Episode 2 Hampton Court Palace Flower Show

Hello and welcome to the Royal Horticultural Society's Hampton

Court Palace Flower Show. For many gardeners, this is the high point of

summer. We are at the highest point in the show itself. This is a huge

exhibit. From here, you can see right across the showground. And

inside, when you shut the doors, it is incredibly quiet. The idea is

that you can look across nature, trees, birds. Here, we are looking

across the show. It is a great vantage point. Looking down from

here, what you see is that although it is big, there are certain things

that are popping up like lots of planting to encourage wildlife. Long

grasses, open flowers to encourage bees, as well as these hotels. It is

a gardener's responds pretty. A few years ago, you would see these

contemporary gardens with minimal planting. I think now, people are

always thinking about biodiversity and sustainability. You can create a

very slick looking garden with a huge variety of plants and a higher

volume of plants, and that is what it is about. One of the things at

Hampton Court is that people take risks. They are not frightened to

have a go, and they are being rewarded. A conceptual garden could

not be more than from a wildlife garden. I can see the Thetford

garden over there. The designer had to work with the crazy women we saw

on Monday night, they got themselves a silver medal. We will come back

with more medals later. In the next hour, the insect expert

George McGavin puts a garden under the microscope to reveal the

incredible range of creatures that live alongside us in our backyards.

Carol is seeking out the best flowers to attract pollinators to

your borders. And Toby Buckland is on the lookout for solutions to

keeping your pots and containers in peak condition this summer.

Hampton Court flower show coincides with the peak of the Rose season.

And as usual, there is a dedicated Rose Maki at the show -- a Rose

Maki. Rachel has headed straight the to indulge in her favourite flower

and look for new introductions. Roll up, roll up. This year, the Rose

tent has become a big top. The circus has come to town, and the

festival of roses is full of brand-new stars. We are going to

start with one of my favourites. This is one of the David Austin

English roses. It is called the poet's wife, and has all the

beautiful characteristics of an old rose, but with good disease

resistance and good repeat flowering. It is perfect for the

front of a border. This one is making its way into my garden. This

beauty, called celebrating life, is being introduced by another company.

Wonderful colouring. I love this being introduced by another company.

lilac that moves into pink. And it is a floribunda, so you get these

clusters of flowers and this lovely, sweet fragrance. It is a strong

grower, perfect to beds and borders. And there is a bonus. It makes a

good cut flower. Welcome to the big top! Every circus big top needs a

ringmaster wearing a bright red jacket, and here, taking centre

stage is this rose, a lovely lipstick red. Large flowers, said

the double so you see the centres clearly. They are a fantastic

contrast with the lovely, Rossi and dark foliage. -- glossy. Definitely

going up in the world. This is a cracker, Orange Blossom special.

