Episode 1 Countdown to Chelsea

In just one week from now, the horticultural equivalent of the

Olympics will commence. It will culminate in the judging at the

Flower Show. Our cameras will be capturing every perfect petal. There

is a bit of a mountain to climb before we get there, so every

afternoon this week, we will be bringing you exclusive coverage of

how the preparations are going. Our team have all done their time as

award-winning designers and growers. They will be bringing you the

Countdown To Chelsea. Take a look here, it is a busy

building site down Main Avenue. Our cameras are watching the

preparation. We filmed this just a few days ago, and it vividly

demonstrates the massive work involved in order to get this high

profile event together. High visibility jackets and steel capped

boots are strictly enforce. Coming up in this verse Countdown To

Chelsea, the agony and the ecstasy. Our candid camera follows a first

timer on his debut design here. Chelsea is like a dream come true

for me. Being a garden designer, it is the pinnacle. I cannot believe

that I am there, it feels surreal. A classic garden revisited... And then

you get the view out onto the main garden. And you have got a courtyard

on the right. It is the feeling of space as well. And the man

hand-picking thousands of looms hoping for Best In Show. I want

painkillers to keep me going! By the time you have bent down 35,000 times

in six weeks, you know about it! Being here in this highly charged

atmosphere is a perfect introduction to bringing you our coverage. I will

be joined by a presenting team including Monty Don and Sophie

Raworth for 12 hours of coverage. I guess we should not assume anything,

which is what makes Chelsea exciting, for someone like me, who

has been coming here for 24 years. Will it prove to be a classic

Chelsea? Only time will tell. We will be keeping you abreast of all

of the goings-on over the next ten days.

I first remember coming here to celebrate my birthday. It is always

in show week. I was around 25 years old, and it was a treat to myself.

After that I would always give myself a day off from working as a

garden designer or landscape, and then I finally got the chance to

join the TV presenting team back in 2001. How many boxes are you taking

to Chelsea? About 150. I know, I look a bit younger in those days!

One of my favourite moments was when a birthday surprise was sprung upon

me back in 2005 today is a special day, because Joe Swift is 40 years

of age. Taking on the job of creating a big show garden here is

an enormous test for anyone. I remember only too well the year I

decided to throw my hat into the ring, back in 2012. It was a very

personal garden, inspired by places which mean a lot to me. The first

thing I am doing structurally is getting some big trees into there.

The idea is that the trees keep drawing your eye. These big bridges

in effect frame a view all the way through, which might in the frames

will also do in my garden. Having planned meticulously, I found myself

working against the clock, trying to put it all together. It really is

about teamwork, and IOD huge amount to my group, who pulled me through.

By the end of the construction, to my group, who pulled me through.

just a few hours left, it all came together, and I felt really proud.

But there was one opinion I was particularly keen to hear. So, you

are pleased it is just down to the judges? What do you think,

honestly? I have got to be honest, I think it is absolutely brilliant, I

am ever so proud of you! In fact, Alan Titchmarsh, as you may know, is

in a different role here at Chelsea this year. He is creating a garden

for the first time in almost 30 years, just over there. The sooner

you get plants in, the more natural it looks. It is a natural looking

garden. Within another week or so, they will look as if they have been

growing there for ever. But I am more than pleased with the way it is

going. It is lovely to be back in harness, really, showing I can do it

as well as talk about it. So, maybe I will get to turn the tables on him

and give here is my medal, a coveted old for that first design, and it

made me feel absolutely amazing and relieved. It is quite a moment when

the judges, round, swiftly followed by Nicki Chapman and a camera crew,

on medals morning. There are

on medals morning. their nails to the quick in the

anticipation that they might get one of these. Or will it be one of

these?! Oh, my god, that is fantastic! No

point me asking you what you got. Gold. That is very nice! That is

great, wonderful. Are you pleased? No. That is what you should

great, wonderful. Are you pleased? kissing! Well done! A silver!

Fantastic! Absolutely fantastic, well done to you and your team.

Thank you! Do not know whether to cry or smile.

It is wonderful, it is my 43rd. This has brought us act down to size, put

it that way. I will not cry! First time at Chelsea! I have never even

been to Chelsea before. Really? Oh, stop it! Do you know, I have never

won Best In Show - isn't that great?

