, prepares you for the scale of it.
0:22:50 > 0:22:53And also the thing that which I hadn't expected
0:22:53 > 0:22:56is it is staggeringly beautiful.
0:23:00 > 0:23:03It is truly colossal.
0:23:03 > 0:23:08It's 150ft tall and, at 190ft in circumference,
0:23:08 > 0:23:12it would take 30 people linking arms to hug its girth.
0:23:12 > 0:23:17It's also ancient, being at least 1500 years old.
0:23:20 > 0:23:26This tree was ancient when the conquistadors came,
0:23:26 > 0:23:31and it was old when the Aztecs' culture began.
0:23:33 > 0:23:40It's seen them, and no doubt it will see our civilization pass and fade away.
0:23:48 > 0:23:55The Tule Tree, dwarfing the church of Santa Maria, is one of the wonders of the world.
0:23:55 > 0:24:00The conquistadors didn't just bring their colonial style of architecture to Oaxaca.
0:24:00 > 0:24:03They also brought with them something that would affect
0:24:03 > 0:24:06the local people even more - their religion.
0:24:08 > 0:24:12Very soon after the conquistadors took control,
0:24:12 > 0:24:17the church came in and exerted just as strong a control in its own way,
0:24:17 > 0:24:24converting the Indians and imposing themselves by building churches, some of them vast.
0:24:24 > 0:24:26And this is one of them.
0:24:26 > 0:24:34The Church of Santo Domingo is one of the finest examples of baroque architecture in Latin America.
0:24:34 > 0:24:37It is dazzling in its magnificence.
0:24:41 > 0:24:44CHORAL SINGING
0:24:58 > 0:25:05You walk in and immediately have this sense of incredible riches,
0:25:05 > 0:25:11and this astonishing wall of gold, and what it says
0:25:11 > 0:25:14is this is the house of the one true God,
0:25:14 > 0:25:18and he is a powerful and rich God.
0:25:20 > 0:25:24It seems that the display of sacrificial death appealed to the duality of
0:25:24 > 0:25:28the Indian culture where life and death were present in everything.
0:25:28 > 0:25:32Next to the church is a complex of courtyards and cloisters
0:25:32 > 0:25:36that was a Dominican convent from 1608 until 1857
0:25:36 > 0:25:40when it fell into neglect, and it has just recently been restored.
0:25:47 > 0:25:51The building is, of course, wonderful, but, for all its glories,
0:25:51 > 0:25:55it's not the reason why I am here, because attached to it was a garden.
0:25:55 > 0:25:59When they restored the convent in the early 90s they decided to do the garden as well,
0:25:59 > 0:26:02and there's lots of archaeological evidence for it.
0:26:02 > 0:26:05But rather than recreate a monastic garden, what they've done
0:26:05 > 0:26:10is make a modern botanic garden, using plants of the Oaxaca region.
0:26:26 > 0:26:31The garden is a celebration of the incredibly diverse flora of the area,
0:26:31 > 0:26:36taking the visitor through thousands of years of Oaxaca's natural history.
0:26:41 > 0:26:44But it's more than just a collection of plants.
0:26:44 > 0:26:47It is also very beautiful and skilfully designed,
0:26:47 > 0:26:50very different from most botanical gardens.
0:26:50 > 0:26:53I've seen cacti used as a hedge like this
0:26:53 > 0:26:56in villages as we've driven through,
0:26:56 > 0:27:01but used like this on this scale is magnificent beautiful,
0:27:01 > 0:27:07and it creates a sort of wonderful cathedral-like volume of space.
0:27:17 > 0:27:20There's something niggling at me, and it's almost irritating me.
0:27:20 > 0:27:24It's like walking around an art gallery rather than a garden.
0:27:24 > 0:27:26It feels, to be honest, a little bit cold.
0:27:30 > 0:27:33The fact that this feels more like a gallery than a garden
0:27:33 > 0:27:36is maybe because it is designed by a painter called Luis Zarate
0:27:36 > 0:27:39and this is his first garden. Ever.
0:27:39 > 0:27:45What really interests me is how you as an artist, creating a work of art
0:27:45 > 0:27:49relate to all of the problems of a garden.
