Episode 3 Hampton Court Palace Flower Show


Episode 3

Similar Content

Browse content similar to Episode 3. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!

Transcript


LineFromTo

We British do love a good flower show, and you can every month of the

:00:10.:00:17.

year from February right through to December. But in July, with an ice

:00:18.:00:24.

cream in your hand and blue sky above, and the fabulous setting of

:00:25.:00:32.

Hampton Court, then nothing is fine. So come and joined us, celebrate the

:00:33.:00:38.

very best of British summer. -- join.

:00:39.:01:05.

Hello and welcome back to the Royal Horticultural Society's

:01:06.:01:07.

Around 140,000 people will have visited the show

:01:08.:01:12.

That is a lot of people, but one of the things I really like about

:01:13.:01:23.

Hampton Court is, although it is busy, you can get away. You can have

:01:24.:01:30.

a picnic, sing Don Max said by the water, in the shade of a tree. And

:01:31.:01:38.

masses of variety, lots of marquees, and a very popular one is the design

:01:39.:01:44.

studio. This year is there is a theme running through, and it is Rio

:01:45.:01:51.

2016, the Olympics. The academy of floristry won best exhibit for this

:01:52.:01:58.

dragon headdress. And I know these guys have put so much work into

:01:59.:01:59.

their exhibits. We've got a whole hour

:02:00.:02:02.

of floral fawning for you, Coming up tonight on the RHS

:02:03.:02:04.

Hampton Court Flower Show Martin Clunes finds out why garden

:02:05.:02:12.

design has gone to the dogs. Carol's on the lookout

:02:13.:02:17.

for a midsummer night's dream, seeking out plants to arouse

:02:18.:02:20.

your senses at twilight. And garden designer Adam Frost

:02:21.:02:25.

grabs his passport to take a closer look

:02:26.:02:28.

at the World Gardens. The show gardens are always the

:02:29.:02:33.

first place that visitors head for. This year, they vary wildly

:02:34.:02:37.

in their design, and earlier Monty and I

:02:38.:02:39.

went to take a look. This is very practical, a design to

:02:40.:03:00.

celebrate the 80th anniversary of Squire's, intended to be attached to

:03:01.:03:06.

a suburban house. You have got the house there, down into a seated

:03:07.:03:10.

area, the raised beds give you colour, and water adds a textual

:03:11.:03:17.

dimensions, and also, very importantly, sound. You come through

:03:18.:03:21.

the middle area of the garden planted with herbs, so sense riding

:03:22.:03:28.

up. And this immaculate lawn, grass, I was told, coming from the golf

:03:29.:03:33.

course at Troon. And either side, these very powerful plum colours.

:03:34.:03:43.

Finally, at the end of the garden, a more practical area, where you can

:03:44.:03:55.

grow veg and herbs. I do feel that you could take elements of this

:03:56.:04:01.

garden, or even all of it, and applies to your home, even though it

:04:02.:04:05.

is an enormously successful show garden and won a gold medal. I am on

:04:06.:04:16.

the PMS garden, this is about severe PMS, not what we might call regular

:04:17.:04:22.

PMS. Most women and their partners will be familiar with regular PMS.

:04:23.:04:27.

In its worst form, people can be hospitalised, and they might also be

:04:28.:04:31.

misdiagnosed as having bipolar disorder. My daughter has suffered

:04:32.:04:35.

from this form of PMS since puberty, and this garden is inspired by her

:04:36.:04:41.

story. 95% of the time, she is a normal, beautiful, energetic girl,

:04:42.:04:44.

and that is what the planting on the outside represents. I am using

:04:45.:04:52.

common hazel to represent women, and it is all native British ferns and

:04:53.:04:57.

wild flowers. Inside, we have got the contorted or corkscrew hazel,

:04:58.:05:01.

and that represents the depression and mania that sufferers of extreme

:05:02.:05:07.

PMS suffer from. And this fabulous structure running over the top. I am

:05:08.:05:13.

using that to represent the brain, and the weaving represents

:05:14.:05:15.

neurotransmitters, because that is where it all happens, that is why we

:05:16.:05:20.

do not know enough about it. I feel like you should be in the conceptual

:05:21.:05:25.

garden! It's sort of started as a conceptual garden, actually. I had

:05:26.:05:31.

bigger ideas. And visitors are allowed to walk through this garden,

:05:32.:05:36.

do they get it? We have had several women being incredibly emotional in

:05:37.:05:40.

the central space. Thank you for bringing it.

:05:41.:05:48.

The great thing about Hampton Court is that designers are not restricted

:05:49.:05:54.

to the shape and size of the garden, they can do anything they want.

:05:55.:05:58.

These trees are not permanently here, they are a delayed, part of

:05:59.:06:03.

this garden, All The World's A Stage, attracting quite a crowd.

:06:04.:06:09.

This garden celebrates 400 years since Shakespeare's death, a sunken

:06:10.:06:14.

garden that creates an amphitheatre all the way around, where people can

:06:15.:06:20.

sit. The rusty steel water feature is a reflective surface working

:06:21.:06:23.

beautifully to represent the seven ages of man, and they are dotted

:06:24.:06:27.

through the garden. It is the plants that takes centre stage, and they

:06:28.:06:32.

are what everybody is looking through and out. I love some of

:06:33.:06:37.

these combinations. They might not work long term, but this is a show

:06:38.:06:42.

after all. But what I really like about this garden is it is

:06:43.:06:46.

interactive, people are coming here and enjoying the space, and that is

:06:47.:06:50.

what theatre is all about. APPLAUSE

:06:51.:06:55.

I'm sure Shakespeare would be impressed with a garden

:06:56.:06:57.

plucked from a line in his famous play As You Like It.

:06:58.:07:00.

here with a summer soliloquy for your delectation is Carol.

:07:01.:07:17.

I know a bank where the wild Thai blows, where ox lips and the nodding

:07:18.:07:27.

violet grows. Canopies of luscious would barley with sweet musk roses

:07:28.:07:35.

and thyme. Can you just imagine to Tanya, Shakespeare's Queen of the

:07:36.:07:43.

fairies, waking up in this enchanted bower? How wondrous, how beautiful!

:07:44.:07:55.

When Shakespeare wrote Oberon's soliloquy, he was talking about

:07:56.:08:02.

