Roses and Climbers & Creepers Great British Garden Revival

There's no doubt that Britain is a nation of very proud gardeners.

Our love of flowers and plants goes back centuries.

But there's a problem. Not everything is rosy in our gardens.

Our iconic plants are under attack from foreign invaders.

Ancient woodlands are at risk of being lost forever.

And our favourite flowers are disappearing right before our eyes.

So we need you to help us in our revival campaign.

We'll be inspiring you to dig deep and celebrate the best of British.

As we reveal the country's most stunning gardens.

And sharing our top gardening tips.

It's time to rediscover our passion for plants.

And breathe new life into our gardens.

Of all the flowers in our gardens one stands out

as being extra special -

and this is it.

The rose can justifiably claim to be Britain's favourite flower.

While sales of modern varieties soar,

those of our classic, traditional old roses are fading.

And that means that they're gradually disappearing

from our gardens, and only we can save them.

I believe that old roses shouldn't be forgotten.

They should be celebrated as fragrant, colourful,

beautiful parts of our heritage.

On my revival I'll be taking some time to smell the roses...

-Ah!

-Good old-rose fragrance.

-That's a knockout fragrance.

-Hm.

..trying my hand at some cross-pollination...

-I feel a great sense of responsibility - being a bee.

-Yes.

..and showing you which old roses to choose for your garden.

Not only does it look beautiful in flower, it still

holds its own in the garden right the way through the season.

I've come to Mottisfont House

and garden in Hampshire where this beautiful house was built

on the remains of a 13th-century priory.

But for me the real jewel in the crown here

lies just beyond the gate of the old walled garden.

In the early 1970s this former kitchen garden was transformed

by one of the most influential gardeners of the late 20th century -

plantsman and rose aficionado - Graham Stuart Thomas.

It was created as a home for his private collection of

old-fashioned roses.

It's been described as one of the world's most beautiful rose gardens.

Even Thomas himself called it his masterpiece

and, I have to say, standing here it's impossible to disagree.

I can't actually remember a time when I didn't love roses.

My father was a huge influence but he really liked the hybrid teas,

the floribundas...that were so popular in the '60s and '70s

and of course we had lots of those in our garden.

But we also did lots of garden visits as a family.

Came here to places like Mottisfont, just as the crowds are doing today.

And it was then, I think, that I saw old roses for the first time

and fell hook, line and sinker.

While modern hybrid roses continue to gain in popularity,

our classic old roses are going the other way

and unless we can get the new generation of gardeners to start

to fall in love with beautiful roses like this gorgeous Rosa mundi

then we could be in danger of losing

the vast variety on offer to us today.

And for me that's just not an option.

To start my revival I've come to Oxfordshire

to an area that's synonymous with old roses.

This region is known as the Golden Ridge as the soil conditions

make it ideal for growing roses.

Longworth village is famous for its beautiful gardens and I can see why.

Now I'm being a bit cheeky here,

but I've spotted another beautiful garden filled with roses.

Just look at this. Absolutely stunning.

Maybe not... Oh.

-Hi.

-That was quick. Hello.

I hope you don't mind me knocking on the door

but I've just seen your garden, and it's just so beautiful

and I just wondered if I could ask you a little bit about the roses?

-Would that be all right?

-It would be a pleasure.

You know that way that gardeners are very nosey

-about other people's gardens?

-I do. I do.

But that's half the fun, isn't it? Sharing it?

-Well, gardens are for sharing.

-Exactly.

But I couldn't help noticing the way that you're using the roses here.

I mean, you seem to have them very mixed in

with all sorts of other planting and lots of different types of rose.

Yes.

Well, when I moved here ten years ago we had a lot of these

roses in place, but a lot of the other flowers had really

finished their life so we replanted around the old roses.

And I love this as well - the rambler on here.

Does that... And that flowers only once, presumably?

That flowers once every year, yes.

So why do you feel it's worth growing,

even though it flowers only once?

They do smell divine if you get the right ones

and they just look so beautiful.

Longworth is home to The Rose Nursery at Frilford Farm.

They've been growing roses commercially for over 150 years

and I'm here to meet fifth- generation grower Robert Mattock.

This is the most wonderful room. Just wall-to-wall garden books.

You've got a couple of roses on the table here, erm,

which are very beautiful.

Absolutely, they are both called Longworth Rambler.

You can see this through the village.

It's still got a few old plants.

But tell me why are they here?

Why are they here in these pots?

The reason that they're here, as indeed are these,

is that these were roses that had been lost.

So we put on a show called the Antique Rose Show.

Very clever!

And the idea was to try and search out the old roses that I thought

must have been in the hedges and the old gardens in the village.

Particularly the old cottage gardens.

Out of that came a dozen varieties that we couldn't identify at all.

-Wow.

-Now that is quite interesting.

That is very exciting.

So what percentage of the roses,

say, that were available in about 1900,

do you think we can source today?

I think we'd be lucky to find 10%.

I find that really upsetting, actually.

Because to think that we might have lost 90%

of all those glorious roses.

And all that hard work by the breeders, you know,

and, do you know, a lot of those varieties haven't been surpassed?

Robert's nursery is involved in the restoration

of historic rose gardens,

and he's currently working on Iford Manor,

which was once the home of famous landscape designer

Harold Ainsworth Peto.

So given that you're restoring this part of the garden,

what evidence do you have

for what roses might have been growing on these pillars?

The evidence comes in the form of a set of very old plant labels.

So we know the list of roses - we then had the problem of deciding

where each one's going to go.