That burnt it got colouring is really attractive. It is a climber

and goes up to six to eight feet, so the flowers are not too high and I

love the contrast between the colour of the flower and the slightly

reddish tinge on the stems. Stunning. These roses have stolen

the show with this collection of five new bees' paradise roses, in a

range from purest white to dark red. They are no growing and compact, so

they make great groundcover in a small garden and are also perfectly

containers, baby a window box as well. And it is not only me that

loves them, because temp B and hover flies can get right in the -- bees

and hover flies can get in. Taking centres the age is disco

queen, named after the late, great Donna summer. And this really is hot

stuff. That sizzling colour, economic feel the heat radiating off

it. It has a nice, compact growth habit, so it would be perfect in a

mixed order with other hot and spicy colours. Disco queen is being

introduced by a specialist nursery run by a man who grew up on a farm

that was bizarrely also used as the base for a travelling circus. Now he

has all grown up, Stuart Pocock makes sure he does not waste a

single rose petal. When I was about four or five,

one Sunday night, Gerry Cottle and Michael Austin rolled in to the

farm and were looking for somewhere My memories were of weird

and wonderful animals running We had monkeys running

around the farm, and sometimes we would have people driving along the

road who would stop at the farm and say "I've just seen a monkey running

across the road", thinking it was a We started growing

our roses where the circus started, on the same farm, and then it slowly

sort of grew and worked for us. We have got a field full of all

these roses, and the flowers are, So what we are actually doing is,

we are picking them to distil them We're trying to capture the perfume

from the roses in the rosewater, so that when we have made the

rosewater, it will smell nice and that will be the flavouring we use

for adding to products we make like Turkish delight and hand creams

and face creams. The fragrance You will get some that will smell

spicy, some that smell citrusy, But the fragrance varies

from one variety to another. We use varieties such as A Whiter

Shade Of Pale, Birthday Boy and this Got a lovely fragrance,

that one has. We are loading the petals that we

picked earlier from our rose field. We need five buckets

like this to be loaded in here, and then we press it down nice

and tightly, and then we will be distilling for the next four or five

hours or so, and from that process We are now at the stage where

the rosewater is coming out, and it smells more like stewed

apples than actual rosewater. After a couple of weeks

of maturing in plastic containers in a dark place, it will then turn

into proper rosewater, thereby making the most use of our

roses and having a lovely reminder We never really know

for sure what the quality If we have a heavy hail shower or

a storm or a gale or something like that a few days before, the roses

can look in a very tattered state. We would then fall back

onto having potted roses. When you see a field of roses

and the smell of the roses, It is a lovely experience, and it

gives you a bit of a warm glow Your stand is looking great. But

before we look at the Rose of themselves, I'm intrigued by the

rose water and how you use it. We use it to make Turkish delight and

hand creams and things. Here is some of the Turkish delight. Made with

our roses. See if you can taste them. It is rosy and fruity and

sweet and sticky. You can't eat too much of it. But lovely, and

fascinating. You said you could not really tell how show is going to go

because you were so dependent on the weather. How did it go this year? A

few weeks ago, we thought we would be doing container roses and have a

display of those. And we have a warm June and all of the flowers went

over, so we went back to plant B, which was cut roses. But the field

was not far advanced, so suddenly we were hoping for warm weather, and

fortunately at the weekend, we were able to cut armfuls of quality

roses. Does that mean you have more in cold storage? We have loads for

the rest of this week. As these go over, we will put new blooms in. As

the week goes on, we will put some potted roses out. Well, they all

look fantastic. It is a great display. Thank you very much.

This year, the Royal Horticultural Society is a liberating 50 years of

This year, the Royal Horticultural Britain in bloom, and they have

created this wonderful exhibit. It is probably the biggest garden here,

and it charts the history from 50 years ago up to the present day. And

what Britain in bloom means to us. This garden is completely created

from annual plants. This would have been a very common sight. I remember

it myself, keep off the grass. But the planting here is such high

maintenance. It has all got to the planting here is such high

maintenance. It be grown annually and planted out. An incredible

amount of work and money. But things have changed. Britain in bloom is

now interested in the community and sustainability, so this planting

represents that, because it is made from perennial plants that will die

down in the winter and come back each year. There has been a school

that has grown all of these sunflowers full of that is another

element, engaging schools and kids with gardening. It seems like a

natural thing to do, moving Britain in bloom on and bringing it up to

the present day. Here, we have grow your own. We have vineyards and some

fantastic cabbages. These are one of the best plants at the show. Britain

in bloom over the last 50 years has changed so much and is particularly

relevant today. This garden is exactly the reason

why I come to flower shows. I have seen pretty much everything. But

with a garden like this, I feel the same rush of enthusiasm and pleasure

is the first time I ever saw any beautiful garden. It is a garden

called a space to connect and grow. It uses predominantly recycled

materials and deservedly won a gold medal. The detail is fabulous. There

is cherry, with the fantastic shape made from reinforcing rods, the

cosmos coming through. A water feature. It is fun and bright. At

the back, very decorative, but also fantastic for insects. But it does

not feel busy, it feels coherent. The key thing for me with the show

garden like this is that it makes you want to go back home and garden.

