:00:33. > :00:34.Hello and welcome to the Royal Horticultural Society's
:00:35. > :00:43.Tomorrow the gates open for a six day horticultural
:00:44. > :00:47.celebration of Summer and tonight Rachel, Joe and I are here to give
:00:48. > :00:55.This year there's a common theme running through the showground
:00:56. > :00:59.celebrating neighbourhoods and community spirit.
:01:00. > :01:02.If there's one flower that unites, it has to be the rose and
:01:03. > :01:06.if you love them as much as I do, get set to be spoilt because there?s
:01:07. > :01:12.an entire marquee here dedicated to England's National Flower.
:01:13. > :01:15.But out of the hundreds of varieties on display only one can
:01:16. > :01:23.I'll be revealing which one it is later in the show.
:01:24. > :01:27.And if that's not enough to tempt you
:01:28. > :01:29.there's also a huge Floral Pavilion filled with nurseries showcasing
:01:30. > :01:41.I'll be finding out which varieties are set to cause a stir.
:01:42. > :01:46.The show gardens are one of the great drawing features of any flower
:01:47. > :01:50.show. There are 33 this at Hampton Court, but I suspect the most talked
:01:51. > :01:54.about will be the conceptual gardens, which have become one of
:01:55. > :01:58.the great features of Hampton. This year they are themed. There are
:01:59. > :02:04.seven different ones and each one reflects one of the seven deadly
:02:05. > :02:10.sins. On Wednesday, our guest, Mary Berry, will be taking her view of
:02:11. > :02:15.these horticultural vices. Also on Wednesday we've got the bug expert,
:02:16. > :02:20.George McGovern, who will be looking at our gardens under the microscope,
:02:21. > :02:23.especially at those insects which are invisible to the naked eye, yet
:02:24. > :02:29.live in a teeming thousands in all our back gardens. But right now,
:02:30. > :02:38.Rachel and Joe are taking a look at the highlights of the large gardens.
:02:39. > :02:45.Selina Botham has been inspired by the wildlife, the nature conscious
:02:46. > :02:51.farmers are increasingly living around their crops. She's taken that
:02:52. > :02:54.idea and turned it into a more domesticated size garden. What I
:02:55. > :03:00.really like about it is the planting itself. Around the outside with got
:03:01. > :03:03.a wild flower meadow that creates a maze, away into the centre where
:03:04. > :03:07.you've got a lovely seating area. These are my favourite bits of the
:03:08. > :03:13.garden, these are made of straw, these seats, and they are beautiful,
:03:14. > :03:16.sculptural focal point as well. They will biodegrade over time, but
:03:17. > :03:20.that's because they are made of natural materials, as is everything
:03:21. > :03:23.in this garden. At the back we've got these sculptures. They've been
:03:24. > :03:32.inspired by birds but also to when courage birds into the garden. To
:03:33. > :03:38.encourage insects to come overwinter here. At the front, we've got a very
:03:39. > :03:42.simple wall, logs stacked on top of each other, with some wild flower
:03:43. > :03:45.turf on the top, again to encourage as many little critters into this
:03:46. > :03:56.garden as possible. That's such a simple thing to do in any garden.