Woodbine, honeysuckle, but perhaps, if he were writing those lines

:08:03.:08:06.

today, he would have penned odes and sonnets to this glorious plant.

:08:07.:08:16.

This is an evergreen climber on the edge of hardiness, it is dripping

:08:17.:08:24.

with white flowers, which become more and more luminous as dusk

:08:25.:08:30.

descends, and it is at that point too that this glorious scent begins

:08:31.:08:34.

to emanate, wafting on the warm night air.

:08:35.:08:41.

It is not just by means of their purview, night scented plan straw in

:08:42.:08:49.

their pollinators. It is also by their colour. These are a typical

:08:50.:08:56.

example, pale lavender, pale pinks, whites. All these colours which

:08:57.:09:01.

start to luminous as evening balls, drawing in those moth pollinators.

:09:02.:09:11.

-- falls. If ever Romeo will looking to add romance to his balcony, then

:09:12.:09:17.

wouldn't he just go for these voluptuous and exotic Juliettes?

:09:18.:09:25.

Lilies, dazzling by day, but latterly intoxicating and a

:09:26.:09:31.

seductive by night. -- actorly. Romeo might have planted his lilies

:09:32.:09:37.

in pots on the balcony, or if in the garden below straight into the soil.

:09:38.:09:41.

In either case, he would have planted them in the spring. If in

:09:42.:09:45.

parts, they would have been in loam based compost. If in the garden

:09:46.:09:50.

below, in good soil with really sharp drainage. But in both cases,

:09:51.:09:52.

it would have been in sun. Do you know what? If the fairies

:09:53.:10:06.

themselves could choose just one plant to bring to the Midsummer

:10:07.:10:12.

night's garden party, it would have to be this. They have poise, they

:10:13.:10:19.

have elegance, and as far as evening scent is concerned, it is

:10:20.:10:23.

unsurpassable. For a plant that looks striking

:10:24.:10:31.

during the day light hours you can't beat this,

:10:32.:10:36.

the Eremurus, Fox Tail Lily. I've been trying to grow this

:10:37.:10:55.

gloriously in my garden for years and failing spectacularly! It is not

:10:56.:11:00.

because I don't know how to grow them, but they are quite picky about

:11:01.:11:04.

their conditions. And the heavy clay soil of Longmeadow is not their home

:11:05.:11:10.

of choice. They come from the open baking plains of central Asia. They

:11:11.:11:17.

need hot sunshine, lots of air, and above all really good drainage. If

:11:18.:11:21.

you have got chalk or sand, they are going to like you. And then make

:11:22.:11:25.

sure they are not crowded out by other plants, don't plant them close

:11:26.:11:31.

together. For display and sheer panache, there is nothing to match

:11:32.:11:32.

them. If you're after a tall

:11:33.:11:34.

structural plant like this, and Linda and Ray Heywood can't get

:11:35.:11:37.

enough of them and are the first to admit they find themselves living

:11:38.:11:50.

amidst the land of the giants # In a world of pure

:11:51.:11:53.

imagination... # The first time people see echiums

:11:54.:12:03.

that have not seen one before, the usual word is, wow!

:12:04.:12:06.

They are so big. When you look up into the sky,

:12:07.:12:13.

they seem to go on for ever. I feel like I am in

:12:14.:12:18.

the land of the giants. # Travelling in a world of

:12:19.:12:22.

my creation.... # Echiums come

:12:23.:12:27.

in so many different forms, We love the fact that

:12:28.:12:29.

the range of them is enormous. From the little shrubs

:12:30.:12:36.

to the huge ones. Let's get him out of the way,

:12:37.:12:42.

and this one too. People phone us up and say,

:12:43.:12:45.

"Can we come to your nursery?" It isn't a nursery,

:12:46.:12:49.

it's our back garden. We've got no horticultural

:12:50.:12:56.

training, have we, at all? We call ourselves plantaholics,

:12:57.:12:59.

really, don't we? We've done this

:13:00.:13:06.

a few times, haven't we? All echiums originate

:13:07.:13:13.

from a common ancestor, Of those, 17 are from

:13:14.:13:15.

the Micronesian Islands. The Canaries, Cape Verde,

:13:16.:13:27.

and the Azores. And they tend to be

:13:28.:13:29.

the bigger echiums. It's grown on the Isle of Fogo.

:13:30.:13:38.

Fogo in the Cape Verdi Islands. We think we've got the only

:13:39.:13:49.

plant in this country. The reason that Vulcanorum

:13:50.:13:52.

is so rare in the wild, is the locals chopped off

:13:53.:13:55.

all the young foliage to feed to the goats,

:13:56.:13:57.

so it never sets seed, or worse, they chop the whole

:13:58.:14:03.

thing down for firewood. It's critically endangered

:14:04.:14:06.

in the wild. That's the size of

:14:07.:14:16.

a second-year plant. That's come through its first

:14:17.:14:19.

year as a seedling. Given the right conditions,

:14:20.:14:22.

echiums flower in the third... That really relates to the echium

:14:23.:14:25.

pinana, the tree echium. A shrub echium you can get

:14:26.:14:29.

flowering in its second year. 12 years ago we started

:14:30.:14:32.

growing echiums, and it took six of those 12 to get

:14:33.:14:34.

the first one through the winter. It always amazes me

:14:35.:14:39.

with these plants, because that turns

:14:40.:14:42.

into something that's 12 feet tall. We tried a lot of different methods,

:14:43.:14:45.

and it didn't work. I said, "Why don't we

:14:46.:14:47.

try digging one up?" We put them in this

:14:48.:14:59.

greenhouse over winter Then we bring them out, and we place

:15:00.:15:03.

them back into the border. That's quite unique, I think,

:15:04.:15:09.

to growing an echium, It's in July, which is late

:15:10.:15:11.

for echiums to be in flower. So it's going to be

:15:12.:15:33.

quite a challenge. I think the other challenge will be

:15:34.:15:35.

right from the start when we have Linda came up with the

:15:36.:15:38.

design with a crayon. All we do know is going

:15:39.:15:42.

to do our best. Are you still scared? Or just

:15:43.:16:14.

excited? Relaxed. Relaxed. Excited now. Scared before. The judges gave

:16:15.:16:21.

it a Silver Medal. Are you pleased? Yes, one point off silver gilt. This

:16:22.:16:26.

is team echium. It's been a mountain to climb. But we're here and we're

:16:27.:16:30.

delighted with the feed back we've got. I confess that I struggle with

:16:31.:16:35.

echiums at long meadow, they're never happy. You can grow in

:16:36.:16:40.

containers. We get a ten foot echium, the giant tree echium, and

:16:41.:16:44.

we can get ten foot out of a bucket sized pot. You have you brought --

:16:45.:16:52.

have you brought vulcanara here? Yes, we are delighted to have got it

:16:53.:16:56.

here. It must be one of the rarest plants in the whole show. I think.