I have closely followed this man's garden design career since he was 14

and he is now 21. He is getting more confident with his designs. This is

his most accomplished one ever. My favourite feature is these stone

windows, set into the EU hedges. The planting here is strong, confident

blocks of agapanthus and then this classic lavender hedge. The concept

behind this garden is that it is the road to retirement. And the straight

path down the middle, there is an inevitability about it. He got a

silver this time. He has had a few marks off the elusive gold. Every

morning I really surprise walking the garden. I find my calm. I find

myself. My footsteps are like those of our ancestors, and the Earth has

not changed. Those are the words written on the

stone here of this garden. The central piece, the garden he has

designed and made, has this music that he recorded in woods near Lake

Como. All credit to the RHS forgiving it a gold medal, because

this is quite a tricky subject for a flower show, but it is beautiful.

The planting is subtle and delicate, and everything here, from the last

dried leaf to the soil that coats the sculpture has been brought over

from Tuscany. Above all, this is a garden that says, stop. Give

yourself to nature. Contemplate. Well, you can tell from the table

styling here this garden is all about lifestyle, and it is a garden

that a lot of visitors to the show will want to lift up, take home and

have in their own plot. Paul Martin has done a great job, because the

hard landscaping is sharp and crisp, but there are 20 of plants,

too. We have a fantastic verbena here. And then this dark Angelica.

The planting is in the very heart of the garden, and this water feature

fluting here is an elegant feature. One mistake I have noticed is that

the lavender here is planted next to hostel, drive plants next to

moisture lovers. He got away with it, because he has a gold medal.

Of course, show gardens are brilliant way of getting inspiration

for our own garden at home. But this year at Hampton Court there is an

important message which is that we need to share our guard is with as

much wildlife as possible. There is no wild creature that needs our help

more than hedgehogs, which are in dire straits. A few weeks ago, we

joined Henry Johnson at the trust endangered species to find out why.

We believe that we've lost about a third of our British hedgehogs

in the last ten years, and the hedgehogs are currently declining

in Britain at the same rate as tigers are around the world.

But there's great news in the fact that hedgehogs love gardens.

They love suburbia, and in somewhere like this area

in Bracknell, you can find ten times the density of hedgehogs as

This garden we are going to visit is a perfect hedgehog garden,

and a perfect example of the inspiration behind our

These prickly little fellows here, this is our wild hedgehog species,

We are lucky to have a few animals here today from a

If you want to live in a world where you and your children can see wild

hedgehogs in the garden, you need to start thinking of the garden as part

of the wider landscape, and the Hedgehog Street Garden at Hampton

Court Flower Show will show you how easy it is to do that.

It is thought that modern hedgehogs first evolved

about 20 million years ago, and since then, they have out-survived

things like sabre-toothed tigers and woolly mammoths.

They are still here, still in modern Britain,

When people first started studying hedgehogs in the 1980s, before then,

we really had no idea what they got up to at night time.

And when we put radio transmitters on adult hedgehogs,

we found that hedgehogs were going one or two kilometres per night.

The word humble is often used to describe hedgehogs, perhaps because

humble hedgehog sounds like it works, but I think it is a really

perhaps 2-300 gardens locally, and that is where the

It is about connecting your garden to your neighbours'.

There are some great ways you can make

your garden more hedgehog-friendly, really simple ones, too.

Number one, most important, really, really easy, make sure there is

You can see two great hedgehog friendly features here.

On the one hand, we have got this fantastic hedgehog house.

Even better in a way, you can see in the corner here, this logpile.

Hedgehogs will also nest in something like this,

and the benefit of this over this is that the logpile also encourages all

of the things hedgehogs eat, beetles and worms.

So, a little known fact about hedgehogs

Hedgehogs have been tracked crossing quite major rivers.

But they can drown in ponds if they can't get out of them,

or swimming pools, so a pond like this is ideal, because it has

a nicely shallow sloping edge, and hedgehogs can get out of it.

Particularly in very dry times of the year as well, water is critical.

You can put out a water dish like this.

Through my work on the Hedgehog Street Project, I have learned a lot

about how to advise people on how to manage their gardens for hedgehogs.

But I'm no good at designing gardens,

so we involved Tracy Foster because she is a fantastic garden designer

And she's very passionate about conservation.