:03:57. > :04:03.This design very cleverly embraces elements of the MacMillan Legacy
:04:04. > :04:06.Garden and that's apparent here in the bicycles. Just to remind us that
:04:07. > :04:10.those nurses often travel to see their patients on a bicycle. You've
:04:11. > :04:15.got this extraordinary sculpture, which again is representative of a
:04:16. > :04:20.legacy of Dexter cattle that were left to Macmillan. But for me, this
:04:21. > :04:28.garden is all about the planting. The softness, the delicacy of it. I
:04:29. > :04:34.love these tall verticals. And a beautiful aconite called stainless
:04:35. > :04:37.steel. It's melded together with these grasses, but this ornamental
:04:38. > :04:44.carrot, with lovely burgundy flowers. It's all very much a
:04:45. > :04:47.stylised representation of the countryside around Castle Cary in
:04:48. > :04:54.Somerset, where Douglas Macmillan grew up. I think it does that
:04:55. > :04:59.beautifully. I love this bit here. It's a very beautiful garden that
:05:00. > :05:00.binds together the past, takes it into the future and it has a
:05:01. > :05:11.timeless quality. Boxes of bananas, not what you'd
:05:12. > :05:14.call a traditional planting style. John. This is the bird garden in
:05:15. > :05:18.your trilogy. Remind us John. This is the bird garden in
:05:19. > :05:21.trilogy is about. We started off down at Chelsea. It was remembering
:05:22. > :05:27.the moment 30 years ago that the Ethiopian famine came to global
:05:28. > :05:30.attention. The garden was a huge aid crate with ache parachute crashed
:05:31. > :05:36.through the trees. It was the promise of a verdant landscape. It
:05:37. > :05:39.is built fully open, releasing 10 million trees that have been planted
:05:40. > :05:44.over the last few decades there. Now at Hampton Court, the crate is still
:05:45. > :05:47.here but it's no longer needed, it's a skeleton of itself. Now the
:05:48. > :05:52.produce is going in other directions. This garden is all about
:05:53. > :05:58.export and the shipping pallet. It's positive, it's a celebration really.
:05:59. > :06:04.It is, it's an uplifting college -- message of how far it has come. A
:06:05. > :06:09.cut flower industry with a couple of billion US dollars a year. I get it
:06:10. > :06:16.now. I saw it as a load of crates, fruit and flowers, but now I get the
:06:17. > :06:19.message. Fantastic, well done. One of the things that makes Hampton
:06:20. > :06:24.Court Flower Show is not just its scale, it is after all one of the
:06:25. > :06:26.largest flower shows in the world, but it is after all one of the
:06:27. > :06:29.largest flower shows in the world, but its setting. With the Royal
:06:30. > :06:39.Palace and the fantastic park, it is glorious.
:06:40. > :06:41.Who knows what Hampton Court's most famous resident Henry VIII would
:06:42. > :06:44.have made of the show gardens, but perhaps he would have approved
:06:45. > :06:48.of the restoration of one of the Palace's historic kitchen gardens.
:06:49. > :06:51.A bountiful plot that back in the day would have been
:06:52. > :06:53.the beating heart of the Royal Palace, producing tonnes of
:06:54. > :07:00.A few days before opening we joined the keeper of the kitchen garden and
:07:01. > :07:04.mastermind behind the project, Vicki Cooke, to find out what our Royal
:07:05. > :07:21.This used to be Henry VIII's jousting arena. But when Justin went
:07:22. > :07:26.out of fashion it was turned into a kitchen garden. They were originally
:07:27. > :07:29.in use between 1689 and 1840. They were built for William and Mary, who
:07:30. > :07:33.decided to make the Palace their main residence. We wanted to
:07:34. > :07:38.recreate the garden as it would have looked in the Georgian period. We
:07:39. > :07:47.had the helpful plan of 1736, which was done by John Rock, a
:07:48. > :07:50.cartographer of the time. This was originally a six acre site, we've
:07:51. > :07:52.restored one ache of it. It's this one quadrant that you can see here.
:07:53. > :07:55.The fruit and vegetables produced in this garden would have gone straight
:07:56. > :07:59.into the palace kitchens. This isn't some hidden away kitchen garden,
:08:00. > :08:01.this is right next to the Palace will stop they would have fed the
:08:02. > :08:05.hundreds of people working and living in the Palace at that time.
:08:06. > :08:09.Not just the king and his family but all the courtiers and all the
:08:10. > :08:13.various people who kept the Palace running.
