0:00:17 > 0:00:25Bodnant Garden is among the National Trust's most spectacular properties.
0:00:25 > 0:00:30It's a work of art, crafted over the course of a century by generations of gardeners.
0:00:32 > 0:00:37But in recent times, visitor numbers have declined and costs escalated.
0:00:37 > 0:00:43The garden has been neglected
0:00:46 > 0:00:49probably in the late 1920s,
0:00:49 > 0:00:54perhaps just at the early '30s, in very compacted soil now around them.
0:00:54 > 0:01:06The plants are sort of built up on these little mounds, where the
0:01:06 > 0:01:25Troy Scott Smith, the head gardener,
0:01:25 > 0:01:29And, of course, once we know that,
0:01:30 > 0:01:36an aging collection and a very real threat from a new and devastating
0:01:36 > 0:01:42plant disease, Bodnant is facing the toughest conservation challenge
0:01:45 > 0:01:50thousands of plants in the garden whose identity is a mystery.
0:01:59 > 0:02:02mysteries requires ingenuity.
0:02:02 > 0:02:06All new arrivals in the garden are labelled with a metal tag.
0:02:06 > 0:02:12Troy and his colleague Graham are using a metal detector to hunt for tags that disappeared long ago.
0:02:12 > 0:02:15This technique avoids having
0:02:15 > 0:02:20damaging the roots too much and finding something useful.
0:02:23 > 0:02:25Troy has a massive job on his hands.
0:02:28 > 0:02:34We think there's about 50,000 different plants at Bodnant and we've
0:02:34 > 0:02:39got lots which unfortunately the labels have been lost over the years.
0:02:39 > 0:02:45animals or gardeners working or the metal snaps and it drops down.
0:02:45 > 0:02:48It's very easy to be buried
0:02:53 > 0:02:57So often Troy has to examine
0:03:02 > 0:03:06We have a clue as to its parentage.
0:03:06 > 0:03:10You know, looking at the flower type and the leaf, I can show you
0:03:14 > 0:03:18So that's something that we do
0:03:21 > 0:03:23But it just takes time, you know.
0:03:23 > 0:03:30Might take us several years to got 25,000 other ones to do as well.
0:03:32 > 0:03:34I don't think there's anything here
0:03:37 > 0:03:40No luck with the label this time.
0:03:40 > 0:03:44But they'll keep looking because they know how vital it is to build
0:03:44 > 0:03:46of the plants they have here.
0:03:50 > 0:03:54At the heart of the garden is a unique collection of rhododendrons -
0:03:54 > 0:04:01one of the great glories of Bodnant.
0:04:16 > 0:04:20But what makes the collection truly unique are the hybrids.
0:04:21 > 0:04:26From the 1920s, Bodnant's gardeners created hundreds of new varieties
0:05:00 > 0:05:03mother Lady Aberconway share
0:05:03 > 0:05:08the family passion for the garden, especially its famous rhododendrons.
0:05:11 > 0:05:18I love it because it's one of the most delicate early ones and I love the, as you were saying, the pink,
0:05:21 > 0:05:28Michael manages the Gardens
0:05:28 > 0:05:33His grandfather Henry McLaren, the second Lord Aberconway,
0:05:33 > 0:05:37the gardens as it is today.
0:05:37 > 0:05:40My grandfather, of course, largely created the place in that he built
0:05:40 > 0:05:44the great terraces and he did all sorts of other things in the garden.
0:05:44 > 0:05:47It was a very exciting time -
0:05:47 > 0:05:52rhododendron seeds were coming out of China and he supported financially
0:05:52 > 0:05:57some of these plant-hunting expeditions, he got some of the seeds, as did a lot of other gardens.
0:05:57 > 0:06:01And there was great excitement growing them, seeing how they
0:06:01 > 0:06:05rhododendrons in the garden here,
0:06:05 > 0:06:07it's something which the garden
0:06:07 > 0:06:11has become known for and which we're all passionate about.
0:06:11 > 0:06:15was a leading industrialist.
0:06:15 > 0:06:21Lord Aberconway - the chairman of John Brown's, leading her majesty.
0:06:21 > 0:06:25His company, John Brown Shipyards,
0:06:28 > 0:06:32As well as making waves in the business world, he was also at
0:06:32 > 0:06:37the helm of the British gardening establishment as president of the Royal Horticultural Society.