0:27:49 > 0:27:52A garden that grows and changes.
0:27:58 > 0:28:01TRANSLATION: First of all, I had to resist my own artistic ego
0:28:01 > 0:28:06and concentrate on bringing out the intrinsic beauty of the plants instead.
0:28:10 > 0:28:15I want to say more about the plants than simply botanical facts.
0:28:17 > 0:28:20I tried to communicate poetically with the visitor,
0:28:20 > 0:28:21to try to give the architecture,
0:28:21 > 0:28:24and the layout of the plants a poetical feeling.
0:28:28 > 0:28:32The artistic challenge was not the only struggle Luis faced in creating the garden.
0:28:36 > 0:28:40TRANSLATION: The government wanted to turn this into a hotel,
0:28:40 > 0:28:43and the old botanical garden into a car park.
0:28:43 > 0:28:47At the same time, we, the painters of Oaxaca
0:28:47 > 0:28:49started to work out what we could do with it.
0:28:49 > 0:28:55Then, we started to fight against the government to stop this place being turned into a car park.
0:28:55 > 0:29:02So, the reclaiming of Santa Domingo is an achievement of the people of Oaxaca.
0:29:02 > 0:29:09There is a way of working called "el tequio", meaning working for free, for the community.
0:29:20 > 0:29:23I said earlier that I found the garden a bit cold...
0:29:23 > 0:29:26beautiful, but I wasn't really connecting to it.
0:29:26 > 0:29:30But, I now realise that I was completely wrong about that,
0:29:30 > 0:29:34and that this garden is just bursting with humanity.
0:29:34 > 0:29:39I was very moved by the way that in the teeth of sort of corporate brutality
0:29:39 > 0:29:44that the local people wanted to make in a garden something for the public
0:29:44 > 0:29:49to appreciate their culture, their history and indeed their future.
0:29:55 > 0:30:03But I'm now leaving the mountains and deserts of Oaxaca to find a garden lost in the Mexican jungle.
0:30:10 > 0:30:14Xilitla is north of Mexico City.
0:30:14 > 0:30:20It is a straggling mountain town with the jungle leaning in on it.
0:30:20 > 0:30:22It is a strange place.
0:30:22 > 0:30:25But it's not nearly as bizarre as the garden that was made here
0:30:25 > 0:30:29by someone who was no more a local than I am.
0:30:29 > 0:30:34I am about to go into a garden which I think could only have been made here in the jungle in Mexico,
0:30:34 > 0:30:39given the timing and the circumstances of its creation.
0:30:39 > 0:30:44However, its creator was a very English eccentric.
0:30:54 > 0:30:58This garden is some 50 acres of tamed jungle
0:30:58 > 0:31:03and contains over 200 whimsical and weird concrete structures,
0:31:03 > 0:31:06and all are the creation of Edward James.
0:31:09 > 0:31:15Edward James first came to Mexico in 1947, and he chose to settle in this spot
0:31:15 > 0:31:22because he came with a friend and walked up this ravine, and they found these natural pools.
0:31:22 > 0:31:28The friend stripped off, had a swim, and then lay on the rocks sunbathing.
0:31:28 > 0:31:33And as he did so apparently a cloud of blue butterflies descended
0:31:33 > 0:31:36on the body and just smothered him with these blue butterflies.
0:31:36 > 0:31:42And Edward James thought this was such a fantastically surreal image,
0:31:42 > 0:31:48that he saw this as a sign that this was where he had to make his surreal garden.
0:31:51 > 0:31:55Edward James was born into great wealth.
0:31:55 > 0:32:00His family owned the huge West Dean Estate in Sussex.
0:32:00 > 0:32:04However, James made his name and another fortune in the 1920s and 30s
0:32:04 > 0:32:07when he began collecting surrealist art.
0:32:08 > 0:32:13The initial plans for Las Pozas seemed to have been relatively modest,
0:32:13 > 0:32:16at least in the terms of an eccentric multi-millionaire,
0:32:16 > 0:32:19more like a private zoo than a jungle fantasy.
0:32:19 > 0:32:22And he did ship a menagerie of caged animals to Xilitla.
0:32:22 > 0:32:28By 1960 James began to talk about creating his extraordinary dream-like constructions.