:08:14. > :08:20.As part of their research for this garden, it was important for us to
:08:21. > :08:24.find out what would have been grown and eaten back of the time of the
:08:25. > :08:29.garden. One of the specialities of the era were grand salads. According
:08:30. > :08:33.to the head gardener, a grand salad should consist of no less than 35
:08:34. > :08:37.ingredients. Whilst we might recognise lettuces, cucumbers and
:08:38. > :08:43.endives, they were also eating Hartshorn, type a plantain, it grows
:08:44. > :08:47.by the sea naturally and has nice, salty leaves. We were also growing
:08:48. > :08:53.something called cost Marie, which would have been every single kitchen
:08:54. > :08:57.and cottage garden. It was used for flavouring beer but as a salad
:08:58. > :09:03.ingredient also. We've got a recipe here for a grand salad, published in
:09:04. > :09:08.1723. The centrepiece of it is a turnip. Let it be formed like a
:09:09. > :09:10.castle, made of past and washed over with a castle, made of past and
:09:11. > :09:14.washed over with egg yolk of eggs, and within it a tree, with green
:09:15. > :09:23.herbs and stuck with flowers. These were really grand centrepieces to
:09:24. > :09:27.have your dinner party. One thing we've been keen on is trying to
:09:28. > :09:31.source crops and varieties that were grown in the era. We reckon about 40
:09:32. > :09:37.to 50% of what we are growing here is pre-Victorian. One crop where
:09:38. > :09:41.we've got a good spread of varieties are peas. This variety is called
:09:42. > :09:45.Robinson. During the time of this garden, a new fashion came over from
:09:46. > :09:49.the courts of France, and that was for eating these fresh, green and
:09:50. > :09:53.out of the pod. That would have seemed a pretty decadent thing to
:09:54. > :09:56.do, considering they were your winter storage stable. There's a
:09:57. > :10:00.quote from the mistress of King Louis XIV of France. She said, it is
:10:01. > :10:12.kind of fashion and madness that has overtaken the ladies of the court
:10:13. > :10:15.who, when they have subbed at the table of the king, they still go
:10:16. > :10:16.home and stuff their faces with peas. With that in mind, I'm going
:10:17. > :10:28.to eat some peas! This is one of the more unusual
:10:29. > :10:33.salad crops we are growing. It was one of the ones mentioned in the
:10:34. > :10:36.retired gardener book of 1706. One of the crops suitable for the
:10:37. > :10:41.gentleman to grow in his garden. It grows wild around the coast of the
:10:42. > :10:45.UK, it's called scurvy grass. It has a very high vitamins C content, so
:10:46. > :10:49.sailors returning from long voyages would seek out this planned to eat
:10:50. > :10:56.to prevent scurvy. The flavour is unusual. It started off as a mild,
:10:57. > :10:59.pleasant salad green, it's got hotter and hotter as the seasons
:11:00. > :11:02.progressed and now it takes -- taste something between cress and
:11:03. > :11:09.horseradish. It would certainly add a bit of pep to your salads. For me,
:11:10. > :11:12.this has been a fantastic project to be involved in because it has been
:11:13. > :11:16.really interesting finding out about the history of the vegetables, the
:11:17. > :11:20.history of food that used to be eaten. With just this little area,
:11:21. > :11:23.we can showcase some of the gardening techniques and varieties
:11:24. > :11:36.that would have been grown in the era.
:11:37. > :11:44.This looks fantastic, isn't all from the garden? Yes, harvested this
:11:45. > :11:52.morning. We have salad Bernards, some blood warts, scurvy grass. It's
:11:53. > :12:01.a very unusual flavour. That's not what I expected. It is sort of a bit
:12:02. > :12:05.bitter, but not in a bad way. It's a good aftertaste. What an interesting
:12:06. > :12:12.taste! Would that have been put on the table in the 1730s? Yes, they
:12:13. > :12:16.would have been grand centrepiece arrangements. We have this idea that
:12:17. > :12:20.somehow Georgians and 18th century in general, people just eight meat
:12:21. > :12:26.and lots of it, and didn't really have many salads, but that's not
:12:27. > :12:30.true. No, the Tudors with the big meat eaters. The Georgians got into
:12:31. > :12:34.their vegetables in a big way. A lot of the variety matched have
:12:35. > :12:38.disappeared. Gal it's been a bit of a mission to track down the heritage
:12:39. > :12:45.varieties, but also the wild flowers. This is still a working
:12:46. > :12:50.garden. What amazes me is how ordered and immaculate, everything
:12:51. > :12:55.looks so healthy and good. How do you manage that? We have a team of
:12:56. > :12:59.three gardeners. Because it is a garden that is so close to the
:13:00. > :13:02.Palace, it would have been a place that even back in the 1700, Lords
:13:03. > :13:08.and ladies would have walked around it, so it would have had to look
:13:09. > :13:12.beautiful. It looks lovely, both in the ground and on the plate. Its
:13:13. > :13:16.hugely successful. You can come and see it. If you are coming to the
:13:17. > :13:19.show and you fancy looking at the Royal vegetable gardens, come on,
:13:20. > :13:30.it's open in daylight hours. From old varieties fit for
:13:31. > :13:43.a King to new plants holding court There are thousands of plants in
:13:44. > :13:46.here. If you look around, you will find some absolute beauties making
:13:47. > :13:52.their debut here at Hampton Court. Just like this one, it's a real
:13:53. > :13:58.beauty. What is interesting is it's a major breakthrough in agapanthus
:13:59. > :14:02.growing. It's a bicolour. The first byte colour that is hardly an
:14:03. > :14:06.deciduous, so it can be left outdoors all year round. It is
:14:07. > :14:11.beautiful, it's got a lovely flower form. I love the way that the Indigo
:14:12. > :14:11.blue flowers start off blue and then they bleach
:14:12. > :14:16.blue flowers start off blue and then they out to white on the outside.