:16:57.:16:59.

So Shall we see you back here next year? The garden design was quite a

:17:00.:17:03.

challenge, I'd like to do it again. It's a pleasure to see you here. I

:17:04.:17:07.

hope the rest of the show goes well. Congratulations. Thank you.

:17:08.:17:19.

There's a distinct nod to South Africa here

:17:20.:17:21.

It was your idea to create this garden, wasn't it? Yeah. We were on

:17:22.:17:32.

a family holiday in South Africa. As a botanist, I enjoyed looking at the

:17:33.:17:39.

fauna and Flora, but in particular these over here. We felt that it

:17:40.:17:44.

would be interesting to use them as an alternative to grass. You've gone

:17:45.:17:48.

for a vibrant colour pallet here. We have. We wanted to do something bold

:17:49.:17:55.

and a little bit adventurous. It's a bit a Marmite garden but we really

:17:56.:18:00.

like it. The Flora of South Africa is colourful. So many of the plants

:18:01.:18:06.

in the garden come from there originally. We have agapanthus and

:18:07.:18:14.

we have crocosmia. It's a go-to plant. That's lovely. It's mine!

:18:15.:18:19.

It's not for sale. I'm not trying to nick it or anything It's coming back

:18:20.:18:25.

to my house. It's all mine. And the canna? Absolute joy. Not difficult

:18:26.:18:31.

to look after, I think. This has flowered for Hampton Court for us.

:18:32.:18:34.

Fantastic. Who would have thought it would all start from going on

:18:35.:18:36.

holiday. Indeed. This year there are

:18:37.:18:38.

a selection of gardens that come under

:18:39.:18:40.

the World Garden category. Adam Frost has grabbed his passport

:18:41.:18:42.

for a whistle-stop tour of the globe to see the wonderful and diverse

:18:43.:18:46.

flora it has to offer. Gardens from France, gardens from

:18:47.:19:01.

Spain, even gardens from South America. Me, I'm in the USA and the

:19:02.:19:05.

first place I've arrived in is Oregon. You know, really set the

:19:06.:19:09.

scene, the designer's done a pretty good job. You think about the

:19:10.:19:15.

natural, mountainous region, big, old pines, rock work, water running

:19:16.:19:19.

down. Then we've got the vines that sit in the mid. Space. They

:19:20.:19:24.

reference the wine that produced in that state. You need to Look Mickey

:19:25.:19:30.

closer. These are stunning. They tell the story, this history. You

:19:31.:19:33.

know what, this is a cracking little space.

:19:34.:19:44.

From the mountains of Oregon, I'm in the state of South Carolina, in

:19:45.:19:52.

charleston. The designer has created a more formal garden, a small town

:19:53.:19:57.

garden, elegant, charming. A lovely big focal point at the end. There's

:19:58.:20:01.

movement in here. It's a lovely space. She's started to reference

:20:02.:20:07.

and play with the more or less subtropical climate. Now I'm off to

:20:08.:20:16.

the desert of Texas. Texas really is an arid state. You can see that

:20:17.:20:21.

reflected here in the planting. It's semiarid. These gardens, though

:20:22.:20:25.

completely different, they've been designed by one slightly mad

:20:26.:20:30.

designer. Hello, lovely to meet you. Why? Why three gardens? Well, my

:20:31.:20:36.

sponsor asked me to do three gardens. We like a challenge. It's

:20:37.:20:42.

been fantastic actually. It's been lovely having three completely

:20:43.:20:44.

different themes to think about and design. So explain to me then how

:20:45.:20:49.

you got into that mind set and how did you research it, us designers,

:20:50.:20:53.

we have to do our research? Yeah, it was very difficult during the build

:20:54.:20:57.

switching between the different gardens. They all look so different.

:20:58.:21:02.

I actually enjoyed that. I had contact with representatives from

:21:03.:21:05.

each state or city that we were working with. They were able to

:21:06.:21:10.

advise on the right type of plants and materials, so that I got the

:21:11.:21:14.

theme correct. As a designer, I know how tough it is to do one, so for

:21:15.:21:19.

me, what you've achieved here with three gardens, I think you've done a

:21:20.:21:21.

really good job. Well done. Thank you.

:21:22.:21:32.

Going from world gardens, bounded in place and time to gardens which are

:21:33.:21:43.

more ethereal. These are the conceptual gardens designed to

:21:44.:21:48.

provoke thought. This is the garden called simply Why and designed by

:21:49.:21:54.

Tony Smith. At first sight, can you see this great black jangle of posts

:21:55.:21:59.

and rods that don't seem to have any distinct structure or reason. You

:22:00.:22:05.

move round this green pyramid and there is a cleft, a valley, if you

:22:06.:22:11.

like, quite dark at the end. You peer down and see this brass or

:22:12.:22:17.

golden circle, a ball. On closer inspection, you see that it's a

:22:18.:22:21.

scaled down version of what is above, which means that all those

:22:22.:22:27.

black rods moving around disjointedly make up a perfect,

:22:28.:22:32.

clean circle. For me, what that says is, we make judgments about things

:22:33.:22:37.

without seeing the whole picture. If we could see everything then perhaps

:22:38.:22:46.

we might think more clearly. This garden is called Outdoor Rooms:

:22:47.:22:51.