0:32:28 > 0:32:32He said he decided to build them 'simply because he liked to see something nice'.
0:32:32 > 0:32:37And, casually at first, then later obsessively, his subconscious began
0:32:37 > 0:32:41to take literal concrete form in the middle of the jungle.
0:32:43 > 0:32:44Look at that.
0:32:46 > 0:32:48It's extraordinary.
0:32:48 > 0:32:50It doesn't rationalise,
0:32:50 > 0:32:51but is it beautiful?
0:32:51 > 0:32:53And does it need to be beautiful?
0:32:54 > 0:32:55I don't know. I don't know.
0:32:59 > 0:33:06This place just plunges you under the water of irrationality and the subconciousness and says swim.
0:33:10 > 0:33:13I haven't a clue where I am going. I'm completely, totally lost.
0:33:16 > 0:33:22You can see pieces of James' cultural history,
0:33:22 > 0:33:25almost glued to the surface of this.
0:33:25 > 0:33:28A fleur-de-lis in the middle of the Mexican Jungle.
0:33:28 > 0:33:32And, of course, if this was in Europe,
0:33:32 > 0:33:35the health and safety police would have closed it down.
0:33:35 > 0:33:37Unsafe, and what they'd really be saying
0:33:37 > 0:33:40is not just unsafe for your body, but unsafe for your mind.
0:33:40 > 0:33:43You shouldn't be having these thoughts.
0:33:44 > 0:33:47But James could do what he liked in Xilitla.
0:33:47 > 0:33:52Mexico wasn't judgemental about personal behaviour in the way that Europe and America were.
0:33:52 > 0:33:55It was also without building regulation of any kind,
0:33:55 > 0:33:59and there was a local and very cheap labour force only too glad of the work.
0:34:02 > 0:34:05I am bedevilled and struggling with this idea
0:34:05 > 0:34:12of beauty as a pure thing and this place which is chaos in a sense.
0:34:12 > 0:34:14Ugly things next to beautiful things.
0:34:14 > 0:34:17I mean, look at that, look at that...thing.
0:34:17 > 0:34:20To me, it's not doing anything other than being kitsch and naff
0:34:20 > 0:34:25and is absolutely no better or worse than a garden gnome.
0:34:25 > 0:34:29Now this I think is fantastic, where you have plant-like forms
0:34:29 > 0:34:32encrusted with moss and lichens and ferns,
0:34:32 > 0:34:37with trees of vaguely similar form growing up around them.
0:34:37 > 0:34:40You don't quite know which is which.
0:34:40 > 0:34:46So, cheek by jowl with the most wonderful exotic, beautiful, fabulous stuff,
0:34:46 > 0:34:52is bit of complete kitsch, and it's upsetting me.
0:34:52 > 0:34:54I don't know what to think.
0:35:03 > 0:35:09I mean there is the fact that I could just be a boring old fart who likes the vaguely familiar...
0:35:10 > 0:35:17..and finds aspects of the sort of surrealistic way of doing things
0:35:17 > 0:35:20in a garden as too unsettling.
0:35:20 > 0:35:23It rattles my cage a bit too much.
0:35:25 > 0:35:27THUNDER RUMBLES
0:35:31 > 0:35:36The weather changes from hot and steamy, to rainy and surprisingly cool.
0:35:36 > 0:35:43To find out more about James, I am meeting the current owner, James' godson Plutarcho Gastelum.
0:35:43 > 0:35:47Plutarcho's father was in charge of the day-to-day building work in the garden
0:35:47 > 0:35:51and James would often stay with the family on his visits to Mexico,
0:35:51 > 0:35:53so Plutarcho knew James since he was a small child.
0:35:55 > 0:35:58- You grew up here didn't you?- Yes.
0:35:58 > 0:36:01What was it like being a child in this garden?
0:36:01 > 0:36:08It was magical because it was like a different country.
0:36:10 > 0:36:17Now, it's different, it's fantastic but kind of ghostly or melancholic,
0:36:17 > 0:36:20but at that time it was very vivid
0:36:20 > 0:36:26because we had more than 100 workers and they were all my friends.
