0:00:02 > 0:00:03I'm Carol Klein,
0:00:03 > 0:00:07and this is my garden, nestled in the heart of north Devon,
0:00:07 > 0:00:0915 miles from the coast,
0:00:09 > 0:00:13and surrounded by this tranquil and beautiful countryside.
0:00:18 > 0:00:21I've taken care of my garden for 30 years.
0:00:21 > 0:00:26I know every inch of this place and every plant.
0:00:29 > 0:00:32Each season brings its own delights.
0:00:32 > 0:00:39There are plenty of challenges too, but that's what makes it so exciting and so fulfilling.
0:00:41 > 0:00:47It's high summer, and the abundance of colour and flora are everywhere to be seen.
0:00:47 > 0:00:53Over the next half hour, I'll be showing you the glorious change my garden makes
0:00:53 > 0:00:56as it reaches the height of this season.
0:01:06 > 0:01:13It's during July and August that the garden builds up to its peak.
0:01:13 > 0:01:19By the time we reach the end of August, plants have assumed their absolute zenith.
0:01:19 > 0:01:26Things are never going to get any bigger, nor any brighter or more beautiful.
0:01:26 > 0:01:31First of all it's geranium pratense, and then there are gorgeous lilies
0:01:31 > 0:01:37with beautiful perfume, especially on these sort of sultry, languorous days.
0:01:39 > 0:01:45But it's not a question of just letting it all roll over you and enjoying it,
0:01:45 > 0:01:51there's lots to do to try and maintain that peak and to keep the whole picture going.
0:01:51 > 0:01:53You've got to be deadheading...
0:01:56 > 0:01:58..cutting things back, staking things.
0:02:00 > 0:02:08And there are cuttings to be taken of all these herbaceous plants because you've got lots of them,
0:02:08 > 0:02:11but you want more, and now's the time to do it.
0:02:15 > 0:02:19It's not just a question for sitting back and enjoying it.
0:02:19 > 0:02:22You've got to be busy.
0:02:38 > 0:02:42Getting these two beautiful geranium pratense
0:02:42 > 0:02:45out of the front of the hotbed.
0:02:45 > 0:02:51Now, geranium pratense is just the best self-seeder everywhere.
0:02:51 > 0:02:54And these two have decided to make this their home.
0:02:54 > 0:02:57Well, I've given them a chance.
0:02:57 > 0:03:02I've let them flower, but I know it's time for them to come out.
0:03:02 > 0:03:07I wouldn't normally be lifting geraniums at this time of year,
0:03:07 > 0:03:09but no,
0:03:09 > 0:03:10they've got to make way,
0:03:10 > 0:03:16cos I've got these wonderful ricinus that have grown on so beautifully.
0:03:16 > 0:03:21They're going to be one of the most important features in here,
0:03:21 > 0:03:28but if I don't get them in now, they really won't do their wonderful, tropical best by September.
0:03:28 > 0:03:31They should be sort of up here, really expansive,
0:03:31 > 0:03:36and giving the whole place that kind of really exotic look.
0:03:36 > 0:03:40I seem to have been waiting ages to do this.
0:03:41 > 0:03:45Way back in January I sowed the seed.
0:03:45 > 0:03:48And then potted it on,
0:03:48 > 0:03:51cos it germinated really well.
0:03:56 > 0:04:01And just kept on potting it on until we got these fine, magnificent plants.
0:04:01 > 0:04:07I've no idea what these roots are like, but I can see some coming out of the bottom of the pot.
0:04:07 > 0:04:09Look at that.
0:04:09 > 0:04:13So I'm going to lower it very gently into position.
0:04:13 > 0:04:20Where it grows all around the Mediterranean it makes a huge, great big, well, tree, really,
0:04:20 > 0:04:25but because they're tender they'll never do that in my garden.
0:04:25 > 0:04:30But because I'm giving them such a lovely position
0:04:30 > 0:04:38they should really burgeon and become enormous, with these great, big, dramatic palmate leaves.
0:04:38 > 0:04:42And they're going to set the scene for this whole hot border.
0:04:55 > 0:04:59Lilies are one of the stars of the July show.