Inner Demons. The subject is depression. In particular, the way

:22:52.:22:59.

that depression makes people locked in and inaccessible. You have

:23:00.:23:05.

beautiful planting and then dark waters and this rocky, impenetrable

:23:06.:23:10.

island. There is a mirror, but it's disjointed. If you can see your body

:23:11.:23:15.

you can't see your head and vice versament that's to give people an

:23:16.:23:19.

idea of what it might be like to have depression. Does it work? I'm

:23:20.:23:24.

not sure. This is a subject I know something about and it's very

:23:25.:23:27.

sensitive. I suspect it's too good as a garden and not arresting enough

:23:28.:23:33.

as a concept to really work in this grouping. It shows how hard it is to

:23:34.:23:40.

simplify things down so that they stand out in such a complex

:23:41.:23:42.

environment as Hampton cart. This garden is called Striving for

:23:43.:24:01.

Survival. Its subject is a grim one, pancreatic cancer. It's one of the

:24:02.:24:06.

most virulent. At the moment, only 3% of sufferers survive after five

:24:07.:24:10.

years. This is represented in the garden by the three living trees.

:24:11.:24:18.

There are 97 blackened stems. When I walked past this the other day, I

:24:19.:24:22.

stopped in my tracks, not because I knew it was about pancreatic cancer.

:24:23.:24:27.

But because I thought it was fascinating and beautiful and really

:24:28.:24:30.

well done. I particularly like the planting. It has a kind of elegance

:24:31.:24:37.

and grace. Now it may seem quite odd to have that conjunction of planting

:24:38.:24:43.

with such a serious and devastating subject, but I see it differently. I

:24:44.:24:48.

see this as a celebration of life right up to the very end.

:24:49.:25:00.

The final conceptual garden in the category is inspired

:25:01.:25:03.

by the beautiful and barren Kent coastline of Dungeness.

:25:04.:25:07.

It seeks conceptual inspiration from Shakespeare. To find out why we went

:25:08.:25:10.

to visit the designer. My name is Mark White,

:25:11.:25:20.

I'm a garden designer. And we are creating a conceptual

:25:21.:25:22.

garden at Hampton Court Flower Show. We've drawn most of our influences

:25:23.:25:26.

from the local landscape, Dungeness, which has got rugged

:25:27.:25:29.

planting and black fishermen's huts. Gardening one day we came

:25:30.:25:34.

across a piece of driftwood in somebody's garden,

:25:35.:25:43.

with a message of a sonnet on, which is about waves

:25:44.:25:45.

crashing to the pebble sure and the successions of waves

:25:46.:25:49.

being linked to the minutes He understood that you can't

:25:50.:25:53.

actually stop time, but you can harness time,

:25:54.:26:14.

and you could possibly write something down for future

:26:15.:26:17.

generations as a benefit for them. So we thought we'd put that

:26:18.:26:21.

into a garden by creating a wave in mid-collapse,

:26:22.:26:24.

which gives the feeling of capturing We're building the single biggest

:26:25.:26:27.

structure at Hampton The wave is 14 metres long,

:26:28.:26:33.

it's three metres high, it's got a giant crest,

:26:34.:26:39.

it a very large wave. It's taken about six

:26:40.:26:43.

months to build so far. It's made of ash, thin strips

:26:44.:26:46.

that we've steam-bent. We've got a wallpaper stripper,

:26:47.:26:49.

and that is just pumping It gets up to 100 degrees,

:26:50.:26:58.

and then give it ten or 15 minutes, the piece of wood will be

:26:59.:27:05.

steamed and ready to go on. It's about as Heath Robinson

:27:06.:27:08.

as you get, but that is kind of half the fun of it,

:27:09.:27:11.

I think. The idea was to make it

:27:12.:27:19.

as dynamic as possible. We've still got more layers to put

:27:20.:27:58.

on top, we've got more We really want an effect when people

:27:59.:27:59.

turn up to the garden and walk in, that they are in an imposing part

:28:00.:27:59.

of nature, and on the wave we're having personal messages that

:28:00.:27:59.

visitors have left themselves. So as the week progresses,

:28:00.:28:00.

more messages go on the wave. And hopefully the wave becomes quite

:28:01.:28:00.

an emotive piece itself. And then the planting,

:28:01.:28:00.

Dungeness themed. It's kind of a flat,

:28:01.:28:00.

barren, harsh landscape. It has masses of sea kale

:28:01.:28:02.

and valerian, and they go in drifts

:28:03.:28:09.

for what seems to be miles. It's like one big garden that

:28:10.:28:16.

someone has just dropped there. The main reason for our garden,

:28:17.:28:19.

though, and I think

:28:20.:28:29.

for the conceptual range, is the fact you want to create

:28:30.:28:32.

this thought-provoking garden. it's about people coming

:28:33.:28:35.

into our garden and experiencing it, coming out the other side

:28:36.:28:40.

and saying how they felt about it. We've had to close your garden off,

:28:41.:29:00.

to stop the visitors coming through here, because it seems to be a bit

:29:01.:29:05.

hit. Yeah, fantastic. The reaction has been brilliant. There's not been

:29:06.:29:08.

a moment when people aren't in the garden. Funnelling through the wave.

:29:09.:29:13.

This works so well. You've captured that crashing moment. It's a huge

:29:14.:29:18.

piece of art. But also with the sound, the waves, you know, it's

:29:19.:29:23.

very immersive. Yeah, we wanted to create, we wanted to put the sound

:29:24.:29:27.

in, so when you're in it it draws you in and holds you for a minute or

:29:28.:29:33.

two and give you the time to think. I was worried that when people were

:29:34.:29:36.

going to leave messages, I thought it would be a graffiti wall. But

:29:37.:29:40.

people's inscriptions are very neatly written. Have you got any

:29:41.:29:46.

favourites? I mean, I think like never believe weather forecasters is

:29:47.:29:50.

a good one for future generations. For me, be kind to your knees,

:29:51.:29:55.

you'll miss them when they're gone! We can all relate to that. Lovely to

:29:56.:29:59.

meet you and hope to see you here again. Yeah, hopefully next year.

:30:00.:30:09.

One of the privileges for me here at the show is being able

:30:10.:30:14.

to get onto gardens for some time out from the hustle and bustle.

:30:15.:30:22.

I can sit down, no-one around, and I can just relax. And that is what we

:30:23.:30:29.

want from our gardens, immediately we feel better in ourselves, and

:30:30.:30:34.

this question of health and happiness in the garden is something

:30:35.:30:37.

that the RHS has been taking very seriously, and I have with me Sue

:30:38.:30:42.