0:36:26 > 0:36:29And Edward James used to have a lot of animals too,
0:36:29 > 0:36:33and at that point the place looked like a private zoo or something.
0:36:33 > 0:36:37So it was an incredible place for a child.
0:36:37 > 0:36:40What was he like as a man?
0:36:40 > 0:36:43Describe to me your memories of him.
0:36:43 > 0:36:48Yeah, that's something because... I have a different perception,
0:36:48 > 0:36:56I could see because for my sisters and I he was our private Santa.
0:36:56 > 0:36:58But I could see with my parents it was more difficult,
0:36:58 > 0:37:04especially my father because my father was in charge of
0:37:04 > 0:37:10all the mundane matters about building a place like this.
0:37:10 > 0:37:15Paying the bills, keep the records.
0:37:15 > 0:37:18And I could see that he was difficult,
0:37:18 > 0:37:24because he didn't have schedules, not even to eat or to sleep.
0:37:24 > 0:37:29He didn't realise very well about the mundane world.
0:37:29 > 0:37:32So, my father complained a lot about that,
0:37:32 > 0:37:37but at the same time he was laughing all the time
0:37:37 > 0:37:41about the adventures of Edward James here in Mexico.
0:37:43 > 0:37:49Las Pozas is unedited, unfettered, unbalanced and completely unworldly,
0:37:49 > 0:37:51and its future is uncertain.
0:37:51 > 0:37:57Plutarcho told me he employs 50 people whose sole job is to cut back the jungle.
0:37:57 > 0:38:00Perhaps James could afford his follies to be so extreme
0:38:00 > 0:38:03because he knew the jungle would one day consume him,
0:38:03 > 0:38:07just as it has consumed the lost Aztec cities.
0:38:09 > 0:38:14We use words cheaply when we're describing gardens, and I know I'm as guilty as anybody,
0:38:14 > 0:38:21but this more than any other garden in the world can truly be described as fantastic.
0:38:21 > 0:38:27It is like no other, and yet, again and again as I walk around it
0:38:27 > 0:38:30I'm reminded of an 18th century milord,
0:38:30 > 0:38:34touring Europe, buying extraordinary things
0:38:34 > 0:38:39and using them to create a series of follies in a landscaped park,
0:38:39 > 0:38:43with ruined chapels and temples and re-routed rivers
0:38:43 > 0:38:47and villages swept away so a ha-ha can be built.
0:38:47 > 0:38:53And that the result is this extraordinary creation in the middle of the Mexican Jungle
0:38:53 > 0:38:58just makes it even more extraordinary and unlike anything else.
0:39:01 > 0:39:04What I have seen in Mexico has been inspiring and fascinating,
0:39:04 > 0:39:07from the ancient history of the floating gardens
0:39:07 > 0:39:09to Barragan's great volumes of colour and light,
0:39:09 > 0:39:17and the cool, clean lines of the cactus garden built upon its sense of local identity.
0:39:17 > 0:39:20But now, I'm moving on to a very different world,
0:39:20 > 0:39:22albeit geographically close to Mexico,
0:39:22 > 0:39:26where the gardens are a product of political necessity and social will.
0:39:29 > 0:39:33My journey takes me to the largest island in the Caribbean.
0:39:33 > 0:39:37Cuba lies just 140 miles to the east of Mexico
0:39:37 > 0:39:40and I'm heading to the capital, Havana.
0:39:43 > 0:39:47I've been wanting to visit Havana for ages.
0:39:47 > 0:39:51It doesn't take long to see that it is beautiful, ruined,
0:39:51 > 0:39:53and the sexiest place on this earth.
0:39:53 > 0:39:57Now that's all rather good but I've come to find out about
0:39:57 > 0:40:01an organic revolution that's taking place right across the country,
0:40:01 > 0:40:04that could be a model for the climate-changed, post-oil world.
0:40:04 > 0:40:08Around a fifth of Cuba's population live in Havana.
0:40:08 > 0:40:14It's a city that is undoubtedly seductive and exhilarating, but suffering from decades of neglect.
0:40:14 > 0:40:19It's a very beautiful city, because it's not what I call face-lift beauty,
0:40:19 > 0:40:27manicured and tweaked, it's like a wonderful face on a 70-year-old woman,
0:40:27 > 0:40:31a lifetime's worth of beauty that's accumulated.