The garden at Hampton Court essentially is sectioned through

three suburban gardens, each with a different style, to show

that whatever your gardening style, you can still be hedgehog-friendly.

It would be absolutely fantastic if the garden won a medal,

but personally, I don't think that's the main reason for doing it.

I think the most important thing is to get the message out there

that hedgehogs are in trouble, and this is how we can help them, and

They are such wonderful creatures, but they are nocturnal. Yes, those

ones we had earlier rescue animals. Your design to this garden has three

areas, run me through it. We wanted to show that whatever your gardening

style, you could have a hedgehog friendly garden. That is more of a

wild garden, slightly untidy, a bit like mine, where there are plenty of

things that you would associate with hedgehogs such as a log pile and a

hedgehog hibernating home. This one here is much more contemporary, but

still more hedgehog friendly. This would probably appeal to a

completely different sort of person, but it is still great for the

hedgehog with plenty of grass and cover, water that is safe for them

to drink from, and a water feature that they can get in and out of. And

I like the hole in the wall. It is very important, isn't it? It is for

the hedgehog. This one is much more traditional.

There are lots of things in there still that will be good for the

hedgehog, and just growing vegetables alone is enough to

attract them. You have done a fantastic job and demonstrated that

any style of garden you can make hedgehog friendly, and you have a

gold-medal. We were absolutely overjoyed.

If you want to find out how you can encourage more hedgehogs into your

neighbourhood, go to our website. Gardens of England Wales contribute

more green space than all of our national nature reserve is put

together, and provide sanctuary for insects. We asked the experts George

McGavin to put some of them under the microscope.

Gardens offer us humans the chance to get outside, get some fresh air

and even have the sun on our face. Our lives without them would be

poorer. But we are not the only creatures to benefit from these

decorative spaces. They are full of amazing wildlife, and with so many

of us leading hectic lives, these incredible creatures had simply

become invisible to us. Here, the RHS is designed to spaces

to reminders of the wildlife we share our gardens with, and they are

giving the public the opportunity to discover this hidden world

first-hand. All around me are instruments that

allow you a very privileged view of some extraordinary creatures. Under

the microscope here I have a water there. They are just part of the

incredible diversity of creatures that you will find in an average

garden, and they are the most remarkable things. They graze among

little patches of garden moss, and they have a remarkable ability to

survive. You could even see its eyes and its feet. Many of you I know are

plagued with aphids, but you have a whole army of friends in your

garden, one of which is the laugh lather of lacewings. They consume

the aphids. When it has finished this one, it will move onto a new

one, see you don't need to use a pesticide. Encourage the other

insects in your garden and they will do the job for you.

Whilst technology allows us an insight into the invisible garden,

the RHS has also made a visible garden here. It is a small space,

but it is packed with all sorts of ways in which you can encourage

wildlife. A pond, it doesn't have to be big, but that will attract water

beetles, dragonflies, allsorts. Flowers and various heights for

bees. A compost heap is one of my favourite habitats. And down here,

in a few months, this will be heaving with all kinds of bugs. That

is home to thousands of invertebrate s. Why bother about these insects?

They recycle, they pollinate plants, they control our pests. They make

your garden work. Why should we give so much attention

to insect life? Insects are the most interesting animals on earth. They

have been around for 400 million years. The interaction between them

and plants is over 300 million years old. They are what makes all of this

work. So we need? Absolutely. The world can do very well with a lot --

without lots of large animals, but it couldn't survive without bees or

an all -- ants. If the plants are there, the right plants, you will

get the right insects. And this is fantastic for insects. In an average

size garden, you might find 1500 species of insect over a year, but

even a tiny patch like this, there are probably millions of individual

invertebrates in this patch. Encouraging insects should be

uppermost in everybody's mind. A garden without insects isn't a

garden. So what you are saying is that we need to be indiscriminate

about insects, let them all in and they will sort themselves out? You

may have pests from time to time, but don't reach for the bug gun.