How brilliant, well done! I love this job! Congratulations.

I am fantastically happy. I am delighted for you. Congratulations.

No medals this year, no flowers, no medals. I think it is the 21st of

the 22nd, I have lost count! This year's show will be

particularly interesting on medals day, next Tuesday, see how the

judges will be judging the efforts of the news, is on Main Avenue.

There are more first timers opening themselves up to scrutiny than ever

before. Whilst that is exciting, it is also a lot of pressure. We have

been following one of those in the process of bringing a garden for the

first time to Chelsea. Matthew Childs had a life changing moment

which led him on the road to becoming a garden designer.

My first career was in advertising. I worked in an advertising agency,

as a suit, selling other people's creative ideas. And I had a great

time doing that, it was a brilliant job, surrounded by lots of funky

people and creative ideas. But I think I always wanted to be a

creative myself, in some capacity. In 2005, I was going about my normal

day's business, on my way to a client, on the Edgware train, which

was bombed that day. And I was sat on the carriage where the bomb went

off. NEWSREADER: Central London is rocked

by a series of terrorist attacks. Police speak of many casualties. The

underground system was the main target, at least five stations were

hit, the system is at a standstill. You never expect to be involved in

anything like that. But the way I think about it is that it was a life

changing experience for me. I obviously went through a period of

recovery, following being involved and being injured in the bombings,

which, jarring that time, gives you lots and lots of time to think about

what you want to do. And it set me on this amazing journey of opening

my mind to do the things that I really enjoyed, such as gardening.