0:40:33 > 0:40:37As you travel around the city you do get a sense of a place frozen in time.
0:40:37 > 0:40:42Most of the vehicles are pre-1959, lovingly maintained,
0:40:42 > 0:40:44and they add hugely to the city's charm.
0:40:49 > 0:40:51But among the decrepit buildings of the old city,
0:40:51 > 0:40:56there is a strange pairing of decay and healthy growth.
0:41:02 > 0:41:04Hola, buenos dias.
0:41:05 > 0:41:09This might seem like an unlikely place for a garden,
0:41:09 > 0:41:14but actually it's both incredibly interesting and also very typical of what's going on here in Cuba.
0:41:14 > 0:41:18After the Russians withdrew their economic support at the end of the 80s
0:41:18 > 0:41:21and the collapse of the Soviet empire,
0:41:21 > 0:41:23Cuba was found in a situation where they had no food,
0:41:23 > 0:41:29they absolutely had to start growing food without oil, without fertilizers, pesticides.
0:41:29 > 0:41:32So all across the city, with a communal effort,
0:41:32 > 0:41:36they turned bits of wasteland into highly productive areas for food and medicine.
0:41:36 > 0:41:37They had no medicines.
0:41:37 > 0:41:42So what you have now is not just a population growing its own food in the middle of a city,
0:41:42 > 0:41:46but actually one of the most sophisticated, sustainable means
0:41:46 > 0:41:51of organic growing of gardening, medicine on every level, in the world.
0:41:56 > 0:42:01Right in the middle of the crumbling colonial grandeur,
0:42:01 > 0:42:04a genuine green revolution is taking place
0:42:04 > 0:42:08in the form of small, productive gardens called huertas.
0:42:10 > 0:42:14These are the equivalent of our allotments but built on derelict land
0:42:14 > 0:42:19and they are the basis of a new gardening culture that is sprouting up all over the city.
0:42:25 > 0:42:29Alberto's huerta is typical of many in Havana.
0:42:29 > 0:42:34The building that stood here collapsed, so Alberto and his brother-in-law cleared the site
0:42:34 > 0:42:37and brought in the soil in wheelbarrows to build the raised beds,
0:42:37 > 0:42:40even though they didn't own the land.
0:42:43 > 0:42:45TRANSLATION: We took the huerta
0:42:45 > 0:42:47because we came from a family of farmers.
0:42:47 > 0:42:52So, when we saw the empty space here, we agreed to grow plants.
0:42:52 > 0:42:57It was for a hobby, and to give produce back to the community.
0:43:12 > 0:43:15When the Special Period began,
0:43:15 > 0:43:18did that change the way that you gardened here?
0:43:21 > 0:43:24TRANSLATION: Well, I've had to start more or less inventing.
0:43:24 > 0:43:27Because the climate here changed a lot.
0:43:27 > 0:43:34And because of the need, we have to grow quick-growing plants so the community could benefit.
0:43:38 > 0:43:42After leaving Alberto, I realised that much of his passion for gardening
0:43:42 > 0:43:47is driven by his desire to work with and for his local community.
0:43:47 > 0:43:51His huerta is open and part of the street which is very different
0:43:51 > 0:43:55from the private sanctuaries we like to create in our own gardens.
0:43:57 > 0:44:01The urgent challenge of feeding its 11 million people during the Special Period
0:44:01 > 0:44:08meant that the Cuban Regime needed to do something on a much larger scale than Alberto's huerta
0:44:08 > 0:44:13so kitchen gardens, or organoponicos, were set up in the heart of urban communities.
0:44:14 > 0:44:20One of the largest of these is in the suburb of Alamar on the outskirts of the city.
0:44:31 > 0:44:34To me this is a sort of vision of heaven.
0:44:34 > 0:44:37Wonderful vegetables grown organically.
0:44:37 > 0:44:40It looks beautiful.
0:44:40 > 0:44:45People all working together from the community growing them,
0:44:45 > 0:44:49earning a living, eating them, caring about it.
0:44:49 > 0:44:50That's the key.