So that's your artistic licence coming in there.

Thank you very much.

I don't know what you feel, Robert, but for me this just has...

it has a softness about it compared to a modern climber or rambler.

-It doesn't have very formed flowers.

-No.

But, actually, that's part of its charm.

That's part of its charm.

These old climbers, in particular the Wichurana climbers,

flower along the whole length of the stem,

no matter whether they're upright

or whether they're running horizontal,

simply because that's what they do in the wild.

-Hm. And that's exactly what you want, isn't it?

-Exactly.

-You want it to be clothed in flowers all the way up.

-Bottom to top.

One of the oldest roses here

in the national collection at Mottisfont, is this.

It's Rosa gallica officinalis. Also called the apothecary's rose.

Now, it was thought to have been introduced into Britain

probably during the Crusades,

so it's been growing in our gardens for an awfully long time

and it's absolutely ravishing.

Ah, and has the most fantastic fragrance.

In fact, if you stand here, the perfume is incredible.

And all these amazing flowers are under the care of head gardener

and rose lover - Jonny Bass.

How many roses have you got here, because it's an enormous space?

About 420 registered with the national collection.

It's the perfect setting for them, isn't it?

I mean, you've got this wonderful walled garden

and then it's actually a very simple design.

That's exactly right.

The whole garden is set out as a colour palette.

The companion planting is there to help show off the roses,

but, as you say, it's very simple.

What about old roses specifically?

Because I know that many people feel...

because many of them don't repeat,

some have a tendency to be slightly more tricky to look after.

What's your feeling about that?

These are certainly elements of growing old roses.

You have to accept that, but it's no reason not to grow them.

With just the right bit of TLC here and there

and thinking about where you're planting them, you could have this

fantastic display of roses and the scent is something you can't convey.

When you walk in here in the morning it's like walking

into a perfume shop.

What are your favourites?

I have a bit of a special affinity for the Adelaide d'Orleans

that grow over the arches.

I think they're stunning.

But I also have a very special love for Kathleen Harrop, which is

a beautiful pink climber - virtually thorn-less,

heavily scented and it's just wonderful.

To me that is a classic rose.

Often people ask the ages of the rose,

in terms of when they were first discovered

or when they were first bred. And when you look back and you think -

some of them are 800 years old, possibly older, it astounds people.

Do you think it also inspires people to grown old roses

in their own gardens?

I would like to think that people will come here

and see what we do and think,

"Hey, I can do a bit of that in my garden."

And, in turn, bring back slightly more into fashion

some of the old varieties.

In order to get the most out of the roses here in the garden,

Jonny employs some very clever, but simple, techniques.

Jonny, these beds are so floriferous,

how do you get this quantity of blooms on the shrubs?

What we tend to do here is pegging down.

It's a way of using all of the growth of the shrub that's

brought up over the year and we will use these stems

and we'll bring them right the way down and peg them into the ground,

and this way you get a flower effect all the way along that length.

And instead of traditionally pruning them down to three or four feet,

we're using all of this space to produce whole lengths of flowers.

It's really clever and it absolutely works.

What time in the year would you do that?

Very early spring. And we will come through

and take out the flower stems from the previous year.

Will you cut those right out?

We will cut those right out at the base

and that then encourages these lovely new bits of growth to come

up over the season,

and these will be our replacement stems for next year.

So we'll bend these all the way down and they'll come over

and peg in quite nicely.

And the process repeats itself.

What sort of rose is it most suitable for?

Hybrid perpetuals and Bourbons.

Just precisely because they produce

these lovely long bits of growth - six or eight feet in a year.

But you could try it with anything, really.

I think it's a case of, if you've got a rose which you think might be

suitable, give it a go.

My campaign is all about getting you,

the Great British public, to buy more old roses for your gardens.

I think that an awful lot of old roses

are locked away in very beautiful, but quite often very grand gardens

and I want to set them free so we can all enjoy them.

I've conjured up an idea that is slightly off the garden wall

but I can't do it alone.

I've come to this garden centre in Solihull to enlist

the help of a crack team of budding rose revivalists.

Hey, everybody.

ALL: Hello.

This is what I want to see, a really enthusiastic bunch of gardeners.

'This youthful crop of flower enthusiasts

'hail from Solihull College

'and I'm hoping that my slightly harebrained idea

'will give this lot the inspiration they need.'

We are going to plant a garden on a truck.

-That's different.

-Sounds good!

And then we're going to take this truck out into Solihull

and see what people think.

We're going to sell those old roses.

'And now for the roses, as well as some other plants that will

'complement them.'

I think I might have slightly overdone it, as usual.

Oh, calamity. There's a disaster - losing a delphinium.

Revival is never easy... but it's worth it.

'Time to get cracking before this weather gets any worse.'

Just push it right down as far as it will go in the centre, yeah.

I love it already. OK, some plants.

This is Rosa gallica officinalis.

So it's a really ancient rose. But so beautiful.

That's great, thanks.

That's a moss rose. Can you see?

It's got a sort of really mossy... The buds are slightly fluffy.

Gorgeous, isn't it? Thank you.

'My rose garden is finally taking shape

'but the skies are getting darker and the rain has started.'

They look pretty good with the rest of the stuff we're planting with it.

Sometimes you see them in the garden centre or the nursery

and they're just plonked there, aren't they?

And you've got all the roses together.

If you've got a mixture it probably makes people want to buy them.

That's the last plant going in there, so well done, everybody!

CHEERING

Whoo! Excellent.

'And, as luck would have it, the sun has finally come out to play

'and just in time to take my garden to the people of Solihull.'