Biggs, the director-general of the RHS. We have talked about this for

:30:43.:30:46.

quite a few years, where are you at now? What have we got to? It is very

:30:47.:30:50.

exciting at Hampton Court flower show, we had a health and

:30:51.:31:03.

horticulture conference earlier this week, and it was the first time that

:31:04.:31:06.

the whole of the industry came together, and government policy

:31:07.:31:08.

makers and planners and developers and the medical profession, to start

:31:09.:31:10.

taking seriously that horticulture can really help the ?50 billion cost

:31:11.:31:12.

that the NHS spends on treating chronic conditions. So does that

:31:13.:31:17.

mean that you will go to the doctor, in some form or another, and instead

:31:18.:31:22.

of prescribing the expense of drug that adds up to 50 billion, they

:31:23.:31:26.

will say, go and do a bit of gardening? I think there will be

:31:27.:31:31.

elements of that, there will be elements of prescriptions for

:31:32.:31:34.

gardening, but there are already some enlightened doctors who are

:31:35.:31:40.

prescribing green gyms, people exercising in public parks, for

:31:41.:31:45.

example. Finally, I don't think anyone watching this would

:31:46.:31:47.

fundamentally disagree with the fact that gardening is good for you, and

:31:48.:31:51.

the more that people do it, the better it will be for the nation's

:31:52.:31:55.

health - but how is that going to manifest itself in the couple of

:31:56.:32:01.

years? What about the deeds? If we can get a common language and a

:32:02.:32:04.

common aim that people are going to work towards, whether in government,

:32:05.:32:10.

a GP, a researcher, we really can change things. Some people need

:32:11.:32:15.

evidence, and we will work on that, but others will say, I am going to

:32:16.:32:20.

do that, and like our Greening Great Britain campaign, I am sure we can

:32:21.:32:24.

make a difference to health and happiness, because it is about the

:32:25.:32:28.

joy of gardening at the end of it. Thanks very much for talking to me.

:32:29.:32:30.

Thank you. There's still plenty

:32:31.:32:33.

to come on tonight's RHS Hampton Court Palace Flower

:32:34.:32:35.

Show supported by Viking Cruises. Special guest Martin Clunes

:32:36.:32:40.

will be finding out why one of this year's

:32:41.:32:43.

show gardens has gone to the dogs. Joe and Adam take a look

:32:44.:32:46.

at four front gardens designed by amateurs who won

:32:47.:32:49.

their place in a competition. And James Wong will be

:32:50.:32:51.

taking a closer look at the diverse plants

:32:52.:32:54.

you can grow to eat. Now, if all of that has

:32:55.:32:58.

left you out of breath Toby Buckland has everything

:32:59.:33:02.

you need to relax. It is a beautiful day here at

:33:03.:33:26.

Hampton Court, as you can see, it is crowded, we are all jostling for

:33:27.:33:30.

shoulder room. Now, one of the interesting things is that everyone

:33:31.:33:33.

is trying to find their own space, a place to call their own, and this is

:33:34.:33:40.

like a little miracle. Heading down into this subterranean patio, the

:33:41.:33:49.

noise of the crowd disappears. It is replaced by the babbling noise of

:33:50.:33:54.

the water feature, which is a giant waterfall spilling over stonework.

:33:55.:33:59.

It is not for everyone, this, you would have to be pretty at tarmac

:34:00.:34:06.

and the at digging, but what this garden has in spades is a wonderful

:34:07.:34:11.

sense of sanctuary. -- you would have to be pretty handy at digging.

:34:12.:34:25.

When I was a kid, every garden had a lawn, and that lawn was bang in the

:34:26.:34:33.

middle of the plot. And overlooked by neighbouring windows, there was

:34:34.:34:37.

no sense of retreat or seclusion, with all the people looking in on

:34:38.:34:42.

top of you, you just felt exposed, it was almost gladiatorial. This

:34:43.:34:46.

garden is different, the lawn is said to one side, and hidden behind

:34:47.:34:51.

a palisade and a hedge, you can picnic in private. Over here, this

:34:52.:34:56.

is where the real design genius is. It is Sung Kang, a real theme at

:34:57.:35:01.

Hampton Court this year, but not by much, and you don't need a massive

:35:02.:35:05.

change in levels to create a sense of sanctuary in any garden. -- it is

:35:06.:35:13.

sunken. This is not just any pergola, this is a Catherine

:35:14.:35:16.

McKinnell pergola that comes with a remotely control. You can just press

:35:17.:35:26.

the button and say adios. I'm not allowed through mode control for the

:35:27.:35:29.

TV at home, so I will be hanging onto this one!

:35:30.:35:37.

Of course, being surrounded by nature and plans is inherently

:35:38.:35:44.

relaxing, but when they are as beautiful as this, my gosh, that

:35:45.:35:49.

really is something. The flowers in this border are actually proved by

:35:50.:35:53.

the design, because they are next to water, and our noses require

:35:54.:35:57.

moisture in the given off by this pond be able to smell them. So they

:35:58.:36:04.

are all the more sweet for having a pond nearby. And I just love this

:36:05.:36:10.

seat, it is a bit like a dragon's throne. What a place to sit back,

:36:11.:36:20.

relax and read in the garden. -- breathe.

:36:21.:36:26.

Earlier in the year, the RHS and BBC local radio

:36:27.:36:28.

launched a nationwide competition inviting amateur gardeners to design

:36:29.:36:32.

a feel-good front farden taking inspiration from their local region.

:36:33.:36:34.

highlighting the health and wellbeing benefits of gardening.

:36:35.:36:41.

There were over 100 entries, and out of those four were chosen

:36:42.:36:44.

and their prize was to build the gardens here at Hampton.

:36:45.:36:47.