0:44:50 > 0:44:53If you want to do something well, you've really got to mean it.
0:44:53 > 0:44:55And this place means it.
0:44:59 > 0:45:01Now you might argue that this is not a garden,
0:45:01 > 0:45:07but there's nothing that goes on here that doesn't happen in every garden or allotment back home,
0:45:07 > 0:45:10it's just expanded out to meet a dire social need.
0:45:10 > 0:45:16It's the resourcefulness of the Cuban people that have made this organic revolution work
0:45:16 > 0:45:20with engineers and bureaucrats going back to the land.
0:45:20 > 0:45:25Dr Funes is an agronomist and a key figure in Cuba's green revolution.
0:45:25 > 0:45:28He'll introduce me to some of the people here.
0:45:28 > 0:45:31Emilio! Como estas?
0:45:31 > 0:45:35Monty Don de la BBC, and Emelio is an engineer.
0:45:35 > 0:45:37He is in charge of pests and their control.
0:45:37 > 0:45:38And what's he spraying?
0:45:38 > 0:45:42I'm applying liquid and smoke.
0:45:42 > 0:45:44Smoke liquid?
0:45:44 > 0:45:46Yes, to control pests.
0:45:46 > 0:45:47So, natural pest control.
0:45:51 > 0:45:55Miguel Salcinas was one of the four men who set up the organoponico 10 years ago.
0:45:55 > 0:46:00He used to work in an office but now runs this incredibly successful garden.
0:46:00 > 0:46:05He has agreed to show me some of the plants and organic methods that they use here.
0:46:06 > 0:46:08TRANSLATION: This is where we make the compost.
0:46:12 > 0:46:14The rice beds guarantee drainage.
0:46:17 > 0:46:20Ahh, the husk from rice. What do you use this for?
0:46:22 > 0:46:25TRANSLATION: We use this to produce compost for seedlings.
0:46:29 > 0:46:32These beds are where we make the worm humus.
0:46:33 > 0:46:35Hmmm, beautiful...
0:46:36 > 0:46:40Now, I don't recognize this tree or fruit, what is it?
0:46:40 > 0:46:44TRANSLATION: This tree is called the Noni.
0:46:44 > 0:46:49It is a plant from Central Asia and it's Latin name is Morinda citrifolia.
0:46:49 > 0:46:55It's been used as a medicinal plant for 2,000 years.
0:46:55 > 0:46:58According to studies at the University of Honolulu in Hawaii,
0:46:58 > 0:47:01it improved the quality of life of more than 100 illnesses.
0:47:01 > 0:47:02Does it taste good?
0:47:02 > 0:47:03No, muy mala.
0:47:03 > 0:47:07No? Is this a ripe fruit?
0:47:07 > 0:47:08Sabe a queso rancido.
0:47:08 > 0:47:14The ripe fruit tastes like old cheese, raw cheese.
0:47:14 > 0:47:19It's like Stilton or Roquefort.
0:47:19 > 0:47:21It is, believe you me,
0:47:21 > 0:47:28this smells 100% of a ripe blue cheese,
0:47:28 > 0:47:30which I happen to like!
0:47:30 > 0:47:34And it tastes the same?
0:47:37 > 0:47:41Some people used to eat it directly like this,
0:47:41 > 0:47:45but most of the people used to drink the juice,
0:47:45 > 0:47:51and you can reduce the flavour because sometimes it's not so well established.
0:47:51 > 0:47:54Maybe for the French people it's excellent!
0:48:00 > 0:48:04One of the most fascinating aspects about Alamar is that it's for city dwellers
0:48:04 > 0:48:09and run by local people which has huge social benefits.
0:48:09 > 0:48:11TRANSLATION: This has had a great social impact.
0:48:11 > 0:48:16It has created jobs with relatively little investment.
0:48:16 > 0:48:20And on the spiritual side, the city is more beautiful.
0:48:20 > 0:48:24Many young people used to think agriculture is not cool
0:48:24 > 0:48:28and, originally, not many people wanted to get involved.
0:48:28 > 0:48:31Now, most of the people coming to us are young.
0:48:31 > 0:48:36Meanwhile, in other countries there is an exodus from the field to the cities.