Now, I'm very glad you're coming to have a look

because I'm very proud of this.

This is a pop-up rose garden.

They are absolutely beautiful.

-Do you like them?

-I do.

-Do you grow roses at the moment?

-I've got a couple in my garden, yes.

I don't grow them.

I wish I had the time. But I do love them.

Very attractive.

I like the way that you've done

the pale pinks with the dark foliage there.

They look fab, yes.

The thing that really strikes me about this is the smell.

The smell is really, really lovely.

-They smell nice.

-A nice fragrance?

-Oh, gosh, yeah, they do.

-They do, don't they?

That's one thing about the roses in my garden, they don't smell.

Oh, you see a rose without a scent,

I mean, that's just no good at all. No, no, no!

So would you consider perhaps including

one old rose in your garden?

Well, yeah, for sure. Yeah, definitely.

-Old roses, that's the thing, yes?

-I like receiving roses.

Don't we all.

It doesn't happen very often, though.

THEY GIGGLE

I think it's safe to say that my pop-up rose garden has given some

inspiration to the gardeners of Solihull.

This is the North Garden here at Mottisfont

and these wonderful ramblers are just beginning to establish

themselves over the arches. They're going to be magnificent.

Now there are many ways that you can grow old roses in your own garden,

so here are just a few tips.

Most old roses are shrub roses like this ravishing...

Absolutely beautiful.

Now, many of them have really strong, tough growth.

They're very vigorous.

They've also got, on the whole, pretty good disease resistance,

so if you grow them healthily they tend to stay in good nick.

Because they're so big it really makes such a statement -

just the one plant and it will just be so breathtaking

at this time of year.

You'll never regret it.

If you want a really substantial shrub, perhaps even for hedging,

maybe with sharp thorns to deter intruders, well, this is perfect.

It's Rosa rugosa 'Rubra'. It also comes in a white form.

Beautiful healthy foliage and these lovely, large magenta flowers.

They're single flowers. In there you can see the golden stamens

in the middle of the flower.

Now it also has another trick up its sleeve.

You get these beautiful flowers in the summer, then don't dead head

because you will get stunning rosehips through the autumn.

You can just see on this faded flower the beginning of that

hip forming behind the bloom.

And they're lovely.

They're really fat and juicy and a gorgeous,

sort of, orange colour.

So this plant - nobody could say, "Here's an old rose that doesn't

"earn its keep in the garden."

Climbing roses have a stiff branching habit which makes them

perfect for training onto walls and fences like this.

But they're not self-supporting. They need tying into wires.

They often have much larger individual flowers

but sometimes less flowers overall. And sometimes they repeat flower.

This is Crimson Glory.

It was bred in the mid-1930s, so just getting into that

old-rose territory.

I think it's actually very beautiful and it has masses of impact.

Ramblers can go pretty big.

In fact they can even romp up through a tree but they're also

perfect for clothing a pergola or growing over an arch like this one.

This was bred in the early 19th century.

They flower on old wood, so ideally you just prune them,

really, to give them a bit of shape and keep them within bounds,

but I would say find a space where they can really do their thing

and then just let them go for it.

So, whatever shape or size your garden, there is surely

a beautiful old rose for you.

For the next part of my revival I'm visiting what is considered

the most famous rose nursery in Britain.

This is the perfect place to come if you want to see old roses

looking their absolute best, and the very latest in modern breeding.

David Austin is considered a legend

when it comes to cross-breeding old roses with new.

He aims to create plants that repeat flower

and are disease resistant, but at the same time retain the colour,

form and scent of older rose varieties.

And his success is more than evident in this beautiful two-acre garden.

This is absolutely stunning.

-It is, isn't it?

-A beauty. Tell me a bit about it.

It's a gallica rose. Its name is Duc de Guiche.

That will be the one flowering it has.

-Oh!

-It's a true old-rose fragrance.

That's a knockout fragrance!

There are some great examples here that demonstrate just how

David's managed to get the best of both old and new roses in one plant.

David, tell me a little bit about this one

because I know this is new for this year -

Olivia Rose Austin.

It's very unique in that as far as we know

we've never seen any disease on it.

It has that real old-rose shape.

It has, yes.

One of the things we try to breed here is as much variety as possible.

And this for me is a perfect example of how you bring

through that old-rose quality

-and you put it into a rose here with good disease resistance.

-Yes.

David's incredible propagating wisdom has been passed

onto his son, David Austin Junior, who has worked

alongside his father for over 15 years.

Give me the cold hard facts, though, about old roses.

I mean, are people buying them?

Not in huge numbers, no. I think it's more for the connoisseur.

The people who really know about roses and really appreciate

what they offer.

Obviously, it is down to practicalities.

They don't flower for as long.

What about the argument that I have, which is that something

flowering for a short time shouldn't be enough to put you off

because there are lots of things that have a short flowering period.

Yeah. I mean, wisteria, you know.

One of the most magnificent plants you can have in the garden.

A short flowering period.

But there isn't really a repeat flowering version, so the wisteria

will always hold its own and commercially will be a huge seller.

Whereas the poor old,

old rose has to compete with something

that performs over a longer period.

But I totally agree with you.

They have a place in the garden.

In the quest to create new rose varieties

some cross-pollination is required.

Pollen from one rose variety is used to pollinate another plant,

thus creating a hybrid of the two.

I'm going to see just how it works with David Junior

and chief propagator, Sue Baker.

The first step is that we take the petals off and then

we collect the pollen.