0:04:59 > 0:05:04Hemerocallis, or daylilies, kick off the display.
0:05:04 > 0:05:06The individual flowers last only for a day,
0:05:06 > 0:05:10but regular deadheading really helps prolong the show.
0:05:10 > 0:05:14Later, trumpet lilies provide a splendid boost to the borders.
0:05:14 > 0:05:20They're big and spectacular, either grown in the ground or in pots.
0:05:20 > 0:05:27When I'm planting up my bulbs, I detach a few scales, snapping them off cleanly from the mother bulb.
0:05:29 > 0:05:33I'm putting them in a plastic bag filled with damp vermiculite.
0:05:44 > 0:05:48Then I put the whole lot into a pot to exclude light.
0:05:57 > 0:06:02After a few weeks, baby bulbs are formed at the base of each scale.
0:06:07 > 0:06:11Then I just line them out in a seed tray full of gritty compost.
0:06:14 > 0:06:19Eventually, after a couple of years, they'll make big bulbs,
0:06:19 > 0:06:22and they'll start to produce flowers of their own.
0:06:44 > 0:06:49It's July, and the garden is burgeoning.
0:06:49 > 0:06:53But at the same time, it's teetering on the edge.
0:06:53 > 0:06:58You get the feeling that it's wonderful but almost out of control,
0:06:58 > 0:07:03like one of those hairdos, you know, that's still all right but only just.
0:07:03 > 0:07:05I mean, take this rose.
0:07:05 > 0:07:08It's lovely at the moment,
0:07:08 > 0:07:11sander's white, absolutely beautiful,
0:07:11 > 0:07:14but already some of the flowers are beginning to die,
0:07:14 > 0:07:17and it's up to me to try and prolong that beauty
0:07:17 > 0:07:22and get as much out of it as I can by a bit of discerning pruning.
0:07:22 > 0:07:25And you walk along here, and everywhere you look,
0:07:25 > 0:07:32you just know that although you're enjoying it and it's wonderful at this moment,
0:07:32 > 0:07:35at any second a storm could come along,
0:07:35 > 0:07:39cos the weather's so unpredictable in July,
0:07:39 > 0:07:41and the whole thing could be flattened.
0:07:58 > 0:08:02The reason the weather in my garden changes so rapidly
0:08:02 > 0:08:07is that we're so close to one of the world's greatest oceans, the Atlantic.
0:08:15 > 0:08:18I just love to come to the seaside.
0:08:18 > 0:08:25It's so alimental, it's nothing but sky and sea and sand.
0:08:25 > 0:08:26It's wonderful.
0:08:26 > 0:08:33I don't do it nearly often enough, but when I do, this is one of my favourite places to come.
0:08:33 > 0:08:34It's Braunton Burrows.
0:08:41 > 0:08:45It's strange to think, standing on these sand dunes
0:08:45 > 0:08:47and looking out at this lunar landscape,
0:08:47 > 0:08:52that my garden's only about 15 miles away from here.
0:08:52 > 0:08:55But this is where our weather comes from.
0:08:55 > 0:09:01This vast sky, and these huge clouds that belt over at a rate of knots.
0:09:01 > 0:09:05And the weather changing so rapidly too, so fast.
0:09:05 > 0:09:07One minute, brilliant sunshine,
0:09:07 > 0:09:10the next, big, dark clouds and torrential rain.
0:09:10 > 0:09:13It's Atlantic weather, I suppose,
0:09:13 > 0:09:17and it's what our gardens are influenced by, it's what it's subject to.
0:09:17 > 0:09:19It's beautiful.
0:09:34 > 0:09:36Well, this is a plant I've really come to see.
0:09:36 > 0:09:39This is eryngium maritimum, true sea holly.
0:09:39 > 0:09:44And Braunton Burrows is one of the places where it really thrives,
0:09:44 > 0:09:47because the conditions are totally perfect.
0:09:47 > 0:09:50This is a plant which has evolved with its environment,
0:09:50 > 0:09:53and it's a very specialist environment,
0:09:53 > 0:09:57and very specialist adaptations that it's got.
0:09:57 > 0:10:00Just look at this. It's incredibly prickly.