0:48:36 > 0:48:39TRANSLATION: But here it is the other way around.
0:48:48 > 0:48:53All produce from the garden is sold locally so it's fresh and wonderfully nutritious.
0:48:53 > 0:48:56And because the transportation in all directions
0:48:56 > 0:49:00is measured in metres not miles, the carbon trail is minimal.
0:49:05 > 0:49:08I think this place is a model.
0:49:08 > 0:49:11I think everything about it is completely wonderful.
0:49:11 > 0:49:16If we could bring this same attitude to our back gardens back at home,
0:49:16 > 0:49:20our millions of back gardens and allotments producing wonderful vegetables,
0:49:20 > 0:49:26just think what that could do to change the whole structure of our approach to food.
0:49:26 > 0:49:33So it's an inspiration, and it's beautiful and, OK, I'm biased, but it's a fabulous garden.
0:49:42 > 0:49:45There are thousands of organoponicos throughout Cuba.
0:49:45 > 0:49:48In Havana, you'll find them in the most unlikely of settings,
0:49:48 > 0:49:51right in the heart of inner city communities.
0:49:55 > 0:49:59Another of the factors that has made this green revolution work
0:49:59 > 0:50:04is the system of support provided through a network of horticultural advice centres
0:50:04 > 0:50:05to anyone who wants to garden.
0:50:10 > 0:50:14This is just one of 60 CTA kiosks in Havana alone,
0:50:14 > 0:50:17and the idea is to get advice and information to people,
0:50:17 > 0:50:21to help them to grow their own food in gardens dotted all over the city.
0:50:21 > 0:50:24And people come along, they bring problems,
0:50:24 > 0:50:29they buy feeds and fertilisers, all produced organically.
0:50:29 > 0:50:34And you have this network of information and support system that sustains the whole operation.
0:50:50 > 0:50:57I think it's wrong to think of all gardening and all growth in Cuba as being driven to produce food.
0:50:57 > 0:51:02Everywhere you go, there are plants on balconies, plants on the side of the road, there are parks,
0:51:02 > 0:51:09and there are odd corners where you see the need to nurture nature
0:51:09 > 0:51:12is expressed through growing ornamental plants.
0:51:14 > 0:51:16You do have to look out for them.
0:51:16 > 0:51:18They're not that obvious.
0:51:20 > 0:51:23Gardening for personal pleasure is not that widespread.
0:51:23 > 0:51:26However, I do want to try and meet some gardeners
0:51:26 > 0:51:29who tend their plots just for the love of raising plants,
0:51:29 > 0:51:37especially in this city that had so brilliantly tackled the desperate demands for physical sustenance.
0:51:41 > 0:51:44This is an unexpected site.
0:51:44 > 0:51:50A mass of greenery in the ruins of a building, and funnily enough, this reminds me of Edward James' garden.
0:51:50 > 0:51:53But clearly somebody has gone to a lot of trouble,
0:51:53 > 0:51:57not to just to put these here, but to look after them and keep them looking good.
0:52:02 > 0:52:06Chachi runs his rickshaw business right in the heart
0:52:06 > 0:52:11of this bustling part of old Havana and this is his little green oasis.
0:52:15 > 0:52:18Tell me, why are you growing so many plants in your work place?
0:52:22 > 0:52:24TRANSLATION: I like plants. I like them very much.
0:52:24 > 0:52:27It is something I inherited from my mum.
0:52:29 > 0:52:32It's like you find peace with them.
0:52:33 > 0:52:38When you're watering them, caring for them, their colours entertain your mind.
0:52:43 > 0:52:46It's as if you're having a conversation with them.
0:52:48 > 0:52:51You're alone in a world that is just you and them.
0:52:53 > 0:52:56Wherever I am, there have to be plants.
0:53:16 > 0:53:19This is the last garden that I'm going to be visiting.
0:53:19 > 0:53:23It belongs to a woman called Maria de los Angeles.
0:53:23 > 0:53:28And she likes to grow plants that have ornamental and, I believe, spiritual value.
0:53:37 > 0:53:40The first thing I notice about Maria's garden,
0:53:40 > 0:53:44apart from the flowers, is that she has an amazing array of containers.