She's obviously very carefully removing all the pollen

heads on the top of the stamens.

If she doesn't do that there is a risk that it could self-pollinate.

If this happens it will be hard to determine the exact parentage

of the new plant.

So with all the pollen heads removed from this flower,

it's time to introduce pollen from a different variety of rose.

Why don't you have a go at pollinating?

Ooh. Ooh this is very exciting!

The pollen is normally around the side.

Oh, it's the very, very fine dust.

Make sure you've got quite a bit on your brush.

-So load the brush with the pollen?

-That's it yes. Load the brush up.

-OK, and then just where? All over the stamen?

-Yes.

It is really hard to see exactly what you're doing.

-I feel a great sense of responsibility - being a bee.

-Yes.

Once the cross-pollination is complete there's a very

exciting wait to see if the cross has been a success.

The cross that you made, the hip will be harvested

and then the following spring, those seeds will be planted out

-and this is the result.

-This is just the first hurdle, isn't it?

You then have all your trials and so on?

Absolutely. It's an eight-year process.

So there's something like 60,000 individual seedlings here.

I had no idea it was that many to produce so few.

We are very conscious of making plants that are

easy for people to have in their garden,

and the big aspect for people is disease resistance.

If we don't have to spray them

then it will be an absolutely fantastic thing to achieve.

Back at Mottisfont there are hundreds of old rose varieties

that you could choose for your garden.

Once you've picked your favourite you need to know how to plant

and take care of it properly.

So here are some key pointers to bear in mind.

Well, find yourself a nice sunny spot

because most roses prefer a good five or six hours

of direct sunshine every day,

although ramblers will, sort of, scramble up to find the light.

I'm planting a containerised rose

although you can also buy roses bare root and, in fact,

if you're going for an old rose often you'll find more variety out

of season and then they arrive when they're dormant and you put them in.

You want a nice big hole to be dug, either for containers

or for bare root.

At least twice the diameter really of that root ball

and also you need to make sure it's deep enough.

And I want to get that graft union there between the top

of the rose and the root stock just slightly below ground level.

With the hole ready, add compost

and some mycorrhizal fungi for an extra boost.

I'm just going to sprinkle into that hole so that it comes

into really good contact with the roots and those roots - which become

woody but initially they're quite fibrous - really benefit from those.

Because it will help them to draw up water

and nutrients really quickly and help it to establish healthily.

And, in fact, if you start your rose off well then you're going to find

that all sorts of other problems like mildew and black spot

are much less likely if you've got a rose to begin with

that's in really good heart.

Now we're just going to ease that out of the pot.

There we are. And you can see there those fibrous roots.

So I'm going to try and find its front.

There usually is a front. I think that's probably the right way

and then just start to fill in again around the base.

Making sure that you don't miss any gaps.

You don't want any air pockets under there.

Now I've chosen here a rose called Charles de Mills which is

one of my favourites. It's a gallica.

I'm just going to firm that in with my boot.

You don't want it rocking about.

And Charles de Mills has a lovely fragrance.

It's got these beautiful, almost quartered flowers.

Really just packed with petals and quite an open shape.

In a lovely sort of raspberry shade that just, kind of,

fades through to mauve.

And that last bit I normally just do with my hands.

And you can also leave just a little depression, sort of, around it.

Almost like a little moat.

This will ensure that water effectively penetrates

the soil surrounding the roots.

Now the other thing you can do, at the same time, particularly

with an old rose is...

Because it has a fairly short flowering period

you might want to plant companions with it right from the outset.

So something like clematis viticella.

Now that's perfect

because the pruning for this is at the same time as it would be for

the Charles de Mills, so that's really before it gets going

at the very beginning of the spring. And then under plant them as well.

Put in narcissi or alliums

so that you really extend the season of interest

and the other bonus is that roses like Charles de Mills have very

attractive foliage, so that not only does it look beautiful in flower

it still holds its own in the garden right the way through the season.

Deep in the Suffolk countryside lives one lady who's already

an avid old-rose revivalist.

Smallwood Farmhouse is home to Widget Finn

and her impressive collection of over 50 old-rose varieties.

There's a grace to them. The old roses will just look beautiful.

Look soft. Smell wonderful.

Widget fell in love with old roses over 40 years ago

and has grown them ever since.

I love them for their names. There's Rambling Rector.

There's Great Maiden's Blush. There's Cardinal Richelieu.

They all have very wonderful names

and they're very easy to grow. Once they get established

they will just carry on growing and blooming.

I think that more people should grow old roses.

Partly to keep the history going and partly because they're very

easy and partly because they're just absolutely beautiful.

This is my idea of heaven.

There's nowhere I'd rather be than in a scented rose garden just

brimming with beautiful blooms.

And old roses are survivors.

They've been handed down to us through generations.

Almost like a precious family heirloom.

They're far too good to let slip through our fingers

and no British garden should be without one.

Across the series our revival team are travelling the length

and breadth of Britain celebrating our gardens.

You couldn't draw, as a landscape artist, a more perfect picture.

Flowers.

And their perfume. Oh, it's sensational.

And plants.

This plant is perfect. That's going to get off to a great start.

Next, Joe Swift is on the campaign trail for climbers and creepers.

There's one group of plants inextricably linked to the way

we view our homes and gardens. And I love them.

From wonderful wisteria to deliciously-scented honeysuckles,

heavenly hydrangeas and exotic passion flowers.

Climbers and creepers just offer up so much

and so many choices to the British gardener.

But many of us are scared of them.

We think they're going to get out of control and even damage our homes.