0:06:41 > 0:06:45Throughout the 20th century, the Aberconways indulged their
0:06:45 > 0:06:51passion for plants - especially
0:06:51 > 0:06:55The technical expertise was supplied by their head gardeners, remarkably,
0:07:06 > 0:07:16particularly rhododendrons,
0:07:16 > 0:07:30one sees out in the garden is down to
0:07:40 > 0:07:44He's sceptical about their value to
0:07:44 > 0:07:49them up on the off-chance they
0:07:49 > 0:07:52a wealth of archive material.
0:07:54 > 0:08:03frightfully boring, stuff about 19th-century business deals.
0:08:03 > 0:08:10It's all a complete mess because and haven't yet re-plastered,
0:08:15 > 0:08:21otherwise I'm sure my father would have cottoned on to it and it would be in the public domain.
0:08:21 > 0:08:24There might be hidden gems.
0:08:29 > 0:08:33It's a fantastic moment for Alison Clarke and Fiona Braithwaite.
0:08:35 > 0:08:39The first Bodnant gardeners to be given access to the archive.
0:08:43 > 0:08:47There's miles of it, isn't there?
0:08:47 > 0:08:52I've got a list of Kingdon-Ward
0:08:52 > 0:08:57And within minutes of opening the first files, they've struck gold.
0:08:58 > 0:09:06Look at this! Wardian cases were brought back containing rhododendron
0:09:06 > 0:09:11But unfortunately the rhododendrons were all withered. Oh...Kingdon-Ward!
0:09:19 > 0:09:25and some of his most important expeditions to the Far East.
0:09:25 > 0:09:30seen direct evidence like this and such precise information
0:09:30 > 0:09:35about exactly which plants he and other plant-hunters sent back.
0:09:37 > 0:09:42It's a Kingdon-Ward expedition and
0:09:42 > 0:09:45it's addressed to Harry and of course
0:09:48 > 0:09:54They're asking for some more funds
0:09:54 > 0:10:02It just sort of proves you know all the money they did invest in the various Kingdon-Ward expeditions.
0:10:02 > 0:10:04Amazing stuff here, you know.
0:10:06 > 0:10:12Apart from Kingdon-Ward, there's
0:10:12 > 0:10:15Reginald Farrer, Joseph Rock.
0:10:15 > 0:10:21importance of them is they're really valuable bits of information.
0:10:27 > 0:10:32It's just very exciting and extraordinary really that they've still got the original papers.
0:10:32 > 0:10:36I think this is what a lot of people would like to get their hands on
0:10:36 > 0:10:43because it is plant-hunters and that's what Bodnant is all about - it's about the plants.
0:10:43 > 0:10:55There's so much unidentified plant material in the garden
0:10:55 > 0:11:24or it came from expeditions.
0:11:28 > 0:11:32Troy seems to be winning the
0:11:32 > 0:11:36but a new fight is just beginning with a devastating plant disease.
0:11:41 > 0:11:46Gardens are works of art, you know.
0:11:46 > 0:11:50You know, we could very easily lose the special character of the garden
0:11:50 > 0:11:5650, 80% of our mainstay collection.
0:11:56 > 0:12:01And also you know we're losing plants
0:12:01 > 0:12:03We've got a good collection
0:12:03 > 0:12:09there may only be one of its kind and if that's the one that gets
0:12:09 > 0:12:14Phytophthora or sudden oak disease made the headlines six years ago.
0:12:14 > 0:12:18A potentially devastating tree disease which has caused widespread
0:12:18 > 0:12:22damage in America has been discovered in trees here for the first time.
0:12:22 > 0:12:27The fungus has been spotted in three trees in Cornwall - a horse-chestnut, an evergreen oak and a beech tree.
0:12:30 > 0:12:34Phytophthora is the MRSA of plants.
0:12:34 > 0:12:42It affects the plants that are so important to the Bodnant collection,
0:12:42 > 0:12:45found evidence of the disease,
0:12:53 > 0:12:57I don't think it is typical of what I know of the symptoms of ramorum.
0:13:03 > 0:13:07I don't think it is typical
0:13:07 > 0:13:10infection is in this rhododendron.
0:13:10 > 0:13:16But just around the corner, a group of newly-planted viburnums
0:13:22 > 0:13:25Let's see if I can clean that back.