:14:17. > :14:17.This really is tough. It is hardy, it was found growing in the
:14:18. > :14:38.foothills of the Pennines. evergreen shrub. It needs a little
:14:39. > :14:43.protection, maybe grow it in a pot. This one is brand-new. It is called
:14:44. > :14:57.Red Dwarf. All of the growers hybridise in
:14:58. > :15:03.search of the perfect plant but this is a happy accident.
:15:04. > :15:18.Dame Edna is gone to be so excited. There is a new gladioli and it is
:15:19. > :15:19.pretty glamorous. I am not sure it is for me but some people are going
:15:20. > :15:32.to love it. These orchids are seriously bright.
:15:33. > :15:40.They are always looking for new varieties. These are as yet unnamed.
:15:41. > :15:44.Who knows what they will be called? They are looking for smaller, dainty
:15:45. > :15:48.flowers and lots of blooms in bright orange. I think they have achieved
:15:49. > :15:53.it. People think these are really hard to look after but they need to
:15:54. > :15:58.be watered with rainwater, stick the part in another parts of the routes
:15:59. > :16:15.are shaded, and as long is there is no direct sunlight they will flower
:16:16. > :16:18.away. There are some incredible orchids.
:16:19. > :16:23.Just look at the range. Developing that sort of passion for a single
:16:24. > :16:28.plant is a great way of bringing communities together. I am meeting
:16:29. > :16:29.the pupils of a school from Somerset who have all fallen head over heels
:16:30. > :16:44.for orchids. You are the man behind the Orchid
:16:45. > :16:50.Project. Tell me about it? All the plants grown here have been blown by
:16:51. > :16:59.the pupils. -- grown by. It is all based around growing orchids from
:17:00. > :17:03.seed. What inspired you? I was quiet and did not have any confidence. I
:17:04. > :17:07.was taken to this greenhouse and I was amazed with this little world in
:17:08. > :17:13.the glasshouses and I stayed. What has this led on to? I did work with
:17:14. > :17:18.a team of students in the Himalayas which took me to a national
:17:19. > :17:25.competition. Amazing. What is this? This is orchids seed. It is very
:17:26. > :17:28.small and does not carry a food source so we have to grow it on
:17:29. > :17:37.agar. Has this influenced what you might want to do with your future? I
:17:38. > :17:43.am becoming a trainee at Bristol Botanic Gardens in September. You
:17:44. > :17:48.must be so proud. I have signed up Zoe as an adult volunteer. She is
:17:49. > :17:52.not getting away! Fascinating - well done.
:17:53. > :18:04.This part of the show is called the Plant Village and it is heaven for
:18:05. > :18:07.me. It is also the location of the Plant Heritage Marquee. It showcases
:18:08. > :18:13.the national collections. These exist in order to really make sure
:18:14. > :18:17.that a single genus of plants has as many varieties as possible
:18:18. > :18:21.sustained. Many of these collections are held by a single individual. I
:18:22. > :18:31.have come to see one held by many people across the city of Bristol.