Lots of gardeners kill wasps. But they will do the whole job of pest

control for free. If there was one thing we could do to improve the

quality of both insect life and human relations with insects? Get a

simple lens, and go out and look at things up close. It opens up a whole

hidden world that you never knew was there. Thank you very much.

Attracting pollinating insects, butterflies, birds into our gardens

is vital, because they will give us the flowers and fruit and seeds that

we need. And Carol husband looking for the best plants to attract those

pollinators -- has been looking. If I was a beat, the first place I

would head for. Indigenous insects have involved alongside indigenous

plants. They are rich in pollen and nectar.

stop, but they are not the only choice. Although you probably grow a

few wild flowers in your garden, the majority of flowers in most of our

gardens, we grow for the ornamental value. Here is one. So close to our

own white yarrow, and get, in this sumptuous range of colours, and

still just as perfect for all manner of insects as the yarrow itself. And

what they love is that each of these plateau is easy to land on and easy

to feed from. This whole wonderful flower head is actually made up of a

myriad of tiny little flowers, each with its own nectar or pollen

treat. Just as good as the wild flower, and very beautiful for us to

look at. These are daisies. They belong to arguably the biggest

family of flowering plants in the world. Normally, daisies have got a

plane, straightforward centre, but not in this righty. This one has

been so over bread that the centre is hard and solid. All those petals

are completely compressed. No self-respecting bee good possibly

penetrate it. But when it comes to this delightful stockist, it is easy

access for all comers. These spikes are composed of a series of little

flowers for up each one is full of pollen and nectar. Each individual

flower has its own little landing stage. There are so many plants in

this family. Lots of garden favourites, things like lavender,

rosemary and sage. And as dusk descends, the night shift moves in.

Moths in the millions visit our garden is, specifically to feed on

plants like this, jasmine and honeysuckle have these longitudes

which match exactly the proboscis of them. It can delve in and feast on

that wonderful nectar. It is vital in our garden that we cater for

every kind of visitor. Whether they call by day or night. If you are

after a flower that just keeps on and on, why not consider these?

There are hundreds of different varieties, and at this nursery, the

grower can't get enough of them. These are wonderful shrubs. They

come in a range of colours. They flower eight to ten months of year.

I love them. But... You have got to trim, knit and cut them. Do not be

bullied. Show them who is lost. -- who is boss. Trim them to make them

ranch, and they will give hundreds of flowers. It is what we want.

Punish them, and they will give us more. -- make them branch. These

flowers came into this country 200 years ago. The Victorian hunters

used to bring them back from the wonderful adventures all over the

world, but the Victorians never got the best out of them. They never

really flourished, because they were keeping them too hot. They really

want some dappled shade during the day. They will relax and flower so

much more. I am a biochemist and geneticist by trade, so we love the

idea of mixing those bloodlines are getting the best from different

plants and breeding the new ones. This one is a great species, good

and strong, but it is the only one with a blue lilac flower. We would

love to get that through into another variety, a bigger Dell

variety. That is a challenge. I am going to rob pollen onto each of the

stigmas. That should be enough. We have the national collection of

these flowers here. It means that we have not only the largest

collection, but we have some here that you will not find anywhere else

in Europe. Our breeding programme is extensive. We have 18 different

varieties at the moment on trial, and we have an absolute forest of

seedlings coming up as we speak. All of our cultivated plants stem from

four maim other plants. We take a matriarch plant like this one here,

process it to be slightly more branched. Then we need to inject

some colour into it by mixing it with this one. We now need to get

some real colour going. But again, we are not big and blowsy full up

this one has been bred from all of these in the line. Hardy, branching,

lovely, big flower. But I wanted more, a bigger flower. That is what

brings us to this one at the end here, which has got everything. Big

flowers, lovely colour, good branch nature. From the new varieties that

we produce, the family line can be echoed all the way up to the

matriarch, the grandmother of the plant. The bloodline continues, but

in a better variety. We breed a new cultivar of abutilon on the nursery,

we named them after our family man is. This one here is Milly Haupt,

named after my grandmother. This one has been named after my mother. We

named this one after my daughter, Sophia Jackson. She's eight now, and

she absolutely adores it. So to date, I have not named on after

myself yet, Leila Jackson. That it will have to be a good one, a one, a

white one, a bold one, one that is really going to steal the show.