0:13:28 > 0:13:33That's pretty indicative of phytophthora because you've got
0:13:33 > 0:13:37this foxy, reddy brown colour
0:13:37 > 0:13:40That's very symptomatic, actually.
0:13:40 > 0:13:49That's what it should look like
0:13:49 > 0:13:54the root system into the plant
0:13:56 > 0:14:01and you say that you've had seven
0:14:01 > 0:14:07And we've just had another one there that we've taken as a sample,
0:14:07 > 0:14:10If that comes back as positive for
0:14:16 > 0:14:28because they're all of the same batch and then destroy them
0:14:59 > 0:15:04We have to incinerate it and remove
0:15:04 > 0:15:09So, for the rhododendron ponticum, it means a hell of a lot of work
0:15:09 > 0:15:12because there's so much of it here.
0:15:12 > 0:15:14It just keeps on spreading.
0:15:14 > 0:15:17This was about 20 foot high
0:15:17 > 0:15:20and you see the size of the area we're having to clear here.
0:15:26 > 0:15:29When you look at the actual list,
0:15:29 > 0:15:35of the plants that we've got in this garden that could be a natural host,
0:15:35 > 0:15:39So we've just got to get rid of this ponticum while we can, really.
0:15:39 > 0:15:42Even the stuff that hasn't got it, we need to get rid of it before
0:15:42 > 0:15:45it spreads to the stuff that we don't
0:15:46 > 0:15:51The great fear is that one day some of the much rarer plants will
0:15:51 > 0:15:53have to be consigned to the flames.
0:16:09 > 0:16:14He's on his way to Cornwall
0:16:23 > 0:16:29Ian Wright is a National Trust adviser on phytophthora which has
0:16:31 > 0:16:38The disease was first found and identified in 2005, which
0:16:42 > 0:16:45But I feel that we've actually
0:16:45 > 0:16:51Rather than being reactive, we've started to become proactive towards our responses towards it,
0:16:54 > 0:16:58In a collection packed with rare species, Trengwainton has been
0:16:58 > 0:17:03forced to destroy diseased plants,
0:17:04 > 0:17:08But it's not just infected plants
0:17:08 > 0:17:14here you can see this rather large
0:17:14 > 0:17:18And this was where...well, there
0:17:18 > 0:17:23decision to actually take it out.
0:17:23 > 0:17:28the Central Science Laboratory that told us that drimys was one
0:17:28 > 0:17:31of the major spore-producing plants that there actually is.
0:17:31 > 0:17:37like the magnolia campbellii,
0:17:38 > 0:17:41Trengwainton has been proactive by removing high-risk plants
0:18:06 > 0:18:09the disease and I think awareness
0:18:09 > 0:18:14and education is as much of a part
0:18:14 > 0:18:17we've actually had to do as well.
0:18:17 > 0:18:23And really educating people because
0:18:23 > 0:18:27I went to Scottish gardens and we had to walk through a foot-bath
0:18:27 > 0:18:31Is that something that we're
0:18:31 > 0:18:37I think the whole foot-bath scenario it actually doesn't work very well.
0:18:37 > 0:18:40live in now, this won't be the end
0:18:40 > 0:18:45of the pests and diseases that come to actually challenge us.
0:18:45 > 0:18:51opportunities and become proactive
0:18:57 > 0:19:01It's been a thought-provoking
0:19:05 > 0:19:11I think we have to think of it as an opportunity and I think gaps like this are not necessarily bad.
0:19:11 > 0:19:16through to the countryside, you're thinking about introducing
0:19:16 > 0:19:19you've got spaces to do that.
0:19:19 > 0:19:22gardens that space is endless.
0:19:22 > 0:19:25Bodnant and I've got so many
0:19:25 > 0:19:30So, yeah, an enjoyable visit, lessons to learn phytopthora-wise,
0:19:30 > 0:19:33but lots of positives I think
0:19:40 > 0:19:46but there are other challenges
0:19:54 > 0:19:56Troy and Alison are on their
0:19:56 > 0:20:01a rhododendron called the Mikado - a stunning pink when it's in bloom.
0:20:02 > 0:20:07The Mikado has proved impossible to propagate by normal methods
0:20:07 > 0:20:12and they've decided it needs special treatment to save it.
0:20:14 > 0:20:16This big one here? That's the one!