I want to dispel some of the myths that have grown up around

these fantastic plants and show you that with the right selection...

and a little bit of maintenance, they'll suit any style of garden.

On my revival campaign...

Oh, we had a beep, a beep.

..I'm going to be using science to make the case for growing

climbers up the walls of our homes.

It's like covering your house with a nice duvet?

Yeah, that's a good way of thinking about it.

I'll show you the best way to create a classic structure

for your climbing vegetables.

And there you go.

That is one of the most satisfying gardening jobs you'll ever do.

'And I'll be sizing up a 250-foot-long wisteria.'

What?!

This is Heale Gardens just outside Salisbury in Wiltshire.

And the fantastic house behind me remains largely unchanged

since King Charles II hid here before fleeing to France in 1651.

But the eight acres of garden have evolved over time

and are now a very magical place on the banks of the River Avon.

But I've not really come for the interesting history nor

the delightful Japanese garden.

I'm here for the wonderful collection of climbers

and creepers to start my revival campaign.

There are honeysuckles and clematis-laden arches,

and walls covered with wisteria and roses.

These plants all have their own wonderful ways of growing up

and over whatever they can attach themselves to.

This ivy growing up this cherry tree reminds me of my first ever

gardening job, which was to take an inappropriate plant out of a tree.

This is absolutely fine because it can be snipped back, but I had

to take a Russian vine that had completely taken over a vast tree.

Climb up into it and cut it all the way back to the ground

and then dig the roots out.

And my first ever day taught me

a very important lesson - it's to plant the right plant in the

right place, but also to manage a plant as well and keep on top of it.

Sadly, climbers are seen as aggressive thuggish plants.

They're trying to take over the world.

Give them an inch and they'll take a mile.

But I honestly think these plants are misunderstood.

They offer so much.

Something like this rose has a delicious scent, as other

climbers do too and they flower around eye level which is

just where you want it.

And over there that honeysuckle is perfect

for softening a wall or a fence.

They cleanse the air of pollution.

Provide vital habitats for birds and insects.

And with space at a premium in so many of our gardens they can

give you a huge amount of interest with a relatively small footprint.

And where better to start my campaign than Oxford?

A city famous for its university

and quadrangles covered in climbers and creepers.

This is Lincoln College, founded in 1427.

It's one of the oldest colleges at the university and one

of the buildings most notable features is this Virginia creeper.

Look at this. This is amazing.

It's so quintessentially English somehow, with the stone

and then the Virginia creeper

and there's a climbing hydrangea over there.

And people think that they're boring

but actually a plant like this reflects every single season.

The fresh green leaves in spring. Really glossy.

Really alive. And then in the autumn turn the most intense red

autumn colour.

You can't have flowers everywhere in a garden.

You've got to have a good backdrop at some point.

The Virginia creeper was first introduced to these

shores by 17th-century horticulturalist John Tradescant.

And the fashion for climbers and creepers in our gardens

reached its peak during the late Victorian

and early Edwardian Arts and Crafts period.

Here at the college it's head gardener Digby Styles's job

to preserve this historic plant.

Wow, this is ancient, isn't it?

I've never seen a Virginia creeper with a trunk quite like that.

How old is it? Do you know?

We think about 120 years old.

What about the roots?

I mean, you know, a lot of people are really worried

about the damage a plant like this would do to the building

and how much moisture it takes out of the soil.

Are there any problems here at all?

Um, we notice it on the lawn in the summer where it saps all

the moisture, but it doesn't cause any damage that we know of.

They've been here for so long that, yeah, I think we'd know by now

if they were going to.

It would probably cause more damage if you took it out now, actually.

Yeah. With the roots rotting off, yeah.

It's fantastic.

It's not hard to see why the rich green tapestry

of this Virginia creeper

has been inspiring students and staff here for over a century.

Just admiring the greenery.

I thought you were going to admire me.

I'll admire you at the same time.

SHE GIGGLES

Well, what's it like working overlooking this courtyard?

Oh, it's like no other place.

You have quiet, tranquillity... and you see the season changes

and the colours change all the time.

So even just from these climbers you're sensing

and experiencing every season?

In the spring it makes me feel like I'm being renewed,

when I see the new green shoots come up and in the autumn it's lovely.

It's like you finish one year

and you will complete a cycle, not only in the students' life,

in the university's life, but also in nature.

Unfortunately so many of us still live in fear of the climber.

Fear that it will take over our gardens and trees

and even damage the walls of our homes.

Well, a research team from Oxford University have been looking at

the facts and will hopefully settle this argument once and for all.

Dr Martin Coombes has been studying the effects of ivy on stone

and brickwork and I'm hoping he'll have some good news for my revival.

So what's going on here, then?

We've been commissioned by English Heritage to look at how ivy

interacts with the materials of the walls that it grows on.

OK. So what results has it come up with?

First thing we were interested in was how ivy responds to

defects in walls, and so you'll see we've built in crevices and recesses

and holes in some of the pointing and what we're actually finding is

the ivy can only get in if there's an existing defect in the wall.

So if your pointing is already good

-your ivy is not going to get in there?

-Absolutely.

That's what I always thought. I always knew that one.

-HE CHUCKLES OK, now there's a machine down there.

-Yep.

That looks exciting.

So what this thing does

is it gives us a reading of how hard the stone is.

So this is going to tell us whether the stone

has been softened in any way?

-Can we do that?

-Yeah. Have a go. Go for it.

Oh, really? What do I do?

Hold that onto this area here. Press the button.

-There we go.

-Oh, we had a beep.