Now, have you found a plant that lives up to all the qualities needed

to represent your name? Of course I have. Abutilon Leila Jackson, here

she is. A beautiful Belle, beautiful inside colour. The main reason we

chose her is because she is hardy and vigorous. Have a fondle of the

leaf. Nice and shiny and glossy. Abutilons that have glossy leaves

will give you that hardiness and vigour. They will be great outdoors

in our winters. Where as if we go it over to this one here, which is

beautiful, this one is Eric Turner, named after my father but we call it

Eric whatsit on the nursery. Have a feel of this leaf. I am sure Eric

will not mind. It is fluffy. A bit like my dad, a bit bearded, but that

fluffy nature means it will not be as hardy as the shiny leaf

varieties. So in Herefordshire, where I live, we will have to take

him in. What makes her her and him him? Why have you given them those

very personalised characters? Well, she is witty and elegant. She is

graceful in her habits, and she has a downward facing lantern. All the

lantern forms, we tend to give a she personality. But Eric here is squat,

compact, robust. He is pink, I grant you, but he is definitely a he.

Thank you very much. You are extremely welcome.

Now, let's go back from Hampton Court a few weeks to the Chelsea

Flower Show at the end of May. One of the things that made Chelsea

special for me was the success of a group of young designers. And

certainly one of them that caught the public's eye most clearly was

Matthew Keightley. If 29, and he won the People's Choice award for his

garden, Help For Heroes hop on the horizon. -- hop on the horizon. It

is a subject that is very close to my heart. My brother is currently on

a tour of duty in Afghanistan. He formed part of a group that was

picking guys up of the front line who were injured. In the media, we

are in the media, devastation at one end and the miracle story at the

other if we are lucky. I set out to explore what happens in between and

how they get through recovery. The garden represents recovery and will

also be used as a recovery Centre for the guys. The winner of the

People's Choice award is Matthew Keightley! Conger adulation is. --

congratulations. Thank you. Have you come down to earth? Not yet. I could

not have asked for more. That really was the icing on the cake for us.

You could not tell you were a first-time gardener. Did you feel

confident? I did. My attitude was to aim high and hope for the best. I

had to follow through with conviction and believe in the

concept I came up with. But I know it was not plain sailing. It was not

without its dramas. At the last minute, something happens. For us,

it was the planting. A lot of stuff just was not show quality for us. We

had to do the best we could as quickly as possible. We ended up

using social media to try and pull in as we could and scrape together

enough to work with the planting scene I had created for the Help For

Heroes garden. It is appropriate that social media is being used by a

young designer. I know you have not had a chance to look around the

show, but did anything catch your eye? The One Show garden by

Alexandra Noble is a really nice garden and it is her first show

garden as well, so I can relate to what she has been through. I can

tell you what would be William, would be if you could interview her.

I would love the opportunity to do that. You can share notes. We will

see that interview tomorrow night. What has happened since Chelsea? It

has been bonkers. I have now got a two-week-old daughter called Poppy.

Congratulations! So it is onto a new adventure. It has been a whirlwind

and I can't wait to see what happens next. I can tell you what will come

next here. We will send you off to have a better look around and to

give us your take on the show. I would love that.

Now, it is that time of year when for a lot of us, we are thinking of

going on holiday and having a nice time in the sun. But that doesn't

mean leaving our plans and pots and containers of any kind also in the

sun, unattended and perhaps suffering. So how do we make sure

that when we come home, they are looking happy and thriving? To be

buckling has been going around the show, looking for solutions.