Gardening is something that I really feel passionate about. It is a place

that I really enjoy being in, I enjoy making people smile by talking

to them about gardens and designing gardens. I really wanted to get onto

the show garden scene, I guess there is a bit of a theatrical side to me,

perhaps. And I became aware of the conceptual category at Hampton

Court, and I just thought it was a really good opportunity to be able

to tell my story. The main idea behind the Hampton Court garden

really comes from a very well-known saying, which is, like at the end of

the tunnel. It relates literally to my experience, but also in terms of

this journey of recovery, and there being a positive at the end. The

whole garden really was to tell that single sentence through plants and

materials, as I explained to Rachel de Thame. I remember going up the

stairs at Edgware Station on the stretcher, looking up at the glass

ceiling, and all of this light flooding through, and I remember

feeling, I really have survived, it is all about recovery. And through

this new medium of being a garden designer, something I really love, I

have been able to share with people the fact that there is sometimes

like at the end of the tunnel. After dreaming about the Chelsea Flower

Show for months, and working on the pitch, and then being finally

selected, I was invited along to the press launch last year. Welcome to

Chelsea 2014. A lot of what you are about to see is about celebrating

new talent. A lovely :-) of Matthew Childs, who designed his first

garden at Hampton Court in 2012, and then going on to win best conceptual

garden, and this year going on to win Best Show Garden Overall at

Hampton Court. Fantastic. And this year, he is designing a beautiful

garden for us. Chelsea is like a dream come true for me. Being a

garden designer, it really is the pinnacle. It feels surreal at the

moment, I cannot believe I am there. This is Nervous Joy, and as I keep

saying to everybody, I am just go to do my best. I am feeling amazing

about having got the Chelsea take, but now it is really all hands on

the deck, getting on with it, and making the garden happen. There is a

real mountain to climb. And I am here with Matthew now. Thank you for

taking time out, how is it going? It is going really well, I think. We

are on a really, really tight schedule, so we are really up

against it. The team have not stopped working, it is all go. It is

chaos around here, what is the idea behind your garden? There is a

fundamental, key theme, which is the idea of nurturing potential for the

future. I wanted to get both a feeling of tranquil tea and a sense

of anticipation. So I have got floating islands, which are sunken,

to and two large copper archways providing views through to some

tantalising spots - opportunity is the idea there. It sounds great, are

you on schedule? You Yes, we aren't behind on anything. It's just a case

of keeping going. You don't look too stressed. Everyone keeps telling me

everything is fine. What has it been like having a film crew following

you around? I feel a bit like a film star! I feel a bit weird. It has

been great. It's really nice to take note of the journey myself. There's

so much that's involved, so many people. It's nice to give the public

and the people that come to visit the show a backstage look at

everything that goes on. An insight? Yes. Tomorrow we'll see the links

that you go to to find the perfect tree. I know you're busy so I'll let

you get on with it. Finding ideas for Chelsea garden is

always a challenging process. Over the years, designers have found

inspiration in a host of surprising places. We been digging into the

archive to unearth some classic examples. For our first visit, we

show you how this amazing garden, one of the most jewellers in recent

years, came about. Sarah Evans's Monaco Garden from 2011 captures

just how exotic a Chelsea garden can be.

just how exotic a Chelsea garden can Some designers actually feed off

other designs or other gardens. What really inspires me is architecture.

There are hardly any -- there is hardly any space. It's all

buildings. It's inspiring seeing on the rooftops. It is just

incredible. The garden this year at Chelsea is very much about the

private gardens that you get Chelsea is very much about the

rooftops in Monaco. The casino gardens are probably the biggest

open space available to the public in Monaco and it has a fantastic

sense of space. We can see in the gardens here Monaco's sense of civic

pride. It's beautifully kept. I don't think you can see a piece of

rubbish or a blighted leaf don't think you can see a piece of

As a designer, rather than trying to copy something, it's a bit like

being a cartoon artist. You're taking the main elements in

caricature and trying to tease them away. Although I'm not trying to do

a copycat thing and follow this slavishly, what I'm doing is taking

those core personalities, characterisations of Monaco, and

bringing them out to the garden. This is the exotic garden, which is

a garden I find so exciting. It's almost like an unknown jewel because

I haven't really heard of it talked about before. It's just the most

phenomenal collection of exotic plants. This tree is one of those

rare, exotic trees that, actually, you can even hold and it's quite

cuddly. This is going to go in my garden. I just love these new

plants. It's exciting learning to put them together and they're like

new toys. I just love it and they're so architectural that they almost

make the job really easy. Fantastic vivid blue colour here. It's a

stunning plant that just cascades down the rock face and the colour is

just... It's such a rich blue. Another of those real wow plants

that I don't think people have seen before at Chelsea. I'm very excited

about designing a garden for Monaco and in particular being able to work

with Prince Albert. I've had to make presentations to him about all my

proposals and he really is very interested and very knowledgeable

about gardens. I've heard quite a few stories about his memories of

childhood, playing in the gardens here in the palace. And also his

mother, Princess Grace's love of flowers and Roses and that very much

comes through. This was the result of Sarah's hard

work. I went to get a closer look. It lets it brief, doesn't it? So

yes, it's quite warm and friendly and the vertical planting on the

walls just softens it to make it feel comfortable. You've done a

wonderful job. Beautiful garden. Thank you, Joe. It will be

interesting to see if gardens this year have that scale of ambition.

One garden that promises to be a talking point this year is designed

by Luciana. What have you got in store for us? This is my first

garden at Chelsea and I feel it's the most important garden. Each time

it's like going deeper and having the courage to explore ideas and

different things. The key elements are obviously this a 70-year-old

tree. It is a big influence in the overall design. It is the elements

of textures, different types of stone, the reflection of water, the

movement of light, and, of course, the beautiful flowers. What other

physical challenges of creating a garden like this? I would say the

biggest challenge we had with this garden so far is the two trees. Just

to get them here on site. They're enormous. They're enormous and very

fragile. So this has been the most sensitive and emotionally charged.

Stressful? Very, very stressful. The best of luck with it. We'll be

catching up with Luciano Orquera see the completed garden next week.

Still ahead on Countdown To Chelsea: Tales from the river bank. I'm a

garden. I've got to have a garden, plants, soil. Otherwise, I feel life

isn't complete. And meet the 18, the men and women behind the biggest

flower show on earth. Big trees are hard to move around and the problem

is damaging the tree. We are about to enter the gigantic structure

behind me, the pavilion. The size of two football pitches, it's being

prepared for the Premier plant breeders and growers from across the

land as they bring their displays to Chelsea. Each day we'll follow a

different exhibitor in their preparations for the show. Today

we're off to Bedfordshire, where 1000 of the brightest blooms are

being gently nurtured. This is a lovely place on top of the

hill. But when it's allowing a gale and raining, it's not quite so nice.