-A beep.

-A beep!

And then this gives us a reading on here.

318.

Then we get another number which is 359.

359. Does that mean it's harder than the bit outside the ivy?

Um, based on just two readings we can't really make that much of a conclusion.

So this is a bit of an ongoing thing,

but hopefully in the long term

if we do much more readings we'll be able to make a more definite

conclusion concerning this.

So are there any conclusions that you have come to

about ivy and the walls?

Yes, we have found very good evidence that the ivy

acts very much like a thermal blanket.

So it keeps the stone cool in the summer

and also what's really important, particularly when thinking

about damage to the stone, is that it prevents frost from happening.

And frost on your brickwork or stonework can degrade it

-and it can actually flake away, can't it?

-Absolutely, yeah.

It's like covering your house with a nice duvet? In the winter.

-That's a good way of thinking about it.

-Good. I'm glad to hear

that there's some positive stuff coming out of this.

I know it's not, you know, fully concluded yet,

but so far so good for the ivy.

I would say so.

And it's not just ivy that could be beneficial.

Depending on certain factors such as the direction your walls

are facing and density of foliage, research shows that many climbers,

especially evergreens could provide extra insulation for our homes.

Climbers are basically cheats.

They don't waste their energy growing stems strong enough

to support themselves.

It's much more energy efficient to use other plants or structures.

Here at Heale Gardens in Wiltshire this stunning pergola is

laden with wisteria, laburnum, clematis and a grapevine too.

Now, you may not have room for something this extravagant

but let me inspire you with a few starter ideas for your garden.

Honeysuckles are all about the scent.

It's absolutely delicious and this is covered in blooms.

And it's such a versatile climber.

It can grow in partial shade or sun.

Perfect for a garden wall or a fence and it's great for wildlife.

In the summer when it flowers it's covered in bees,

and then later in the autumn you get lovely red berries all over it

which look great, but the birds love them too.

Mm.

When it comes to flowering plants you just can't beat clematis

and this one is an absolute beauty.

One of my favourites.

Warszawska Nike it's called and you can see it's got lovely,

velvety huge flowers and they're pretty easy to grow.

They like to have their roots in the shade.

Here it's perfect because we've got some perennials

that are shading the roots and the plant will just grow away.

If you've got a south or southwest-facing

hot, baking boundary wall or fence

then this is the plant for you.

A passion flower.

They come in a range of mauves and blues and pinks,

but this one I really like.

It's called Constance Eliott.

It's got a whitey green flower with a lovely, distinctive yellow

stamen in the middle. And it's a fast grower too.

It's got these tendrils which cling onto pretty much anything.

So if you wire up a wall like this.

It's about nine or ten metres long - plant it in the middle.

Within a few years that entire wall will be covered.

I've got a passion for passion flower.

But this is one of my all-time favourites.

Trachelospermum jasminoides.

Every garden should have one and it grows in sun or semi shade.

As long as it's a protected wall

and it doesn't get hit with really strong winds it will do nicely.

It's just about to flower now.

You get these tiny, little, white jasmine-like flowers

and the stronger, sweeter scent.

It's an absolute beauty and later on in the year - it's just turning.

A few of the leaves got a nice, reddish tinge just to give

a little bit more depth to the foliage colour.

Now, a guide to climbers wouldn't be complete without climbing roses.

And on this wall alone we've got three very different types, showing

how versatile they are.

Over here we've got a beautiful white rose.

Absolutely covered in flowers emerging from pink buds.

In the middle of this Trachelospermum we've got a very

dainty little rose which is just scrambling its way through there.

But this is my favourite.

This yellow rose against the brick and the stonework there.

The colours just work beautifully together.

There's so many different roses to choose from

and they come in a vast array of colours, but my advice would be

think about the colour and how it's going to work with the wall behind.

Just as they have here. And also make sure you get some that are scented.

Why would you want to miss out?

When it comes to climbers and creepers the key thing to

remember is that you mustn't be afraid of pruning.

Be confident with your clippers.

Here at Heale Gardens one man who knows how to keep these

plants in check is head gardener Michael Maltby.

Michael, beautiful akebia. I've got one at home, the maroon flowers.

Lovely chocolaty scent in, well, late winter, really.

But this has got a different flower, hasn't it?

Yeah. Yeah, it's cream-flowering.

The cream flowers really do work well with the stone.

The balustrading.

Yeah, because it's being trained laterally along the balustrade here.

-Yes, yes.

-And it's a very vigorous plant, isn't it?

Yes, it is. It is.

Erm, because of its vigour we tend to prune it

three or four times a year.

OK.

What we do is we get hold of the long new growth

and go back to the old wood, and one bud past the base or cluster,

I would just prune it straight across there.

But the beauty of it is you don't damage any of the old leaves

that you're then going to be showing.

And if it wasn't restricted it would take over

the whole balustrade and probably...

Oh, absolutely. It would just keep on going.

I mean, it will climb up to, sort of, nine or 12 metres.

Where you're comfortable climbing on a ladder that's where you...

you should stop your climbers there.

If you've get a level then, you know,

train them into that level, erm, and I think that works very well.

That's a very good bit of advice that.

It's getting larger and larger

so at some point then on a pruning then...

we'd actually renovate a little bit as well.

So cut back into some old wood.

You'd have to go a bit harder.

You might have to lose a few flowers one year maybe.

Might lose a few flowers but, I mean, that's fine really.

-That's the way it goes.

-That's the way it goes.

So this is a good plant to start pruning like this,

-because you can't go too wrong.