-- Toby Buckland. As far as contenders go, I will respect the

summer is divided into two parts. There is the early part you are full

of hope and planting them up, and then the other summer holidays, when

there is every danger that they will die on drought and loneliness. But

it does not have to be like that. The simple things you can do to keep

your pots and Basque is looking good. As with so much in life, it is

the simple ideas that are the best. For example, take down your hanging

baskets and put them somewhere she did. If they are in a pot, they will

be growing less and being less demanding for water. The same goes

for containers. Move them together into a nice, dappled spot. If you

have your neighbours popping over to look after them while you are away,

keeping them together will make it an easier job. But what if you are

not getting on with your neighbours? Well, you will need a little kit. At

the low-tech end, there are basins of water. I use these for wee

hydrating dried out plants. -- rehydrating plants. They are also

good for weekends away, particularly for small pots like these African

marigolds and tomatoes in the greenhouse. You would not want to

leave your dance in the too long, but a few days, sitting in the drink

and they will be fine. But for pots outdoors, you need something else.

The pots that are too big to move or put on a tray, water bottles come in

handy. Cut the bottom of, fill them with a bit of water. And as long as

you have got the lid, you can unwind that until the water just dribbles

out from the base, and then set that into your pot to dribble away and

keep it hydrated. To be honest, mucking around with the lid is a bit

of a fiddle. For less than a fiver, there are these natty systems that

you plug into the base of your bottle. That goes into your compost,

and then you have got a little valve on the end of it that you can adjust

the amount of water that goes to your pots. If you have got lots of

containers that need looking after why you are away, it the way to go.

Another tip with bedding plants, before you go away, prune them. What

I do is I getting amongst them and give them quite a severe haircut.

After a couple of weeks resting, they will be back full of Word and

ready to flower feel return. Of course, it is your lawn that

suffers most. If it turns a bit brown, it is nothing to worry about.

The plant survival mechanism, it goes back to is root to wait from

rain, and grass is big news here, because for the first time, there is

a turf sculpting competition. Five competitors have only had two days

to create masterpieces. We have five plots and five people

making things, and the only difference between them is the

imagination. We are going to make turf sculptures. It is the first

time that the RHS have ever allowed an exhibit that isn't planned. You

Matthew Briggs of gardeners question want, free range. Go!

Matthew Briggs of gardeners question Time fame, trained at Kew. I have

scribbled it down on a piece of paper. Adam Frost, gardens designed

by abstract art. Andy Hyde and John Humphrys, Andy is a gardener. John

is a fine art sculpture. We are going to attempt to build a snake.

Saint Clements, has designed many gardens at Hampton Court and

Chelsea. Paul Jones is the head groundsman at

Tottenham Hotspur football club. We have turned up with a pack of

sandwiches and a spade! A lot of it involves putting a fine

layer of soil on and packing it in. The soil is dry and crumbly, so we

are spraying it a little bit to try to get it to hold its form. One half

of the ZZ Top just looked over the bank. They are taking the Mickey! I

have created a centrepiece, and even though we are breaking some of the

rules of turfing, some things don't change. You have to get it well

pressed down. If it is floating and there are gaps, it won't route, it

will dry out. Who is using spray marker? Mr

frost? I don't want to tell tales, but I think it is easy. A rough

diamond. Everyone else has been using green, so we have decided to

world our walls with a technique for creating bunkers on a golf course,

literally building up the turf in layers, but each time you just keep

one back, so it is a slight camber. We have broken the back of it now,

we are reaching the end. You can see how all of the different sculptures

will come together. Everyone seems to have enjoyed themselves. All that

remains now is to see what the public make of it at the show.

I am here with the sculptors and their creators. Visitors can vote

for their favourite, and we will tell you who has won on Thursday.

There are five sculptures, and each one has a penny box, so the public

can put a coin in. The money goes towards the RHS's campaign for

school gardening. You look like you have had great fun with them. They

work very well. Have you enjoyed doing it? I have never done

work very well. Have you enjoyed like this in my life, and I will

never forget when we arrived here with just a rate. I hadn't initially

got a clue what I was doing, but it ended up relentlessly. They all look

fantastic. There is such a rioting here, and different techniques.

John, you are a fine artist. How was it working in this medium? Very

difficult. I don't normally sculpt with soil and turf, but it was a

very interesting experience, and it was great fun making our snake in

the grass sculpture. How have they changed throughout the week? We

finished eight days ago, and you can hardly see the lines, they have come

together. Have you had to do a lot of trimming or mowing? Yes, because

the eyes get a little shaggy and the definition is not there. The most

extraordinary thing was to see the change from when it was soil to now

it has hair on. It is soft and quite extraordinary.