For me, the success of a good show garden is somewhere where I want to

:36:48.:37:12.

be in there, and this one, the moment I walked past, I wanted to go

:37:13.:37:17.

and sit on the seat. I think because it talks to me about a sense of

:37:18.:37:21.

place, you know, it is about with stubble, the Kent coast, and as you

:37:22.:37:25.

move around the place, the detail is cracking. -- with -- Whitstable. We

:37:26.:37:35.

have got oyster shells and dried seaweed. You have to engage with the

:37:36.:37:41.

space, because these clever little rails dropped out of the big tank at

:37:42.:37:46.

the back and fall into a sort of pond. I am looking at the planting,

:37:47.:37:51.

it is very simple, not lots of different plants, but you have got

:37:52.:37:57.

this lovely richness, this tapestry. They are popping out, wonderful blue

:37:58.:38:07.

against the terracotta. I love the way the design has used the Dianthus

:38:08.:38:11.

which works its way through the whole space. It adds to the

:38:12.:38:12.

wonderful atmosphere. This garden really celebrate our

:38:13.:38:26.

Victorian past, and SS Great Britain, and Brunel, the designer,

:38:27.:38:30.

in particular. The details are quite clever. He has used the docks and

:38:31.:38:34.

the setting of the docks for the choice of materials, so you look at

:38:35.:38:39.

the paving, the big strong sleepers, even the boxes were actually moved

:38:40.:38:47.

onto ships. But what I do like is, actually, when it has come to

:38:48.:38:51.

planting the garden, he has looked at what has started to come into the

:38:52.:38:54.

country, what traders were bringing in in at great Victorian period.

:38:55.:39:02.

Things like Echinacea on top of the fruits. So it is lovely, every now

:39:03.:39:07.

and then, to dip into the past, to form an opinion about the future.

:39:08.:39:20.

Do you know, this really reminds me of my nan and time she spent in our

:39:21.:39:29.

front garden chatting to a neighbours. This Israeli clever,

:39:30.:39:33.

spending somewhere to sit. It may only be ten minutes in the morning

:39:34.:39:37.

before you go to work but it can really set you up for the day. --

:39:38.:39:42.

this is a really clever. This gives a nod to industrial past, this time

:39:43.:39:46.

Manchester. The designer has been really brave to bridge this canal, a

:39:47.:39:51.

representation of the Manchester canals, because some people might

:39:52.:40:00.

think it is a trick, but for me it stops you and engages you with the

:40:01.:40:02.

space. I think, when it comes to planting, he has been quite brave,

:40:03.:40:05.

introduced quite a bit of height in the garden. Using the grasses, it is

:40:06.:40:09.

a filter, it gives you the sense of movement, absolutely stunning. And

:40:10.:40:12.

any have these little pockets of colour, the yellow and the mauve,

:40:13.:40:17.

and I think that is the final point, actually front gardens may not all

:40:18.:40:22.

be about us and what they can do for us, but maybe what they can give

:40:23.:40:28.

back to the streetscape. And you can always sit and have a cup of tea!

:40:29.:40:37.

I love these big old ferns, they are fantastic, and I love the idea of

:40:38.:40:44.

coming from dark into a light, but what I really love about this garden

:40:45.:40:48.

is the celebration of Cornwall, but not just Cornwall as a whole, but

:40:49.:40:52.

the tin mines, and imagine being down in the minds all day long.

:40:53.:40:56.

Imagine those being the struts that hold up the mine, coming out into a

:40:57.:41:01.

big, bright, beautiful garden. I really love the colour of this,

:41:02.:41:07.

slightly tender, beautiful structural plant. Then you have got

:41:08.:41:11.

the agapanthus, I love the way the colour of that works with these. Do

:41:12.:41:15.

you know what? This garden really puts a smile on your face.

:41:16.:41:27.

Yesterday we talked about Eric creepy Crawley taken from a cutting

:41:28.:41:34.

and Lundy island, and we want to suggest that there are strict rules

:41:35.:41:39.

about taking cuttings from the wild, check you have the relevant

:41:40.:41:44.

permission first. Now, is the opportunity to design a dog friendly

:41:45.:41:48.

garden a gift or a challenge to a garden designer? Martin Close, a

:41:49.:41:52.

self-confessed lover of our canine friends, went to find out why this

:41:53.:41:56.

year there is a Hampden show garden that designers are hoping will not

:41:57.:41:57.

turn into a dog's dinner. I adore dogs, I lived with four of

:41:58.:42:11.

them at home. I don't know what it is, I just love sharing my life with

:42:12.:42:17.

these little personalities and their relatively simple set of

:42:18.:42:18.

requirements. I have been a fan of the charity for

:42:19.:42:33.

years, so I left at the chance to visit one of their centres and learn

:42:34.:42:37.

about something wonderful they had planned for the Hampton Court flower

:42:38.:42:43.

show. 125 years we have been in the business, and this project is our

:42:44.:42:47.

opportunity to promote how much fun you can have with your dog in the

:42:48.:42:51.

garden. They don't always work together. It is a real opportunity!

:42:52.:43:00.

The dogs can benefit so much from being outside. If they can really be

:43:01.:43:03.

sniffing things out, that is what dogs want to do, using their ears

:43:04.:43:08.

and eyes, seeing what is going on, having fun, being a dog. Keep their

:43:09.:43:13.

minds as fit as their muscles, bright and happy and functioning

:43:14.:43:17.

dog. You want them to play, and that is what we are about with our

:43:18.:43:21.

sensory garden, the exercise courtyards. It is all about giving

:43:22.:43:25.

them a friendly environment to be a dog.

:43:26.:43:32.

And running around the centre's own sensory garden is Andy, who has been

:43:33.:43:39.

tasked with bringing the Hampton Court show garden to life. The

:43:40.:43:44.

garden is really starting to come together now, Harvey Brooks and I

:43:45.:43:48.

have worked together over the years, and he comes at it from the design

:43:49.:43:53.

perspective, I come at it from planting. And what is interesting

:43:54.:43:57.

for me is actually seeing how the garden can be planted to actually

:43:58.:44:02.

make it a dog friendly environment. But some things to avoid, not every

:44:03.:44:07.

plant is suitable. Here, they have chosen really tough plants, which

:44:08.:44:12.

will stand up to a bit of abuse from the dogs. But actually in the garden

:44:13.:44:18.

at Hampton Court, there are lots of herbaceous perennials. Of course,

:44:19.:44:23.

they will regrow. There are different services, tracks that they

:44:24.:44:26.

can sniff through. And also a woodland area that they can go and

:44:27.:44:31.

dig in, so plenty of stimulation, plenty of places to explore and

:44:32.:44:33.

enjoy without doing too much damage. S Good boy. That's the proof of the

:44:34.:44:42.

pudding. Give a dog a nice garden like this and off they go. Keeps

:44:43.:44:46.

their minds working, that's all they want. Very nice. I tear myself away

:44:47.:44:52.

from these lovely animals and wish Andy the best of luck as he heads

:44:53.:44:57.

off to make the dream a reality at Hampton Court Palace.