-Yes.

People get so scared of pruning.

Yeah, there's an extraordinary mystery about pruning.

You know, some people love pruning,

so for them it's an absolute pleasure.

People just aren't... they tend to not be confident enough.

-and something like this is going to build up your confidence.

-Definitely.

-Everyone should have one.

-I agree. Yes.

THEY CHUCKLE

Everyone should have one.

Someone who understands just how giving climbers and creepers can be

is Judith Wilson. And this is her garden at Wickham Place in Essex.

Judith, a wonderful walled garden.

Absolutely beautiful. I get the sense of space.

You've kept the lawn here with the stripes on it.

But what was this garden like when you first came here?

Overgrown. The flower beds just were a mass of weed.

The lawn had been cut but everything just went into this great

undergrowth of Japanese knotweed, brambles, nettles.

You name it, really, and it was here.

-So you had a real task on your hands.

-Yes.

I attacked it fairly vigorously - chain saw

-and lots of bonfires and er...

-THEY CHUCKLE

It's the only way to do it.

How important are climbers and creepers to your garden?

With all the walls that we've got here we really do need to

cover them up to an extent, but still be able to see the wall.

Out of all the climbing plants in Judith's garden

there is one in particular that I've come to see

and it's one of the most popular creepers in the country - wisteria.

Come and have a look out here.

So on the other side of this wall there's more, is there?

-The root's there.

-The root's on this side

and then you've trained it up and over and...

And you come through here, then...

What?!

Never! That is amazing.

There's a bit more. It actually goes round the corner.

-How long is this, then?

-That's 250 feet.

-And it's one wisteria?

-Yes.

That is absolutely stunning.

Now that's a labour of love, to prune that.

-THEY LAUGH

-It takes me about a week.

So you cut it really hard back and then started training it?

Yes, yes. Well, I brought just small pieces over

and then started to train them

long so it did about ten feet each year.

Each direction.

It took Judith 14 years to train this plant over the wall

and it was a further six years

before it came into full flowering glory.

And now it's believed to be the longest wisteria in Britain.

I've got something here I'm going to show you.

This is one year's annual growth.

OK. So this is... Wow. OK. This is from one year.

-This is one year.

-The whippy growth.

-Yes.

There we are. 5.8 metres.

To you and I that's 19 feet.

That's an incredible amount of growth in one year, isn't it?

A younger shrub doesn't grow as much as that, you'll be pleased to know.

This is 60 years old, so it is fairly vigorous.

If you fancy a wonderful wisteria for your own garden, a good

tip is to go for plants grown from cuttings or by grafting,

as they are likely to flower sooner than those raised from seed.

I think people have got the fear a little bit and are a bit

scared of growing climbers, creepers on the house and the walls.

-They shouldn't have.

-What do you think about it?

OK. I've shown you wisteria which is quite strong,

but grown in the right place it can be very gentle.

It can grow just across an archway of a door.

The clematis, the hops, they're absolutely beautiful.

They can be grown anywhere.

But the important thing is - right place, right plant.

I couldn't agree more.

It doubles the area of your garden.

Let's get climbing up the walls. Where's the ladders?

THEY LAUGH

What a pleasure it was to meet Judith.

Now, she really understands what climbers bring to her garden

and let's hope she inspired some of you to grow them too.

But you don't have to grow them this big.

Beautiful as they are,

climbers and creepers are not just for decoration.

Many of them serve a practical purpose too.

Vertical plants have always created a striking structure

in the vegetable garden, just as they have here in Heale Gardens.

Now I'm going to show you how to make a wigwam to grow

one of the most productive climbers in the vegetable garden -

the runner bean.

Now, the thing about runner beans is they like a good soil,

well prepared.

I'm just raking it level.

And then the next thing to do is to start...

..putting your posts up.

Now, I'm using hazel.

You can use bamboo but I think hazel looks a little bit better

and, actually, what I've already done is cut a little slant

in the bottom - poke into the ground that much easier.

Use at least half a dozen sticks

and tie them at the top with some string.

There you go. And that really is very solid.

So I've got some beans ready to grow.

This is a good little tip, actually.

Rather than planting it on the outside of the cane,

if you plant them just on the inside

they tend to grip on better and get growing.

Dig a little hole...

..and then pop it in.

I'm popping it in a little bit deeper than

it was growing away because it just makes it firmer.

And it makes sure it's got a nice easy root run down there.

And there you go.

You can see it's actually going to just start growing,

it's already attaching itself - that one.

So there you go. One done, five to go.

And there you go.

That is one of the most satisfying gardening jobs you'll ever do.

Now, I've used a variety called streamline.

It's got a lovely red flower.

A really ornamental plant in itself

and I would expect that in a couple of months this will be

completely covered with growth and it will have beans on it as well.

Water them really well and regularly. Feed them,

something like liquid seaweed is perfect. And also give them

a mulch every now and then to lock the moisture in, and when they

start fruiting just keep picking them and they will keep producing.

That's as simple as that.

There are those creepers that naturally drive themselves upwards,

but there are other plants that can be manipulated to

act like a creeper.

The most famous one being the grapevine.

It really is a vineyard, isn't it? Fantastic.

Yeah. It's a solid little vineyard.

Marko Bojcun lives in North London and started successfully

growing his grapes on his allotment over 20 years ago.

He now runs the Capital's only cooperative vineyard

in Epping Forest, where he grows over 400 vines.

-Pruning is key, isn't it?

-Yes, yes, it is.

-Because the way you prune these vines...

-Yeah.

How old are these?