0:53:52 > 0:53:58TRANSLATION: In the beginning, I started with little pots, which are very expensive.
0:53:58 > 0:54:01But then, I started recycling.
0:54:01 > 0:54:05Coffee pots, polystyrene tubs,
0:54:05 > 0:54:09all the things you normally throw away I recycle here.
0:54:09 > 0:54:14And, little by little, my idea grew.
0:54:21 > 0:54:27Now, this is the first garden I've been to in Havana that isn't dominated by edible plants.
0:54:27 > 0:54:28Why is that?
0:54:33 > 0:54:35TRANSLATION: Initially, my project was to make
0:54:35 > 0:54:37a garden of ornamental plants.
0:54:37 > 0:54:44But, because of both the country's needs and my spiritual needs,
0:54:44 > 0:54:51I said to myself, why not mix ornamental plants and fruit trees?
0:54:52 > 0:54:57I would like to know more about how the plants fulfil your spiritual needs.
0:54:57 > 0:55:02TRANSLATION: Cuba is full of very beautiful places,
0:55:02 > 0:55:08but the economy doesn't allow us the luxury of visiting them.
0:55:10 > 0:55:15So, we create a world at home so we don't need to spend the money
0:55:15 > 0:55:18and feel happy here instead.
0:55:31 > 0:55:33Plants energise me.
0:55:33 > 0:55:34When I look at them,
0:55:34 > 0:55:39they tell me when they need water, when they need food.
0:55:41 > 0:55:44All this gives me life energy.
0:55:44 > 0:55:47Vitality, for me and for my family.
0:55:53 > 0:55:56Even though Maria's garden fulfils her spiritual needs,
0:55:56 > 0:55:59there are plants here that are a reminder
0:55:59 > 0:56:03of the crisis that Cuba still faces on a daily basis.
0:56:03 > 0:56:08TRANSLATION: This banana plant helped the family
0:56:08 > 0:56:12through the difficult times of the Special Period.
0:56:12 > 0:56:15It has fed the family.
0:56:15 > 0:56:18The little ones, everybody.
0:56:33 > 0:56:36What do your neighbours and friends think about this garden?
0:56:36 > 0:56:41TRANSLATION: Some people complain because it blocks the window.
0:56:41 > 0:56:48Or they see it from above and say it is very beautiful and say hello every morning.
0:56:48 > 0:56:51Things like that encourage me.
0:56:51 > 0:56:54Attitudes are changing in our country.
0:56:54 > 0:57:00The culture of plants and gardening is reawakening our appreciation
0:57:00 > 0:57:08that the environment is as important to our health as any conventional therapy.
0:57:12 > 0:57:18Maria's garden is interesting because it is such an exception to the general rule here in Havana.
0:57:18 > 0:57:22I believe the Cubans have created a working model for the future we all face.
0:57:22 > 0:57:26In the middle of a large city, with practically no money and no resources,
0:57:26 > 0:57:30they are producing fresh, organic fruit and vegetables
0:57:30 > 0:57:35by and for local communities, not industrially, but in the garden.
0:57:36 > 0:57:39Well, with real regret I've got to leave Havana
0:57:39 > 0:57:42which is the most seductive place I've ever visited in my life.
0:57:42 > 0:57:44And I've been here at a time of real change,
0:57:44 > 0:57:48and I'm sure that it could go either way.
0:57:48 > 0:57:51Gardens could become more like Maria's,
0:57:51 > 0:57:54which is conventional, very beautiful, but westernised.
0:57:54 > 0:58:00Or we could learn from the extraordinary things they have achieved
0:58:00 > 0:58:02and had to achieve over the last 15 years
0:58:02 > 0:58:07and develop a system of using our gardens to feed ourselves on a sustainable way.
0:58:09 > 0:58:11But I do know that I'll be back.
0:58:11 > 0:58:16I'll be back as soon as I can, to see how those changes emerge.
0:58:18 > 0:58:22Join me next time on the beach at Botany Bay,
0:58:22 > 0:58:27where I'll be setting off to explore the unique flora and gardens
0:58:27 > 0:58:30of Australia and New Zealand.
0:58:40 > 0:58:43Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:58:43 > 0:58:46Email subtitling@bbc.co.uk