:44:58.:45:05.

This is one of the great views of the garden across this long, still,

:45:06.:45:10.

rectangular pool where a dog could actually splash into the shallow

:45:11.:45:13.

water and enjoy it. Then the pavilion here, this will be a place

:45:14.:45:18.

where prospective owners will meet their pets for the first time. But

:45:19.:45:22.

here at the show, you get a beautiful view down through the main

:45:23.:45:27.

vista here. What we hope is that the well trained little dogs, they

:45:28.:45:33.

follow things like the aromatics, like the mint and thyme. They go

:45:34.:45:39.

through the planting and explore and so do relatively little damage. The

:45:40.:45:45.

dogs that have been here so far have been great. They've been really well

:45:46.:45:53.

behaved. I have to say there are a couple, especially a little black

:45:54.:45:57.

pug that I've fall anyone love with. Don't eat the stones.

:45:58.:46:14.

I couldn't bring Nigel or Nell, but I have a good replacement with

:46:15.:46:20.

Johnson here. He's showing me round the garden. You can see that any

:46:21.:46:25.

human will be very happy to have a garden like this. But there are

:46:26.:46:28.

things for dogs too. I love the tunnels. They're fun. That's the

:46:29.:46:31.

important thing for dogs. However, there is one aspect of this garden

:46:32.:46:36.

that is devoted to dogs and which I really like. Come on, let's have a

:46:37.:46:45.

look. This is a fabulous doggy water feature. You can splash in it, you

:46:46.:46:50.

can wallow. I can see Nigel just getting in there and wallowing like

:46:51.:46:54.

a hippo. What I would say is that you need somewhere they can get out

:46:55.:46:58.

without damaging plants. Also, you have to accept the compromise that

:46:59.:47:03.

once dogs start jumping in and playing in water, they are going to

:47:04.:47:07.

disturb other wildlife. This is a pond for tame life, not wildlife.

:47:08.:47:10.

But for a dog, it's heaven. One little tip, whilst it looks

:47:11.:47:25.

lovely to see plants spilling onto grass, a crash barrier is what's

:47:26.:47:30.

needed. A low hedge is both a very good way of protecting your plants

:47:31.:47:34.

and also can look great. This garden does look great. The public love it.

:47:35.:47:39.

Dogs love it. The judges loved it too because they gave it a gold.

:47:40.:47:52.

is designed to tempt the taste buds of humans not hounds.

:47:53.:47:56.

Showcasing edible plants from across the world

:47:57.:47:58.

Something like this, the young shoots as they come through can be

:47:59.:48:10.

steamed or stir fried with a bit of garlic. If you fancy it, why not?

:48:11.:48:16.

Dahlias have tubers on them under ground. They came over at the same

:48:17.:48:20.

time as potatoes from South America. Let's put it this way, a few years

:48:21.:48:24.

ago I tried a dahlia tuber. It had been boiled with a bit of salt and

:48:25.:48:29.

pepper, I think I know why we went for the potatoes instead! Not very

:48:30.:48:35.

nice. But edible nonetheless. This plant is all together very

:48:36.:48:42.

different. Now this is called the electric daisy/tooth ache plant.

:48:43.:48:47.

It's meant to be a particular taste. Wish me luck everybody... My entire

:48:48.:48:56.

mouth is now numb. I do feel like I've come out of the dentist after

:48:57.:49:01.

three fillings or something. Why didn't I get Monty to do this bit?

:49:02.:49:04.

Honestly. If all this talk of growing your own

:49:05.:49:18.

food has got your taste buds going, like mine are now, I'm not sure in a

:49:19.:49:23.

good way, but James Wong has been looking across the show ground for

:49:24.:49:26.

some incredible Edible to inspire you.

:49:27.:49:39.

Being whisked away to Peru, this might not be the first place you'd

:49:40.:49:46.

go to seek edible inspiration. But the Incas were incredible, they bred

:49:47.:49:50.

the potato, the tomato, the pepper and a host of other things. This

:49:51.:49:55.

might not be familiar to you in the plant form, but if you're a health

:49:56.:50:00.

nut, you almost certainly know it. This is quinoa. Each of these is an

:50:01.:50:06.

individual quinoa seed. They're just beginning to riping. They're going

:50:07.:50:16.

yellow. -- ripen. This is now commercially cultivated all over the

:50:17.:50:22.

UK. Down here we have a potato-like root vegetable called occa. It's

:50:23.:50:27.

like potato but better in pretty much every way. You can eat it raw

:50:28.:50:31.

and cooked. It has edible, tasty leaves, which are a bit like sorrel

:50:32.:50:38.

or sour apple candy. You get two crops in the space of one and

:50:39.:50:42.

finally, it's completely immune to blight, bred by the same people who

:50:43.:50:47.

domesticated the potato. It's only a fluke of history that chips aren't

:50:48.:50:48.

made from this. As a botanist one of the things I'm

:50:49.:51:03.

fascinated about is how some crops have fallen out of favour, even

:51:04.:51:07.

though they were once widely eaten. That includes some of our most much

:51:08.:51:14.

loved garden plants. Down here we have a nasturtium. I know this

:51:15.:51:18.

mainly from hanging baskets. This was domesticated by the Inca as an

:51:19.:51:23.

edible and medicinal plant. You get the flowers, the leaves, even seed

:51:24.:51:27.

pods which can be pickled and eaten like capers. Last but not least,

:51:28.:51:32.

window box favourite, a fuchsia over here. These were originally

:51:33.:51:37.

domesticated for their edible fruit. If you get the right one, it's as

:51:38.:51:41.

tasty as a cherry plus flowers to boot.

:51:42.:51:52.