The tulips bring so much happiness and cheer. They just light up the

garden and it makes people smile. There's nothing wrong with smiling.

I just love it, whether it's because I've been involved with them all my

life... It's their form, their elegance. They stand tall and proud.

They are such a perfect flower. The garden started in 1860 in Holland.

My grandfather came over to England in 1936 and he started growing

tulips and showing tulips at Chelsea in 1948 and my family's won so far

63 gold medals and bout my brother and I ran it. Hopefully there will

be a few more generations to come afterwards. We've got 34,000 tulips

here. For Chelsea, we'll display about 15,000. By the time you've

bent down 35,000 times in the course of six weeks, you certainly know

about it. When we're picking tulips, the basic rule is to allow them to

flower for one day and then pick them. They will be at their best and

their freshest. You pick them early in the morning so they've rested

overnight and have closed up again. Tulips naturally open and close

during daylight hours. Chelsea is about five weeks away. There's a

couple of nice tulips going to Chelsea this year that haven't been

around for a little while. This one is very beautiful. Roz Briand white

with a lovely blue centre. Then you have brown Sugar which is very

similar to the old breed of tulips but the special thing about this is

that it has a very sweet centre. We're really into the serious

business of picking tulips at the moment. We bring them down to the

warehouse and store them in industrial freezers. Out of the

sunshine, we need to get them in the chiller. If you leave them out, the

petals will get marked. This is our Chelsea chiller. After spending all

the lovely time in the field, we spend the rest of the time in here.

This is where we store the tulips. About 20,000 tulips in there and

each one has to be looked at individually 3-34-macro times a

week. We bring tulips into the cold store and hold them at about 0.5

degrees. It puts them to sleep so they can make it to Chelsea. I'm

trying to keep myself warm! What we're doing at the moment... We mark

them for days to check. Anything with a W, we are going through and

checking them all to see whether they need water. These were picked

seven days ago. It's becoming very loose, very weak. That's just about

the perfect time for us to put it into water. As TV would have it,

I've got one that had eight hours of water yesterday and this is what

they'll come out like. Providing they come out of the cooler OK, when

they get to Chelsea, they're going to look absolutely fantastic. We'll

have to see whether they get there first. All I can do is work hard,

give my best endeavours, and know when I've made a good job at

Chelsea. I will walk away from the stand, walk to the market. If I walk

back and see that stand and it gives me a tingle down my spine, then I

know I've done a good job. The exhibitors are still making

last-minute preparations back in their nurseries and will take

position here in a few days time. John Wheatley is a man who knows

this place better than many. You've been an exhibitor, a judge. What

will the last-minute preparations involve? They'll be checking to see

whether the planning process has been completed properly. There will

be a little bit of stress. Most people will be worried about whether

the weather is going to be right for the plants. It can be really cold or

it can be really hot. Take the use of things like foxgloves - are they

going to be right for the show? Will they hang on or come out? The plans

will be coming in and out of greenhouses and poly tunnels. What

will the exhibitors the going through in their minds? They'll feel

a little bit of fear and trepidation. Chelsea is the biggest

show on Earth and you've got to get it right. The other thing is having

a bit of fun with your staff team. Successful teams are built out of

fun and interest in this show and I think that's the key to real

success. You've been a judge many times over and are still a judge. A

coveted gold medal - what through in their minds? They'll feel

does someone have to do to get one? You have to be excellent. It

involves creating a great impression. The judges look for an

overall impression, a real wow factor. They look for endeavour.

Just to see that the exhibitor has gone the extra mile to make the

exhibit special and distinctive. But above all, it's about quality

plants, healthy plants, correctly labelled plants. Those are the key

factors that win the gold medals. Thank you, John. We will see John

later in the week to hear about his key role in a special celebration of

Britain in Bloom. There is an army of workers involved behind the

scenes in making this event come together. Did you know that it took

dozens of people to build this pavilion? We are going to introduce

you to some of the people we call the Chelsea champions. The men and

women without whom none of this would be possible. Today we are

meeting a pivotal man. I am Saul Walker. Most people don't see this

part of Chelsea and don't understand how much building goes on in a show

like this. These guys have only three weeks to build some of the

most high spec gardens you are going to see this year. It is a frenetic

building site. A lot of people whizzing around on the machines.