I can see that you are getting addicted to turf. Grass is the new

plants! You could always try something new and experiment, and

you will be surprised at what happens. I'm quite glad that the

Tottenham groundsman isn't here, being an Arsenal fan. Would you all

come and do this again? Definitely. Great.

Earlier, I met Matt Kightly, the winner of the people's choice award

at Chelsea, and he has been taking a look around the show to find some of

his favourite things. My introduction into horticulture

was with these, cacti. Mum used to drag us round the garden centres

which I hated, until we got to the souvenir shop at the end, mum used

to letters choose a plant, and I always came back to cacti. The

reason why I love them so much is because there are so many different

varieties to choose from, and if you were given a choice between a

flouncy plant and an angry looking cactus as a boy, you would go for

the captors every time. Collecting them became hobby of mine. I started

receiving presents for my birthday, getting different varieties. Cacti

really got me excited about horticulture, but with the window

ledge full, it was time to go outside, something a bit different.

That was when I got given my first succulent. With this plant here, I

had my first basic lesson in propagation. Succulents are very

basic level plants, which is why you will see them in Hillside,

countrysides, dry stone walls, cracks in the pavement. All we need

to do is ease out the younger looking rose from the soil, reveal a

robust root system, repot it and it will generate in no time at all.

Cacti and succulents were very much a starting point for me. Nowadays I

like to use grasses throughout my design work. This one in particular

has beautiful, gentle movement. It works well in all planting schemes.

This is another of my favourites, you will spot it a mile away in any

garden. Something else really exciting by

the ferns. For any codes out there looking to get into horticulture,

this could be the place to start. Some of these are beautiful. I

recommend this one in particular, an excellent, Hardy fern that will give

you satisfaction year-on-year. And for me, it has got to be the grasses

and ferns that the show stoppers at Hampton this year.

Matt will be back tomorrow, one new designer meeting another as he chats

to Alexandra Noble. During this week, thousands of people are going

to come flooding through those gates, and I want to know exactly

which plants and flowers they are attracted to. And also seeing which

flowers catch my eye. I'm in the plant village, which is

amazing, because not only do you have all of the nurseries they're

selling the plants, but many have this planting area in front, almost

a miniature show garden, see the individual plants, and how they work

together. So there individual plants, and how they work

really great ideas in here. individual plants, and how they work

these roses, hydrangeas. We like pretty things. Pretty and girly. I

didn't realise I was on television! We got you.

Somebody has chosen something beautiful.

Where are you going to put those? That is a good question!

Ultramarine, really beautiful, good choice. You know exactly where it is

going? I know exactly. I have a spot for it.

I think you should so seed, and you will have masses of poppies.

Tell me why you chose it. I didn't actually choose it, my wife did. You

can't blame her! I have to ask you, these hydrangeas

they are stunning. Is everyone stopping you as you're going around,

saying, where do I get that? Over there! And I would like to get this

one, please. Perfect. That is the wonderful thing about Hampton Court

Flower Show, you can come here, see the show gardens, and then you come

out, and take the plants home with you that day. I have been wanting

one of these from while, and I thought, I have to have it. I will

propagate from this and have many, many plants in a few years. So I am

a very happy girl. Well, that's it for tonight. We will

be back tomorrow, because this is a big show, and you can't see it in

one day. You can spend all week here, and still not see all of it.

It is relaxed and fairly informal, but there are lots of things not

just admire, but to inspire you and Fayoum and take home with you. One

thing we're looking forward to tomorrow is your trip to Australia.

There is a fantastic Australian garden here, and I will be showing

you my recent road trip actor Australia. It inspired me to become

a garden designer. And we also have a visit from the great Mary Berry,

who is coming here to see, amongst other things, these conceptual

gardens. So I will be very interested to see what she makes of

lust and gluttony. See you tomorrow. Goodbye.