0:10:00 > 0:10:02You're certainly not going to get
0:10:02 > 0:10:04any grazing animals tucking into this,
0:10:04 > 0:10:07and it's a bad place to have a picnic, too,
0:10:07 > 0:10:10because each of these cones of flower
0:10:10 > 0:10:15is protected by these incredibly fierce bracts.
0:10:15 > 0:10:17I mean, these spines really hurt,
0:10:17 > 0:10:21and the bracts and the basal leaves are covered
0:10:21 > 0:10:26in this thick sort of wax, to resist the sea spray,
0:10:26 > 0:10:30to protect the cuticle of the leaf and to allow the plant to go on growing.
0:10:32 > 0:10:38Eryngium maritimum is a native plant so I'd hoped I'd be able to grow it,
0:10:38 > 0:10:39but no such luck,
0:10:39 > 0:10:42cos it must have pure sand to grow in, and, of course,
0:10:42 > 0:10:44it loves to be by the sea.
0:10:44 > 0:10:47But what I do grow is eryngium bourgatii,
0:10:47 > 0:10:50and it's in a specialist sort of blue form,
0:10:50 > 0:10:55and the place it thrives best in my garden is in the raised bed.
0:10:56 > 0:11:03It likes high fertility, but it also demands really sharp drainage, and that's just what I give it.
0:11:03 > 0:11:08And as it's ready to be pollinated it does exactly what this one does.
0:11:08 > 0:11:13All these flowers go from silver to brilliant blue,
0:11:13 > 0:11:18but in the case of my bourgatii, the stems and all the bracts go blue too,
0:11:18 > 0:11:24so even though I yearn for that steely foliage, I'm very happy growing that.
0:12:26 > 0:12:31It's just a couple of weeks ago that I was at Braunton Burrows.
0:12:31 > 0:12:35It was so beautiful. I really should go there more often.
0:12:35 > 0:12:39In fact, it's tempting at this time of year
0:12:39 > 0:12:41just to enjoy yourself.
0:12:41 > 0:12:45The garden's looking, well, pretty special,
0:12:45 > 0:12:52but there are a few things that I've got to do right now, otherwise they won't get done.
0:12:52 > 0:12:57I've got to strike while the iron's hot. That scoop will do. That's it.
0:12:57 > 0:12:59And some grit.
0:12:59 > 0:13:05We're taking cuttings of my favourite herbaceous perennials.
0:13:17 > 0:13:19This is it.
0:13:19 > 0:13:22This is aster lateriflorus horizontalis.
0:13:22 > 0:13:27I adore it. It's this gorgeous dark colour, but it sticks its arms out like this.
0:13:27 > 0:13:29You can even make a hedge.
0:13:29 > 0:13:34And it's one of the plants that I've added to Annie's border.
0:13:34 > 0:13:37Look at how this has come on. It's astonishing.
0:13:37 > 0:13:41But it's got another sort of era that's just coming on,
0:13:41 > 0:13:43all these gorgeous asters.
0:13:43 > 0:13:45But before this one starts to flower,
0:13:45 > 0:13:49I want to take these cuttings, and all you do is just
0:13:49 > 0:13:53pull a little piece down like that with a heel,
0:13:53 > 0:13:59and you can raid these plants, and you really won't know I've been here at all,
0:13:59 > 0:14:02and I'll get several brand new plants out of it.
0:14:02 > 0:14:05It's not crucial what length these are,
0:14:05 > 0:14:11quite sort of short and strong, and each with this little heel.
0:14:11 > 0:14:16So if I have half a dozen from there to start with,
0:14:16 > 0:14:21and then all you do is just strim
0:14:21 > 0:14:27these basal leaves off like that between your thumb and finger.
0:14:27 > 0:14:31And if there are any nasty little sort of extra bits at the bottom
0:14:31 > 0:14:34where you've pulled a bit too much of the stem,
0:14:34 > 0:14:40just take a sharp knife and trim them up, and then you just plonk them round the edge of this pot.
0:14:40 > 0:14:44You can try this with all sorts of herbaceous perennials,
0:14:44 > 0:14:47anything that produces these sort of side shoots.