Then all the plants will descend on us. It becomes a cacophony of colour

and texture as people are trying to get that perfect arrangement.

Before I started with the RHS, I am a gardener by trade, so I used to

look after orchids. This is my gold medal from last year, which I got

with the Orchid Society, and I am quite proud of this. It is quite an

achievement for me, one of my top things to do in gardening.

So, this is the show manager's cabin, where I am based with my team

of two, with Claire. From here, we look after all the exhibitors that

come on-site, and help them with any problems they have, hopefully! You

are kind of running on adrenaline for most of the day. It is tiring

for all of us but I think it is worth it at the end of the day. You

have to put a lot of hours in to put on the world's best show. This

structure seems to be a bit higher this year which has brought it into

contact with this you tree. It might be an idea to put a bit of padding

around it. Big day today, at the moment you are looking at probably

300 trees being delivered. Lard wise, we always tried to enable them

to choose the best looking plants. You are probably looking at

100,000-200,000. And that is just the guys below. Once the guys with

the pavilions come in, they bring in thousands and thousands of plants

for the staged displayed is. Overall, there is a lot of

horticulture going on on this site! This is one of our show gardens, and

we are going to have a very large tree delivery tonight, a five metre

wide tree, and we are going to have to shut down our gate, which only

supports things which are three metres wide. That is going to

require our team to show some special skills with forklifts.

Fingers crossed we will get that into night.

So, most of our trees can fit through the gates, but these two are

exceptionally large, evidently the biggest we have got this year.

Anything this large causes a logistical challenge. Like with most

of our large vehicles, we have a good traffic Marshall, led by Steve,

we call him Steve Traffic, so he will be looking after this big

vehicle. Steve is also quite a hit on the pantomime scene, he does a

lot of dames, apparently. I have not seen him yet, but a lot of the

operations team have seen him in panto. He is quite theatrical. We

are going to panto. He is quite theatrical. We

are going get some forklift trucks with extensions. The last time we

had to do something similar to this was three years ago. We are doing it

this early on because the site is quite quiet, and we can handle it.

There are two trees, two deliveries, so here is the second one. That

gives you a bit more of an idea about the size. They are quite

large. That is a good start, we have got one tree through the gate, which

makes it a lot easier for us to get it around to the garden. This is

nervous for me, big trees obviously are hard to move around, without

damaging the tree. Especially taking trees off trucks, that is when

branches can break. They would not be able to replace it before the

show starts, so it would be able to replace it before the

show starts, so it have to be an alternative, which would not be what

the designer had in mind. So it can be a nervous moment. That is fine,

driver. It has come through quite nicely. It is always nice to get

plants in at the end of the day. And then it's on to the next challenge,

tomorrow. All in a days work! Good luck to Saul and his team. There is

no doubt that one of the highlights of Chelsea is meeting some of the

characters. From the Chelsea pensioners, who live here, to some

of the show men and women who are at the heart of the event. We have been

digging into the archives to find some memorable encounters in Chelsea

TV coverage. My favourite moment must be when we met John and Diana

Everett. We visited their unique home, just a few hundred yards

further up the River Thames embankment.

Both of us have lived on the boat for about ten years. And I really

missed having a garden. We had this craft which used to carry sand and

gravel up and down the river, and Johnny said we could convert it and

make it into a garden, and I would be happy to stay on the boat.