Erm, this vine is coming into its fifth year.

At the end of every growing season when the leaves fall off,

we cut 90% of the wood and leave only as many buds

as the vine will be able to carry in the following season.

By midsummer this vine will have climbed all the way up to the

top wire, which is well over a metre from this point here.

Yeah, they're vigorous plants, aren't they? They're really vigorous.

10cm a day, which is very, very fast.

So, the question on everybody's lips is how many bottles of wine

do you expect to get from this vineyard?

We should have up to 800 bottles of wine.

Two... Roughly, two bottles of wine per vine.

That's not bad, is it?

Of course, you don't have to have a vineyard to grow grapes.

I mean, a lot of people have got vines in their gardens,

growing over pergola's or up the house wall or whatever.

All you really need is a wall or a fence to train the vine onto

and the vine will grow very healthily.

You make it sound so easy.

'This cooperative vineyard even has its own winery where people

'come from all over the capital with grapes they've

'grown on their own vines to be turned into wine.'

What vintage is this, Marko?

-This is a 2012 Regent.

-Sounded good.

Hm. There's a lot of raspberry.

Quite clean.

What sort of alcohol content would that have, then?

This is about 11% alcohol.

-OK. Good.

-It's quite light.

-Yeah, it's nice. That's very nice.

-Thank you.

So the grapes that you made this wine from...

they're not from here, are they, the grapes?

By the River Lea in Springfield Park in Hackney.

-A Hackney wine...

-Indeed.

-..for a Hackney man.

-That's right.

-Absolutely, yeah.

-Cheers.

-Cheers.

-That gives me an idea.

Being an East London boy myself,

I'm taking to the streets to find out what people think of this local vino

and show them the benefits of growing climbers and creepers.

Try this. OK. It's a nice glass of wine.

-OK.

-Why not?

-After a long day's work.

-This is very good.

-Do you like that?

I do, yes.

That's quite nice.

Where do you think it might come from?

I have no idea.

-It's Portugal.

-Portuguese?

-Yeah.

-Mary would know more than me.

-Have a guess.

-Chile?

Chile? It's from Hackney, just around the corner.

-I don't believe it.

-Yeah. You could grow grapes on a balcony.

-Really?

-You could get about two bottles of wine per vine

and you can still grow it on your balcony.

You see these buildings, they're so bare

and I'm trying to get people growing climbers and creepers.

You can grow them in a pot.

-All you need is a wall.

-Really? I've got a balcony.

-That will please all your neighbours as well, you see.

-Good.

-The more greenery the better.

-Definitely.

Come back. Oi. Oi!

HE LAUGHS

Well, I'm definitely not cut out to be a wine waiter, that's for sure.

But I've definitely enthused some people to think about growing

climbers and just softening these harsh walls with some vegetation.

That's what it's all about. Cheers.

Back in the tranquil setting of Heale Gardens I'm going to

show you one of the most effective way of reproducing

climbing plants, by giving nature a helping hand.

There's lots of climbers that you can propagate through layering,

and it's a very simple technique.

It's like taking a cutting

but actually leaving it connected to the mother plant. Till it turns

into a little plant by itself with roots and all, and then you can lift

it and move it somewhere else in the garden or give it to a friend.

So what I'm going to do is take this honeysuckle.

Get a nice healthy-looking stem like this

which is somewhere near the ground.

Just take off a couple of the leaves there. Snip them off.

So you've got a nice section of clear stem there and then the next

thing I'm going to do is just scrape back

some of this outer layer.

Either side of this node

because that's where the roots are going to form from there.

Now just to help it on its way,

you don't have to necessarily use this - but a lot of people do -

is a little bit of rooting powder.

This has got hormones in it to encourage roots.

You can see it just sticks to it quite nicely.

And the next thing I've got to do is actually put that into the ground.

What I'm going to do is just scrape back a little bit of soil.

Place that into the ground like that.

Backfill the soil like that, and then I'm going to get a peg

and just peg this down to make sure it doesn't pop up.

Or you can use a big stone or a brick or something like that.

And that's holding it in place.

Put the soil back over the top.

The next thing to do is just get a piece of bamboo,

carefully place it next to where the plant is growing

and then I'm just going to tie this up...

..and there you go.

Now, keep it well watered. Don't let it dry out.

And roots will form just where it's making contact with the soil.

This time next spring it will be ready to cut away

from the mother plant itself.

Dig the entire plant up with the roots attached,

of course, and then move it to somewhere else in the garden.

Simple as that.

You can do this with so many different climbers around the garden.

It's very cheap. It's very effective. And it's quite fun to do.

One woman who's already behind my campaign to get everyone

growing climbers and creepers is university lecturer Elayne Coakes.

She's spent the last seven years transforming her

North West London garden into a haven for climbing clematis.

I am passionate about clematis in all their many varieties.

They take up so little space that really you can all grow one

in the smallest container.

Even hanging baskets.

They are tremendous value for what you get in terms of flowers

all the year round.

Elayne is so passionate about this versatile climber that she

now has over 40 varieties scrambling up and over every available surface.

One of the wonderful things about clematis is that you can

allow them to grow amongst other plants.

That's quite a young clematis there in the middle.

It has to be my favourite at the moment

because it's actually subtle.

It just has this tiny red edging to it.

It really is a beautiful clematis that we planted last summer.

Every time I look on the web or go to the garden centre

I see another clematis.

I want them all.

It doesn't matter how big or small your garden is,

there is a climber for every situation and every season.

So I want us

to forget about our fears and grow more of them in all of our gardens.