0:14:47 > 0:14:52Water it well. Keep it somewhere sort of nice and bright,
0:14:52 > 0:14:56but not in full sunlight, not so it bakes.
0:14:56 > 0:14:59And they root surprisingly quickly.
0:14:59 > 0:15:03They'll be decent little plants if I keep repotting them.
0:15:03 > 0:15:06Bit of grit over the top.
0:15:06 > 0:15:09I can probably get a few more in there.
0:15:10 > 0:15:14I'm always too greedy when it comes to things like taking cuttings.
0:15:14 > 0:15:16How's that?
0:15:32 > 0:15:37Well, it's mid-August, and we're more than halfway through the year.
0:15:41 > 0:15:46My brick garden's come a long way from the bleak days of mid-winter.
0:15:46 > 0:15:50It's brimming with the expectation of late-season colour,
0:15:50 > 0:15:53but the best is still to come in September.
0:15:55 > 0:15:59The canopy in the woodland's completely covered in,
0:15:59 > 0:16:04and soon it'll be drifting into its resplendent autumnal hues.
0:16:07 > 0:16:10Alice's garden reached its peak in June.
0:16:10 > 0:16:12It's still going strong,
0:16:12 > 0:16:15but lots of the early flowers have already set seed,
0:16:15 > 0:16:18and I can't wait to start collecting them.
0:16:19 > 0:16:25At the beginning of the year, Annie's garden was a scene of complete devastation.
0:16:25 > 0:16:28I cleared it out and replanted the whole space.
0:16:28 > 0:16:30I was a bit worried, a bit apprehensive,
0:16:30 > 0:16:32but just look at it now.
0:16:32 > 0:16:36I can't believe it's recovered so quickly.
0:16:36 > 0:16:44Jake Hobson created a beautiful cloud effect on the box hedge in, my hot borders way back in April
0:16:44 > 0:16:50but now his hard work's smothered with masses of exotic foliage,
0:16:50 > 0:16:53and the hot, hot colours beginning to emerge.
0:16:53 > 0:16:55But there's always room for some more.
0:16:57 > 0:16:59In this bottom corner of the hot borders,
0:16:59 > 0:17:01this ricinus that I've planted,
0:17:01 > 0:17:04just a matter of weeks ago, really got established.
0:17:04 > 0:17:07Look at them, they're almost like little trees,
0:17:07 > 0:17:10but look at all this bare soil here.
0:17:10 > 0:17:15I want to fill it up, and I think these are exactly the right thing.
0:17:15 > 0:17:19This is rudbeckia rustic dwarf, all grown from seed this year,
0:17:19 > 0:17:22and this big wide range of hot colour,
0:17:22 > 0:17:26and this little cosmidium, so pretty, look at that.
0:17:26 > 0:17:29I've never grown this before but it's ideal,
0:17:29 > 0:17:31it's going to mix in really well.
0:17:31 > 0:17:33What do you think, Sylv? Yeah?
0:17:33 > 0:17:38But this is what I was going to show you. Come and have a look at this.
0:17:38 > 0:17:45I put these willows in, just as stakes, big, strong stakes,
0:17:45 > 0:17:48to hold up this fence panel, but they've taken root,
0:17:48 > 0:17:50and they've grown up to the sky.
0:17:50 > 0:17:52They're absolutely enormous.
0:17:52 > 0:17:57But meanwhile... I came over to think about sawing them down,
0:17:57 > 0:17:59but look what's on here.
0:17:59 > 0:18:00Hornets.
0:18:00 > 0:18:03And they've stripped the bark off some of these.
0:18:03 > 0:18:05And I don't know whether it's to build a nest.
0:18:05 > 0:18:07I doubt it, it's too late in the year.
0:18:07 > 0:18:11It's probably some sort of sticky deposit on there, sugary,
0:18:11 > 0:18:15and they're tucking in and really enjoying it. They look quite drunk.
0:18:15 > 0:18:17Might be aspirin, of course, it's a willow.
0:18:17 > 0:18:19Perhaps they've all got a headache!
0:18:50 > 0:18:55My hot borders are really beginning to come into their own now.