Otherwise I was muttering about moving into a house with a garden. I

am a gardener, I have got to have a garden, I have got to have plants, I

have got to have soil. Otherwise I feel life is not complete. We knew

we could make a garden, but it had to be very well-balanced, because we

wanted the garden to be quite high up. So, we went to a marine engineer

who did us plans for it and got everything right. Here you can see

the structure of the barge, which has a concrete floor, and up here,

concrete beams, and on top of them, concrete slabs. And every foot or

so, there is a pipe, which brings water down onto the floor, and it

goes into that corner over there, where the bilge pump is, otherwise

we would sink. Johnny made a model, to scale, so we

worked it out from their Mac. I wanted a sitting area in the middle,

and then steps up to a higher area, and keep bits, and at the end, we

have got the gazebo. Well, the main wildlife we have our

ducks and Well, the main wildlife we have

geese. Here you can see we have got a nest with six eggs of these

Canadian geese. It is not very nice having keys in the garden, we have

to keep them out of Diana's garden, otherwise it would be completely a

desert. -- having geese. When I first started thinking about the

garden, I had just visited Christopher Lloyd's garden, and I

was very impressed with his wonderful, vibrant colours, and I

thought I would like to do the same thing. I love oranges, going into

reds, I have got quite a lot of those.

when we had the garden barge, we thought that we would do that. I

would like you to see these bees. They are called Conneely and bees,

and as you can see, they are absolutely tame. Last year we had

113lb of honey. I was told it would be impossible to keep bees on a boat

like this because it goes up and down with the tide, but they do not

get lost. I have seen them come in, and they change their

get lost. I have seen them come in, come in all ways. I believe if we

moved them sideways, they would get lost, but they do not mind the

vertical movement, thank goodness. I think that Diana has made

vertical movement, thank goodness. am not really allowed in it, in case

I do damage! But I am very proud of what she has done with it. And it is

unusual, as you have to agree. It is just wonderful, just sitting here.

We have a lot of pleasure just sitting here, enjoying the space and

the greenery and the flowers. What a nice couple! It has been

exciting to come and see the preparations for this years show. I

wish all of the and designers all the best in getting everything ready

for the big day. We will see the show revealed in all its glory.

People are always asking us to choose our favourite designs from

past years, which is always trickle, but if I was to nominate three

gardens to remember, here is my choice... Back in 2003, I was lucky

enough to be able to visit Abu Dhabi with garden designer Christopher

Bradley Hall, to witness his own preparations. Where did you get the

inspiration for your garden? I think the first inspiration for me is the

way that the Abu Dhabi people have learned to live in extreme

conditions. They have learned to respect the landscape. And the

Finnish garden was an absolute masterpiece, with its glass

structure I particularly enjoyed the laser cut Arabic letters in the

walls, and representation of the irrigation of the land. If I were to

choose one garden with perhaps the most influence it would be Dan

Pearson's roof garden from 1996. It was a real game changer, perhaps the

first of what we now call contemporary gardens, which

influenced so many gardens thereafter. I wanted to show the

potential of a roof garden, and to do that, you have do use things

which will really work in those situations, with high winds etc. In

its day, it felt very different from what had gone before. Different

grasses, different textures and the introduction of decking which took

the eye away from the plants and colour, which had been the

traditional focus. We will be interviewing down as a guest

reviewer next week for his view of Chelsea 2014. And my final choice,

Tom Smith's 2006 design. The colour combination was sublime, with Ms

Merritt planting of blues and purples against a striking orange

wall. I loved and admired the use of high burn, which I now use myself.

And the use of rusted steel was stunning. So, let's see what this

year's designers have in store. That is about it from me. I am looking

forward to seeing it all completed. I will be with Sophie Raworth on BBC

One, who joins the team this year. Nice to see you. What are you

looking forward to? Well, this is fantastic, I have only ever been

here as a visitor, so do be able to watch it behind the scenes has been

brilliant. But also I cannot wait to see what these young designers are

producing this year. The pressure is on, isn't it? It certainly is. What

is your favourite part of the show, normally? I love all of the gardens

on Main Avenue. They are so inspiring, what they can achieve in

such a short time. And of course, working with you, Joe! Tomorrow,

Rachel will be taking her own look at the preparations and celebrating

her favourite Chelsea moments. Goodbye for now.

# Woke up, it was a Chelsea morning, and the first thing that I saw.

# Was a rainbow on the wall. # Oh, world Tuesday, we will put on

a day. # Oh, wheel put on a day, and we

will talk in present tenses. We need a small army

if this is going to get done. The team are back, and facing some

of their biggest challenges yet. It's been a struggle

in these temperatures. It's priceless what they're

going to get at the end. It's going to give them

their lives back. Thank you. MUSIC: "Breathe"

by Pink Floyd