:18:32. > :18:37.This is looking stunning, your calendula. We thought we were going
:18:38. > :18:45.to have annuals as a national collection and they could not have
:18:46. > :18:48.them in one place as there would be problems with cross pollination. We
:18:49. > :18:53.provide community groups with the equipment and training, so anybody
:18:54. > :19:00.can get involved. What sort of people are growing in? Unday
:19:01. > :19:06.centres, 50 plus accommodation. My eye is drawn to the pots? We talk
:19:07. > :19:16.about the plans and they get involved in their schools. -- the
:19:17. > :19:19.plans. The idea of working together to keep
:19:20. > :19:23.one plant on the horticultural radar is one thing but when it comes to
:19:24. > :19:27.coordinating efforts to put the town of Thetford on the map, that is
:19:28. > :19:31.something else. The ladies of the local Monday club sent a call to
:19:32. > :19:34.arms out to the community. Everyone from the staff of the local call
:19:35. > :19:39.centre to children of the local primary school did their bit to help
:19:40. > :19:49.bring a flavour of East Anglia to Hampton Court threw a shoe garden.
:19:50. > :19:58.-- through a show garden. We are the Monday Morning Club, and
:19:59. > :20:02.Hampton also know what's coming. We are passionate about Thetford. We
:20:03. > :20:07.want Thetford to be remembered in every part of the country. We wanted
:20:08. > :20:12.something that would be a community project. The garden seemed a natural
:20:13. > :20:20.way of doing that. And the fact that we hadn't got any clue about plans!
:20:21. > :20:24.Never mind! We like pretty things. We liked seeing the garden. We knew
:20:25. > :20:32.we had to get a garden designer. This name kept jumping out. My name
:20:33. > :20:37.was at the bottom of the list. Whether everyone said no or not, I
:20:38. > :20:41.do not know, but they got to me. It was a marriage made in heaven. Their
:20:42. > :20:58.craziness, I am trying to sort of contain it.
:20:59. > :21:02.The garden that we've created is inspired by all the communities that
:21:03. > :21:08.have made Thetford what it is today. Look around. You travel around the
:21:09. > :21:11.school and juicy Portuguese people, Polish people, and when I started
:21:12. > :21:25.looking into the history, this town was created by the Romans, by monks,
:21:26. > :21:35.and by the Iceni and it is believed that Boadicea was here. It is a
:21:36. > :21:43.magical place. Flint is such a key element in the town. Everything is
:21:44. > :21:52.built of it. It is a fantastic site, the remnants of the old priory
:21:53. > :21:57.built in Flint. It was founded by monks about 900 years ago. At one
:21:58. > :22:03.point this was the largest cathedral in the country. This fantastic
:22:04. > :22:07.Gothic arch behind me rises up to the heavens and that gave me the
:22:08. > :22:11.inspiration for the centrepiece of the garden. The whole garden has
:22:12. > :22:16.evolved from that and it is going to really bring it to life. This is
:22:17. > :22:23.John, he is a master flintknapper. It is his work which will form the
:22:24. > :22:26.centrepiece of the garden. I have got five days to go the replica at
:22:27. > :22:32.Hampton Court and it will take me ten. It is a passion. We need to
:22:33. > :22:36.know where we came from before we know where we are going and if you
:22:37. > :22:45.can't understand the past then you're not going to be able to
:22:46. > :22:48.understand the future. We are here at the Shadwell estate. They have
:22:49. > :23:01.been fantastic, providing facilities and staff to help me grow the plans.