0:18:56 > 0:19:01But cotinus coggygria grace is really taking over.
0:19:01 > 0:19:04Way back in March, I pruned it hard,
0:19:04 > 0:19:07cos I wanted it to burst into growth,
0:19:07 > 0:19:09but it's done more than that,
0:19:09 > 0:19:16and the lovely rudbeckia and crocosmia that I planted underneath it can hardly see the light of day.
0:19:16 > 0:19:19So I've got to be brutal and take my pruners to it,
0:19:19 > 0:19:22and I'm cutting it back really, really hard.
0:19:52 > 0:19:58Staging the hot borders is a major event, and it's really great having Neil around to help.
0:19:58 > 0:20:05Lots of the plants are hot and fiery and all those we're adding are tender, so I keep them under cover,
0:20:05 > 0:20:11and when they're doing really well and just about to come into their prime, out they go.
0:20:11 > 0:20:16'At the beginning of July, I gradually bring them out and start staging.'
0:20:16 > 0:20:19I've got one back. It was so sad when that one died, wasn't it?
0:20:19 > 0:20:22Yeah. It was a veteran, wasn't it, that one?
0:20:22 > 0:20:24A bit tender, I suppose, was it?
0:20:24 > 0:20:27Very tender. And that winter really polished it off.
0:20:27 > 0:20:31I think these red-leaved ones are, you know, the most tender of the lot.
0:20:31 > 0:20:33But this is going to be brilliant.
0:20:33 > 0:20:35Woo-hoo.
0:20:38 > 0:20:39Not too bad, is it?
0:20:48 > 0:20:52Then, as we move into August, I add the final touches.
0:20:52 > 0:20:55I love doing this. It's like creating a show garden.
0:20:55 > 0:21:00The transformation's instantaneous and wondrous.
0:21:05 > 0:21:10This is really, really heavy.
0:21:10 > 0:21:12I'll pull a bit up here.
0:21:13 > 0:21:17Just make this as intensely red as I can.
0:21:17 > 0:21:21This is the last part of staging these borders,
0:21:21 > 0:21:24but look how well everything's doing in these hot borders.
0:21:24 > 0:21:27All these rudbeckias, look at that with that ricinus.
0:21:27 > 0:21:32And the hedychiums, they've only been out a couple of weeks but they're brilliant.
0:21:32 > 0:21:35And the crocosmia, that one's actually called flame,
0:21:35 > 0:21:36so it's ideal.
0:21:36 > 0:21:40And all this rudbeckia and helenium.
0:21:40 > 0:21:44It's beginning to look really magical,
0:21:44 > 0:21:46and sort of what I had in my head.
0:21:46 > 0:21:50You never really know, though, but this is a beauty.
0:21:50 > 0:21:54Already masses of these red flowers.
0:21:54 > 0:21:58This one's bishop of Llandaff,
0:21:58 > 0:22:04and I think it's the most fabulous dahlia, and perfect for this spot,
0:22:04 > 0:22:09because these flowers are the most brilliant sort of vermillion red,
0:22:09 > 0:22:11and they just set the tone for here,
0:22:11 > 0:22:16and look how they're going to mingle with all this ricinus, and with banana.
0:22:16 > 0:22:20That's been out a few weeks, too, but it's grown, I'll swear it.
0:22:20 > 0:22:24I think it's sort of magnificent.
0:22:43 > 0:22:50At this time of year it's great to have a plant like cosmos purity to just put into place
0:22:50 > 0:22:54and scatter right the way through the garden. You can put it in pots,
0:22:54 > 0:22:56You can plant it out in the border.
0:22:56 > 0:22:59And it brings this lovely sort of touch of levity,
0:22:59 > 0:23:04of movement, with these very fine, feathery leaves,
0:23:04 > 0:23:06and these big, white flowers.
0:23:10 > 0:23:17I sowed these way back in, I don't know, February, March, I think, because it's a half-hardy annual.
0:23:17 > 0:23:21And I just sowed them in half seed trays,
0:23:21 > 0:23:24sprinkling the seed finely on the surface,
0:23:24 > 0:23:27and they germinated within a week or so. Up they came.