0:20:23 > 0:20:27As far as I know, it's the only
0:20:30 > 0:20:34Alison is Bodnant's taxonomist with responsibility for identifying
0:20:37 > 0:20:41have selected the Mikado for a
0:20:46 > 0:20:55If I don't get a result from another method of propagating them.
0:20:58 > 0:21:01in the average potting shed.
0:21:07 > 0:21:10Let's see what we've got then.
0:21:42 > 0:21:50And I think there's something like an 80% success rate, though.
0:21:50 > 0:21:55Hopefully in a couple of years I shall be getting my babies back.
0:21:57 > 0:22:01This is the last chance saloon
0:22:01 > 0:22:04laboratory at Duchy College
0:22:08 > 0:22:15Bodnant's cuttings are being treated with the help of a grant from the Royal Horticultural Society.
0:22:15 > 0:22:22It's now six months since Troy and Alison packed off their cuttings and they've come to Duchy College
0:22:22 > 0:22:26to get a progress report from Ros Smith, the scientist in charge of micropropagation.
0:22:26 > 0:22:29Oh, hello. Nice to meet you.
0:22:34 > 0:22:39Oh, what's this? Some little babies coming on. They're just starting
0:22:39 > 0:22:44So you're pretty pleased with them? The success of ours or... Yes.
0:22:44 > 0:22:49Initially it was a bit difficult to actually get contaminate-free
0:22:49 > 0:22:53The sterile conditions of the lab
0:22:53 > 0:22:59So when we get any plant material, whether it's a shoot or whether
0:22:59 > 0:23:06we've got to clean the outside with
0:23:06 > 0:23:10But once we've done that, we can either take the vegetative buds
0:23:10 > 0:23:16or we can use the flower buds and regenerate from some little shoots,
0:23:19 > 0:23:24The plant cells have been grown on in pots of nutrient jelly
0:23:24 > 0:23:28and after six months of careful nurturing, there's a result.
0:23:38 > 0:23:41piece of material, isn't it?
0:23:41 > 0:23:45So, Ros, two or three years down the line we'll be getting some plants
0:23:45 > 0:23:51back and, you know, some 30 or 40 plants hopefully from each one.
0:23:51 > 0:23:55They ought to do quite nicely and produce quite a lot, I think.
0:23:59 > 0:24:15if you know what you're doing.
0:24:29 > 0:24:33Angus, who's now nearly 21.
0:24:40 > 0:24:48And then through there is another
0:24:48 > 0:24:51which got eaten by a rabbit,
0:24:51 > 0:24:56That's for my granddaughter
0:24:56 > 0:25:01I think it's very good for children
0:25:01 > 0:25:04And, you know, a tiny little acorn
0:25:12 > 0:25:17When the Aberconway family gave Bodnant to the National Trust
0:25:20 > 0:25:28However, Michael McLaren manages Bodnant on an unpaid basis because
0:25:32 > 0:25:36to be involved. If we want to be involved in the future, we need to
0:25:36 > 0:25:40be able to show that we can still put something into the place.
0:25:44 > 0:25:47whether or not to appoint me.
0:25:47 > 0:25:50No legal obligation to appoint me
0:25:50 > 0:25:54appointed me because they knew that I knew something about horticulture,
0:25:54 > 0:25:56enthusiastic about gardening
0:25:59 > 0:26:03And so they thought that I could
0:26:08 > 0:26:14There's no getting away from the McLarens' deep links with Bodnant,
0:26:18 > 0:26:22Lady Aberconway not only plants trees for her grandchildren, she's
0:26:22 > 0:26:26also the guardian of the mausoleum where her family is buried.
0:26:26 > 0:26:33in a secluded part of the garden
0:26:39 > 0:26:44I'm sad you can't see the tablet that I've had done for my husband.
0:26:46 > 0:26:53My mother-in-law has a tablet there, my father-in-law, and of course the first Lord and Lady Aberconway.
0:26:53 > 0:26:57And there's a space for me,
0:27:05 > 0:27:08Even as the restoration work continues on the mausoleum,
0:27:08 > 0:27:12Lady Aberconway comes here regularly
0:27:26 > 0:27:52and on the other side is his father.
0:27:52 > 0:28:12I mean, you just look around at Bodnant and you can see the sense
0:28:12 > 0:28:20and the way I think about the garden is, I plant for the future.
0:28:20 > 0:28:25But it's also a great privilege
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