:23:02. > :23:04.-- plants. I have included woad because of its link to the Iceni
:23:05. > :23:09.tried. Crushing believes gives you the colour they used to Louis -- use
:23:10. > :23:14.on their faces. A lot of this planting will be used on the priory
:23:15. > :23:18.ruins and it is the herb. You have got two types of oregano. You have
:23:19. > :23:29.got the curry plant which has got lovely flowers and it is really
:23:30. > :23:35.fragrant as you brush past it. This part represent a Doctor Who at the
:23:36. > :23:40.end of the first black major in the UK, in Thetford. Hopefully people
:23:41. > :23:50.will ask questions about why he is here and we can explain that. We
:23:51. > :23:54.have had a huge amount of support and it has been absolutely
:23:55. > :23:56.fantastic. We have had schoolchildren going around
:23:57. > :24:01.collecting pine cones. We have had the local allotment Association
:24:02. > :24:05.growing poppies. That is just one of the examples of how fantastic
:24:06. > :24:08.Thetford has been, coming together and raising money and offering
:24:09. > :24:20.support, services and help for us to make it work. The message we have
:24:21. > :24:24.got to get over is that if us four zany ladies can get a show garden to
:24:25. > :24:41.Hampton Court and pull it off, anybody can do anything. That is the
:24:42. > :24:48.bottom line, that is it. You think you pulled it off? Did we
:24:49. > :24:53.pull it off? What do you think? This man has done the impossible. We have
:24:54. > :25:01.had little money, lots of ideas. We said, come on, put it together. It
:25:02. > :25:06.is superb. It is superb. Every element in this garden relates to
:25:07. > :25:13.Thetford. I've was very strict that every element had to have a reason
:25:14. > :25:24.to be her. I have chosen the flowers around, I have repeated the
:25:25. > :25:29.verbascum. Down here we have seeing the priory from different angles,
:25:30. > :25:36.the courtyard, the wild flower garden. This Flint path replicates
:25:37. > :25:41.the river. This offshoot is the revenues. This is roughly speaking
:25:42. > :25:46.the shape of the rivers. There is nothing that should not be here.
:25:47. > :25:51.Well, I don't think so! How he has achieved this on the budget that we
:25:52. > :25:57.have given him, we said, sorry, this has got to go into the garden, and
:25:58. > :26:01.this has got to go in. All of the money was raised from the community
:26:02. > :26:04.in Thetford and in the beginning, when I met the ladies, we wanted to
:26:05. > :26:08.be able to say to people, we have created this garden and we have not
:26:09. > :26:13.wasted your money. This is something we are all proud of. You should be
:26:14. > :26:17.very proud. I am so impressed that you managed to stay in good spirits
:26:18. > :26:26.and work with these four ladies. Well done to all of you.
:26:27. > :26:32.From what has to be community of the year to Rows Of The Year. Which one
:26:33. > :26:44.is going to win a? Rachel has been finding out.
:26:45. > :26:48.This is a trial organised by the Association Of The Rose Breeders. It
:26:49. > :26:54.has been going for 32 years and takes a massive amount of work and
:26:55. > :27:07.preparation behind the scenes for a rose to win.
:27:08. > :27:11.Each year, breeders submit their best new roses and those are
:27:12. > :27:17.trialled for two years and down the country in different climates and
:27:18. > :27:21.soil types. Then they are awarded points reform, colour, fragrance,
:27:22. > :27:27.health and vigour, and at the end of the trial, the points are added up
:27:28. > :27:34.and the winner is announced. Here it is. It is called For Your Eyes Only.
:27:35. > :27:39.It is the result of 30 years of selective breeding. It has
:27:40. > :27:44.exceptional disease resistance. It is prolific throughout the season.
:27:45. > :27:48.The most special thing is the dark eye at the centre of the flower.
:27:49. > :27:54.That has been inherited from a wild rose from part of the Middle East.
:27:55. > :28:00.You can see these elegant little pointed buds and gradually, as the
:28:01. > :28:05.flower opens and ages, the colour fades to this lovely, dusky pink.
:28:06. > :28:09.Tantalisingly, you have to wait a bit longer until you can buy it
:28:10. > :28:12.because it takes a while to mass propagate enough. It should be
:28:13. > :28:18.available in the autumn and with a rose this special, it is definitely
:28:19. > :28:22.worth the wait. Rachel will be showing us more when
:28:23. > :28:24.we return to Hampton Court on Wednesday on BBC Two at eight
:28:25. > :28:30.o'clock. I?ll be taking a look at a brand new
:28:31. > :28:44.design category - turf sculpting The People's Choice Award winner
:28:45. > :28:51.will be bringing us these take on the show. Goodbye.