There's a whole section at Hampton Court on specifically school

:51:53.:51:59.

gardening. This section is Saul about tea. Everything from

:52:00.:52:03.

traditional tea right through to peppermint tea, chamomile here. But

:52:04.:52:08.

to me the most exciting is this, sugar leave, otherwise known as

:52:09.:52:14.

stevia. It contains a substance 300 times sweeter than sugar but

:52:15.:52:19.

contains no calories. So much gardening advice for kids are

:52:20.:52:23.

mustard and cress, but are quick growing, but they're bitter. Why

:52:24.:52:28.

grow that when you can grow sweet, sugary deliciousness. If you want

:52:29.:52:32.

edible inspiration, Hampton has got it in spades.

:52:33.:52:42.

Whilst a lot of us are harvesting garlic at home now, I don't think

:52:43.:52:50.

any of us will produce either the quality or the quaunt of -- quantity

:52:51.:52:54.

of different types on display here at Hampton Court. Colin, nice to see

:52:55.:53:01.

you again. Nice to see you. I always know that you're going to have a

:53:02.:53:04.

wide range of garlic. Have you something unusual this year. We

:53:05.:53:10.

have. We've got this garlic from eastern Turkey. We picked it up on

:53:11.:53:13.

two trips there about five years ago. Since then, we've been growing

:53:14.:53:20.

it on and learning more about it. What have you discovered? What we've

:53:21.:53:23.

discovered is that it produces a true seed. Garlic lost the ability

:53:24.:53:30.

to actually reproduce its own seed about 6,000 years ago. This has

:53:31.:53:34.

retained it. What does that mean in practice? This garlic is protected

:53:35.:53:42.

against virus. Almost all garlic is infected with virus at some level.

:53:43.:53:48.

That reduces the effect of photo synthesis and the ability to produce

:53:49.:53:52.

big bulbs. How does it compare with other garlic? This offers four times

:53:53.:53:58.

the level of sulphur compound that you find in ordinary garlic. It

:53:59.:54:01.

doesn't mean that it's necessarily very strong. But it has incredible

:54:02.:54:05.

warmth and aroma to it. When will we be able to grow this and eat it and

:54:06.:54:11.

have that goodness done for us in our gardens? Over the next two

:54:12.:54:19.

years. Thanks, Colin. The punkency of -- pungency of

:54:20.:54:24.

garlic might not be to everybody's taste. But most people are pleased

:54:25.:54:28.

with roses. In the marquee there are hundreds of varieties. One of these

:54:29.:54:32.

will be chosen as rose of the year. Rachel has been along to see the

:54:33.:54:34.

very best of this year's selection. If there's one plant that comes

:54:35.:54:46.

into its own at this time of the year it's our

:54:47.:54:49.

national flower, the rose. Hampton is the own only

:54:50.:54:52.

major British flower show and this is the perfect place

:54:53.:54:56.

for launches of new introductions. Roses, old and new, often have a

:54:57.:55:21.

story behind them. This new variety is named for one of the greatest

:55:22.:55:25.

story tellers of all time, it's called Charles Dickens. It was

:55:26.:55:29.

selected by the great-great granddaughter of the writer himself.

:55:30.:55:36.

It's a hybrid tea with bold, swirling, scarlet petals. It's

:55:37.:55:40.

slightly scented and long, strong stems that will produce flowers

:55:41.:55:43.

right the way through the summer and into the Autumn.

:55:44.:55:51.

This year the festival roses have spilled out of the marquee into the

:55:52.:55:57.

sunshine. We've got more new introductions here. Here's a hybrid

:55:58.:56:01.

tea. It's bold, bright and beautiful. It's called Bollywood.

:56:02.:56:08.

90th celebration which was bred as a hybrid tea, but it has floribunda

:56:09.:56:15.

ten densies. It was named in honour of two of our national treasures,

:56:16.:56:20.

Sir David Attenborough and of course, Her Majesty the Queen. This

:56:21.:56:29.

gorgeous rose is the culmination of one man's expertise because it took

:56:30.:56:34.

amateur rose breeder Ronnie Rawlins 45 years of trying to come up with

:56:35.:56:40.

this. It's called Lightning Strike and it has this distinctive white

:56:41.:56:44.

stripe down the centre of the petals - very, very unusual. It's a nice,

:56:45.:56:48.

compact size. It will be perfect in a container or possibly in the

:56:49.:56:52.

middle of a border as well. I think it's something rather special. Of

:56:53.:57:00.

all the roses launched here at the show, only one can win the very

:57:01.:57:05.

coveted title of Rose of the Year. This year it's a climber called

:57:06.:57:12.

Scent from Heaven. It's wonderful hybrid tea-shaped flowers which are

:57:13.:57:15.

open, so you see the centre of the flower. I love the fact that oh, it

:57:16.:57:21.

really lives up to its name. That is a gorgeous, sweet, fruity fragrance.

:57:22.:57:26.

These soft apricot tones work so beautifully with many other colours

:57:27.:57:30.

in the garden. I'm particularly loving it with the rich, dark purple

:57:31.:57:35.

of that clematis. Absolutely, heavenly.

:57:36.:57:43.

That was selected as Rose of the Year. What's your favourite? A new

:57:44.:57:48.

introduction from last year Roald Dahl. It's a yellow flower with a

:57:49.:57:54.

pink outer petal. It's so pure and so beautiful. It's vigorous. It has

:57:55.:57:59.

a delicious scent too. What's not to love. I would have to choose the

:58:00.:58:04.

Pilgrim. It's a modern rose. It flowers all summer long. It has a

:58:05.:58:10.

freshness. It's a delicate yellow, multipetaled, a touch of pink before

:58:11.:58:14.

it opens and it's a joy. I love it. We have both gone for yellow. There

:58:15.:58:18.

we are. It is now the end of tonight's programme. That's it, but

:58:19.:58:24.

don't go away, because as soon as we finish here, we go to long meadow.

:58:25.:58:30.

It's Gardners' World where I will be collecting food, including in year's

:58:31.:58:34.

garlic harvest for a birthday feast. Monty and I will be at the RHS

:58:35.:58:40.

Flower Show Tatton Park from July 21. This is in Cheshire. The growers

:58:41.:58:43.

and designers of the north will be there. We call it the garden party

:58:44.:58:48.

of the north. And although we're finished here at Hampton Court, the

:58:49.:58:53.

show goes on till Sunday night. You can get all the details from our

:58:54.:58:57.

website. But from Joe and I, goodbye. Bye-bye.

:58:58.:59:05.

Download Subtitles

SRT

ASS