0:23:34 > 0:23:39And I potted them on and potted them on until they made these fine, big plants.
0:23:45 > 0:23:52But what's really important now at this stage is to get in there and deadhead them,
0:23:52 > 0:23:58and all you do is take off the individual flower heads
0:23:58 > 0:24:01when they've lost their petals, or near enough have.
0:24:01 > 0:24:04And the plant begins to look shabby if you don't do this,
0:24:04 > 0:24:10and you want this to be pristine and glowing out right the way through the garden.
0:25:13 > 0:25:17To get anywhere in the garden now you really need a machete.
0:25:17 > 0:25:22Everywhere's growing so sort of lush and so fulsome,
0:25:22 > 0:25:25and in Annie's garden, that's particularly the case.
0:25:25 > 0:25:32You can hardly believe that this whole border was completely stripped out,
0:25:32 > 0:25:36there was nothing in it, it was laid bare earlier this year.
0:25:38 > 0:25:45And everything was replanted, and it's had huge sort of peaks.
0:25:45 > 0:25:48Geranium psilostemon just flowering its head off.
0:25:49 > 0:25:53Delicate pink phlox,
0:25:53 > 0:25:56and spiky veronicastrum.
0:25:56 > 0:25:59Masses of colour through here.
0:25:59 > 0:26:02Unfortunately, Annie hasn't been around to see it,
0:26:02 > 0:26:05and I was really hoping that she'd be here today, but she's not,
0:26:05 > 0:26:09she's still away travelling, but I hope she can catch up with it later.
0:26:09 > 0:26:12But I want to add a few things, because at the moment,
0:26:12 > 0:26:18everywhere's sort of quiet, and I want the interest in the border to continue right the way through.
0:26:18 > 0:26:22So I'm adding these nicotiana langsdorffii.
0:26:22 > 0:26:27Now, it's not what you'd call, you know, smack you in the eye sort of plant,
0:26:27 > 0:26:31but I love it, it's got these long, green trumpets
0:26:31 > 0:26:36and little blue anthers in here. It's just such a pretty plant.
0:26:36 > 0:26:41And I can remember in March or so, sowing the seed of this,
0:26:41 > 0:26:46very, very fine seed on the surface of a tray of compost.
0:26:46 > 0:26:49And it took ages to germinate, but once it did,
0:26:49 > 0:26:51it moved on quite quickly,
0:26:51 > 0:26:56and I pricked out all those seedlings into separate modules,
0:26:56 > 0:26:58and then potted them on into pots,
0:26:58 > 0:27:04and some of them I put out into the garden when they were nice, chunky rosettes.
0:27:04 > 0:27:08But I always save a few and keep on potting them on,
0:27:08 > 0:27:14so I've got some big, resplendent plants that I can just drop into spaces where they're needed,
0:27:14 > 0:27:16and I think they're ideal in here now.
0:27:17 > 0:27:24And that apple tree at the end, now, earlier in the year it was for the chop,
0:27:24 > 0:27:26it had such terrible canker,
0:27:26 > 0:27:31but it reprieved itself cos it was full of beautiful blossom,
0:27:31 > 0:27:34and now it's laden with fruit.
0:27:34 > 0:27:37It's going to be a picture in a few weeks' time.
0:27:37 > 0:27:40We'll just have to see what happens to it at the end of the year.
0:27:40 > 0:27:44You know, July and August, it's been wonderful, really.
0:27:44 > 0:27:49There's been such exuberant colour everywhere, marvellous,
0:27:49 > 0:27:55but now, you get up in the morning, you come out, and it's shivery.
0:27:55 > 0:27:59You can feel the cold, and you look up at the trees,
0:27:59 > 0:28:02and you get this hint of russet and orange.
0:28:02 > 0:28:05And that's what September's going to bring.
0:28:05 > 0:28:09It's as though somebody's swept across the garden with a giant paintbrush
0:28:09 > 0:28:15and joined all those colours together so they all become soft and subtle and mellow.
0:28:15 > 0:28:17I'm looking forward to it,
0:28:17 > 0:28:20but for now I'm going to really make the most of this.
0:28:34 > 0:28:37Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:28:37 > 0:28:40E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk