0:00:03 > 0:00:05I'm Carol Klein and this is my garden -
0:00:05 > 0:00:10nestled in the heart of north Devon - 15 miles from the coast
0:00:10 > 0:00:14and surrounded by this tranquil and beautiful countryside.
0:00:19 > 0:00:22I've taken care of my garden for 30 years.
0:00:22 > 0:00:25I know every inch of this place and every plant.
0:00:29 > 0:00:31Each season brings its own delights.
0:00:31 > 0:00:34There are plenty of challenges too
0:00:34 > 0:00:38but that's what makes it so exciting and so fulfilling.
0:00:42 > 0:00:47In this series, I want to share with you the four seasons in my garden.
0:00:47 > 0:00:52And, over the next half hour, we'll see the garden give up its bounty
0:00:52 > 0:00:56and take on its glorious, golden mantle of autumn.
0:01:14 > 0:01:18It's autumn and the garden reaches the height of its fruitfulness.
0:01:21 > 0:01:23The whole place is rich,
0:01:23 > 0:01:28redolent of the smell of wonderful ripening fruit.
0:01:28 > 0:01:31There are sheets of colour everywhere.
0:01:31 > 0:01:37Bright and brilliant yellows. Blues of the first Michaelmas daisies.
0:01:37 > 0:01:42And there are all those exuberant plants - cannas and dahlias -
0:01:42 > 0:01:47just jostling with each other to be front of the queue.
0:01:47 > 0:01:49Autumn is its own season.
0:01:49 > 0:01:52It's not just a corridor between the summer and the winter.
0:01:52 > 0:01:56You've got to be out there and collect those seeds.
0:01:56 > 0:02:00The first of the spade work starts.
0:02:00 > 0:02:03And, in the background, there's a smell of wood smoke
0:02:03 > 0:02:07and the very first scents of decay.
0:02:45 > 0:02:48It's not nice out there.
0:02:48 > 0:02:52You feel as though September is going to be an Indian summer,
0:02:52 > 0:02:56wonderful weather, but today's definitely not.
0:02:56 > 0:03:01It's absolutely pouring down and it's so blustery too.
0:03:01 > 0:03:04But it gives me an opportunity to catch up with loads of those jobs
0:03:04 > 0:03:08that I keep on delaying. That's the thing, isn't it?
0:03:08 > 0:03:11You can't win. You want to be out there all the time.
0:03:11 > 0:03:14If you're out there, you feel guilty about not keeping up with this.
0:03:14 > 0:03:21These are aquilegias that I sowed just a few weeks ago.
0:03:21 > 0:03:26Especially with things like aquilegia, that flower early,
0:03:26 > 0:03:29you can collect the seed, get it sown straight away.
0:03:29 > 0:03:32If you get on to it, you can prick them out
0:03:32 > 0:03:36and have decent little plants by the time winter comes.
0:03:36 > 0:03:39Next spring, hopefully they'll go into the garden.
0:03:41 > 0:03:45And it gives you an opportunity when you're doing things like this.
0:03:45 > 0:03:50There's something very automatic about it and very restful.
0:03:50 > 0:03:55It gives you a chance to think about why you're doing what you're doing
0:03:55 > 0:03:59and about this whole wonderful cycle.
0:04:34 > 0:04:40These are my two hot borders - a sort of stage set for late summer colour.
0:04:40 > 0:04:44They've been a triumph but I really want to extend the excitement.
0:04:44 > 0:04:49I think it's really important - with these hot borders -
0:04:49 > 0:04:57which have really sort of been at their peak for a few weeks now,
0:04:57 > 0:05:03to try and maintain it and make sure everything is as good as it can be.
0:05:03 > 0:05:06This rudbeckia usually stands up for itself.
0:05:06 > 0:05:10Just occasionally it gets pushed forward by all these other things
0:05:10 > 0:05:13which are just jostling for space.
0:05:13 > 0:05:16But there are a few leaves and stuff
0:05:16 > 0:05:19along here, that have got rather mauled.
0:05:19 > 0:05:21Come and have a look.
0:05:21 > 0:05:25This is how this canna's supposed to be.
0:05:25 > 0:05:28Look at that! Pristine and gorgeous.
0:05:28 > 0:05:31But look what's happening at the bottom of the plant.
0:05:31 > 0:05:34Those slugs and snails have been in.
0:05:34 > 0:05:36This is manna for them really.
0:05:36 > 0:05:41So, a bit of pre-emptive action
0:05:41 > 0:05:45and we might keep them off these beautiful leaves.
0:05:45 > 0:05:50As well as stuff that's flopping and things that have been damaged
0:05:50 > 0:05:53by slugs and snails, it's really important
0:05:53 > 0:05:55to keep on top of deadheading,
0:05:55 > 0:05:59because that encourages lots and lots of other flowers.
0:05:59 > 0:06:01You can always tell with these dahlia buds.
0:06:01 > 0:06:03It's the squidgy ones you want to get rid of.
0:06:03 > 0:06:08You want to cut them back right to the next leaf axle.
0:06:08 > 0:06:13Scissors will do. They're quite different from the buds.
0:06:13 > 0:06:18The buds are round and solid because they're full of petals.
0:06:18 > 0:06:21What we want is flowers, flowers, flowers.
0:06:41 > 0:06:44Once upon a time, the only place you would see dahlias
0:06:44 > 0:06:50was confined to allotments and out of public sight.
0:06:50 > 0:06:52Lots of people used to grow them to show.
0:06:52 > 0:06:55They were that sort of a flower.
0:06:55 > 0:06:59But nowadays, they've been accepted far more into polite garden society,
0:06:59 > 0:07:03and no wonder. They're positively dazzling. You can tell
0:07:03 > 0:07:05where they come from. They're from Mexico.
0:07:07 > 0:07:11If you've got a dahlia and you want lots more of it, bring into growth
0:07:11 > 0:07:15in about March, water them, feed them.
0:07:15 > 0:07:19When they've started to make big, solid, robust shoots,
0:07:19 > 0:07:23just a few inches tall, you slide your sharpest knife
0:07:23 > 0:07:25right down the side of the shoot,
0:07:25 > 0:07:28so it's almost in contact with the tuber,
0:07:28 > 0:07:33and sever it. Just pull it away, then plunge around the edge
0:07:33 > 0:07:35of a clay pot in gritty compost.
0:07:39 > 0:07:43And if you put them into a warm place, water them well,
0:07:43 > 0:07:48occasional little bit of liquid feed, you'll get big, strong plants as soon
0:07:48 > 0:07:53as the pot is full of roots, then just tip the whole thing out
0:07:53 > 0:07:56and pot them up individually and then grow them on.
0:07:58 > 0:08:01I wouldn't put them out in the garden the first year,
0:08:01 > 0:08:04but if you overwinter them, they'll have made tubers by then,
0:08:04 > 0:08:09and the next year, they'll be quite capable of holding their own
0:08:09 > 0:08:11right out in the open border.
0:08:23 > 0:08:26Autumn's the time when the garden gives up its bounty.
0:08:28 > 0:08:30There's the last of the beans to harvest.
0:08:36 > 0:08:38Not bad, eh?
0:08:39 > 0:08:40I love this noise.
0:08:47 > 0:08:51My onions can be dried off in the last warming rays
0:08:51 > 0:08:52of the autumn sun.
0:09:01 > 0:09:05And these apples have to enjoyed straight away.
0:09:34 > 0:09:39I mean, it's great sharing your garden, but not with this lot!
0:09:39 > 0:09:44Just look at them! The whole place is teeming.
0:09:44 > 0:09:51Tomorrow is my special, special open day for the National Gardens Scheme.
0:09:51 > 0:09:52And, erm...
0:09:52 > 0:09:57It's lovely to share your garden. I just enjoy it so much,
0:09:57 > 0:10:01talking to other people about all their hopes and aspirations
0:10:01 > 0:10:07and hearing all their ideas, and on the whole, pretty encouraging things.
0:10:07 > 0:10:10But what are they going to think of my lobelia? Look at that!
0:10:10 > 0:10:14It's completely mullered. There's nothing left of it.
0:10:14 > 0:10:19And you're the little critters who're responsible. Look at that.
0:10:19 > 0:10:20Aren't they...
0:10:21 > 0:10:23..revolting?
0:10:23 > 0:10:25Here you go, into there.
0:10:26 > 0:10:29I've really got to do the rounds though.
0:10:59 > 0:11:03During the past 25 years, I've been opening my garden for charity,
0:11:03 > 0:11:05and I love doing it.
0:11:06 > 0:11:09The National Gardens Scheme has raised more
0:11:09 > 0:11:14than £25 million over the past 15 years for good causes.
0:11:15 > 0:11:20But it's not just about fundraising. Gardeners love getting together
0:11:20 > 0:11:23to share what they know.
0:11:23 > 0:11:26Clematis like alkaline soil, they love alkaline soil.
0:11:26 > 0:11:33But they also like plenty of substance. Really strong stuff.
0:11:33 > 0:11:37- Keep working with the water? - Yeah, keep mulching it with muck.
0:11:42 > 0:11:45- This is the grass that I grow with rudbeckias.- It's the taller one.
0:11:45 > 0:11:50Cos it's a millennia, but it's not huge like those great arching ones.
0:11:50 > 0:11:54It's completely sort of upright, so you can grow it even when you've got
0:11:54 > 0:11:56- tight corners like this.- Beautiful.
0:11:58 > 0:12:01That's a wonderful butterfly plant.
0:12:01 > 0:12:04That's an agastache, yeah.
0:12:04 > 0:12:08- So the butterflies adore it and the bees and all the insects.- Yes.
0:12:10 > 0:12:14- We've just been having a look, watch. Can I?- Yes, do. Go ahead.
0:12:14 > 0:12:17Watch.
0:12:17 > 0:12:20- Look at that.- Blimey.- So there's next year's plants already.
0:12:20 > 0:12:24- I was going to say, yeah, that is next year's plants.- Yeah.
0:12:24 > 0:12:26I ought to give you these back, shouldn't I?
0:12:26 > 0:12:29Put them in somebody else's pocket, they'll get a surprise.
0:12:29 > 0:12:34Are you sure? Shall we put some in? Sprinkle a bit.
0:12:34 > 0:12:38That's the great thing about gardening, isn't it, sharing stuff?
0:12:39 > 0:12:44Each year, about three quarters of a million people go to an NGS garden
0:12:44 > 0:12:48open day, from the old to the very young.
0:13:01 > 0:13:05Well, haven't we had a lovely day, girls? Hasn't it been wonderful?
0:13:07 > 0:13:10I've had the most marvellous day.
0:13:11 > 0:13:13You get so used to being in your garden on your own.
0:13:13 > 0:13:17It's a very solitary sort of business, gardening.
0:13:17 > 0:13:22I love that. I love that kind of, you know, instant communication
0:13:22 > 0:13:27you get with the earth and with your plants and nothing else matters.
0:13:27 > 0:13:32But then to open the garden, to have all these people to share it with,
0:13:32 > 0:13:40is so rewarding. People make observations about things
0:13:40 > 0:13:44you've never thought of, they make loads of suggestions too,
0:13:44 > 0:13:49but I suppose the really satisfying thing is that what they have
0:13:49 > 0:13:55to say is so encouraging. I suppose you feel you're doing the right thing
0:13:55 > 0:13:58and everything's going well.
0:14:27 > 0:14:30October can be so golden.
0:14:31 > 0:14:33There are all sorts of changes.
0:14:33 > 0:14:38In the morning, when the alarm clock goes off, it's dark outside,
0:14:38 > 0:14:42and when you come in in the evening and...
0:14:42 > 0:14:44breathe, you can see your breath.
0:14:46 > 0:14:50But on these beautiful, golden days, you almost feel as though
0:14:50 > 0:14:55the garden's gathered together. It encapsulates all that summer's been,
0:14:55 > 0:15:00and yet, at the same time, you can hear it breathing out.
0:15:00 > 0:15:05You can hear it dying down and saying, "My work's done.
0:15:05 > 0:15:08"I'm just at the point of going to sleep."
0:15:26 > 0:15:30The brick garden sits between the hot beds down here
0:15:30 > 0:15:35and the top terrace, and it's a kind of hub, it's a sort of centre
0:15:35 > 0:15:37of the garden, really.
0:15:37 > 0:15:42Of all the places within the garden, it's the one that changes most.
0:15:42 > 0:15:47It's a calendar. You see each season coming along,
0:15:47 > 0:15:51and each season has its own different persona.
0:15:51 > 0:15:55At this time of year, it's glorious,
0:15:55 > 0:16:00and probably the centre of the whole thing is the four big clumps
0:16:00 > 0:16:07of hakonechloa. I just love the way this swishes about and moves.
0:16:07 > 0:16:10Earlier in the year, in...
0:16:10 > 0:16:13in early spring, I suppose, late winter,
0:16:13 > 0:16:16I got right down into the middle of this
0:16:16 > 0:16:19and chopped it all down right back to the ground
0:16:19 > 0:16:24so I could see all those wonderful, brilliant spring shoots come up.
0:16:24 > 0:16:26It's difficult to do but it's essential.
0:16:30 > 0:16:36This euphorbia, it's palustris, and in the spring it's bright
0:16:36 > 0:16:41and vigorous and very upright with its big, lime green bracts.
0:16:41 > 0:16:45But I think I love it just as much at this time of year when,
0:16:45 > 0:16:52in its death throes, it becomes golden and amber and wistful.
0:16:52 > 0:16:54It moves about beautifully.
0:16:55 > 0:16:59It's a good companion right the way through the growing season
0:16:59 > 0:17:00for this lovely rudbeckia.
0:17:00 > 0:17:05Now this whole garden is packed with North American daisies.
0:17:05 > 0:17:09Rudbeckia's probably the most dominant of all of them.
0:17:09 > 0:17:14Bright, vivid splashes of yellow for a couple of months.
0:17:14 > 0:17:17But then, when those petals start to fade,
0:17:17 > 0:17:20look what it leaves behind.
0:17:20 > 0:17:22It's almost another set of daisies,
0:17:22 > 0:17:25the green calyx with the black cone in the middle.
0:17:25 > 0:17:28And I'll leave those right the way through the winter,
0:17:28 > 0:17:32cos the birds and the insects love this plant.
0:17:32 > 0:17:34It's covered with autumn butterflies,
0:17:34 > 0:17:37and then afterwards, the birds move in and take the seeds.
0:17:37 > 0:17:43And this beautiful Aster, that was a cloud of blue earlier on.
0:17:43 > 0:17:47Soon all its seeds will have disappeared, flown away,
0:17:47 > 0:17:50and they'll leave behind them, all winter long,
0:17:50 > 0:17:54these little silver twinkling stars.
0:17:54 > 0:17:57I do love this place. I could sit here for ever.
0:18:15 > 0:18:19Sometimes I feel really sorry for the plants in my garden,
0:18:19 > 0:18:23cos no sooner do they come into flower than I'm already thinking
0:18:23 > 0:18:27about them setting seed and being able to collect it.
0:18:27 > 0:18:30It's the perfect day for it. It's sunny and warm.
0:18:30 > 0:18:35And I made notes about these two eryngiums earlier on.
0:18:35 > 0:18:38Even took pictures, because they were quite distinctive,
0:18:38 > 0:18:42and they're both really desirable plants.
0:18:42 > 0:18:45This one was deep rich purple,
0:18:45 > 0:18:51while this was this brilliant, sparkling sort of blue, really scintillating.
0:18:51 > 0:18:55I want to keep those seeds separate and actually sow them separately
0:18:55 > 0:18:58and bring the plants on in two different batches.
0:18:58 > 0:19:02Now, I marked each of the best seed heads on here
0:19:02 > 0:19:06with a piece of red ribbon, cos it was a very special plant.
0:19:06 > 0:19:12Now I'm just going to snip them off. It's a very, very prickly business.
0:19:14 > 0:19:18So that's my bright, bright blue, and then the purple.
0:19:24 > 0:19:26And when you're doing it,
0:19:26 > 0:19:30your mind goes backwards to just how wonderful these plants were.
0:19:30 > 0:19:35And then forwards to the spring when these things start to pop up,
0:19:35 > 0:19:38and you get a whole new cycle starting again.
0:19:50 > 0:19:54Look at this beautiful little thing.
0:19:54 > 0:19:56Isn't it lovely? It's a scabious, obviously.
0:19:56 > 0:19:59Scabiosa ochroleuca.
0:19:59 > 0:20:04And what's lovely about it is these pale, pale lemon flowers.
0:20:04 > 0:20:06The insects adore them.
0:20:06 > 0:20:11But also the seed heads are so sculptural, so beautiful.
0:20:11 > 0:20:16Each one of them is individually attached to that central bit.
0:20:16 > 0:20:21And at the right moment, they all just sort of fly away in succession.
0:20:21 > 0:20:24But these aren't going to, cos I'm going to have them.
0:20:24 > 0:20:26That's what you call a decent haul.
0:20:26 > 0:20:30Lovely. But there's something else deep in the woodland
0:20:30 > 0:20:32that I want to collect - it's a berry.
0:20:54 > 0:20:57This is one of my favourite foliage plants.
0:20:57 > 0:21:00It's Arum italicum 'Pictum'.
0:21:00 > 0:21:03This is why you grow it, for these beautiful leaves
0:21:03 > 0:21:05that are there all through the winter.
0:21:05 > 0:21:08But while they're making a fine display,
0:21:08 > 0:21:10my seedlings are going to be growing,
0:21:10 > 0:21:15cos I'm going to collect a whole load of these and sow them.
0:21:15 > 0:21:20And inside here are one or two enormous seeds.
0:21:20 > 0:21:23They're big enough to be able to sow.
0:21:23 > 0:21:28Look at this, Silv! Eh? Isn't that great?
0:21:28 > 0:21:30I'll have a trayful of seedlings.
0:21:30 > 0:21:35They'll grow on. By next spring, I'll have nice little plants.
0:21:35 > 0:21:38I'll be able to prick them out individually.
0:21:38 > 0:21:42Grow them on some more. And by this time next year,
0:21:42 > 0:21:45I can just put them around the garden where I'd like to,
0:21:45 > 0:21:49cos it looks beautiful when you can see it in the...
0:21:49 > 0:21:52a whole drift of it.
0:21:52 > 0:21:55Still there when the snowdrops come up in the spring.
0:22:39 > 0:22:43Everywhere stuff's sort of dying down, going to sleep.
0:22:48 > 0:22:54You get this kind of feeling of dampness and sadness.
0:22:54 > 0:22:58It's all getting a bit dank, but it's still very, very beautiful.
0:23:03 > 0:23:07The magnolia that's, em...
0:23:07 > 0:23:11just lost all its gorgeous amber leaves,
0:23:11 > 0:23:15they've been tumbling over the last few weeks.
0:23:15 > 0:23:19Now you can see all those furry buds behind.
0:23:19 > 0:23:24It's like they've got little grey, fluffy overcoats on.
0:23:24 > 0:23:27And you know that that's next year's flowers,
0:23:27 > 0:23:32and they're all kind of disguised amongst this gorgeous lichen.
0:23:40 > 0:23:45But there are so many things to do. You've got to put the whole garden to bed.
0:23:45 > 0:23:48And it's your last opportunity to plant bulbs.
0:23:57 > 0:24:01I think that...that should do it.
0:24:01 > 0:24:03Energetic stuff, this!
0:24:03 > 0:24:05When I'm potting my tulips up,
0:24:05 > 0:24:08I don't like using straightforward multi-purpose,
0:24:08 > 0:24:11cos I feel I've got to give them the very best sort of...
0:24:11 > 0:24:14The best home I possibly can provide.
0:24:16 > 0:24:19So, I'm making up my own mix.
0:24:19 > 0:24:24I give them equal parts multi-purpose and sterilised loam.
0:24:24 > 0:24:27Plenty of grit for good drainage.
0:24:28 > 0:24:32I think they're really going to adore this.
0:24:36 > 0:24:42I'm so excited. I nearly tipped the lot out on the floor!
0:24:42 > 0:24:45Here are my tulips, the very first ones.
0:24:45 > 0:24:49And I'm going to start this rather long process of potting them up,
0:24:49 > 0:24:54cos I grow thousands of tulips, I really grow masses of them.
0:24:54 > 0:24:57And... I just love that moment.
0:24:57 > 0:25:00I mean, I ordered these weeks and weeks ago.
0:25:00 > 0:25:05But, em, there's all that anticipation...
0:25:05 > 0:25:07of your bulbs actually arriving. And then when you get them,
0:25:07 > 0:25:12you know, you delve in here, and here are these beautiful...
0:25:12 > 0:25:16Look at that, I mean, they're like little pieces of sculpture.
0:25:16 > 0:25:19I can't grow tulips in my ground
0:25:19 > 0:25:21cos I've got heavy, wet clay,
0:25:21 > 0:25:26and what they love is light, well-drained, alkaline soil.
0:25:26 > 0:25:29And they love to get baked too.
0:25:33 > 0:25:37Now, it looks like I'm packing these in very close. Well, I am.
0:25:37 > 0:25:40If you were putting them in the ground, you'd never do this, of course.
0:25:40 > 0:25:44You'd have to leave them the opportunity to expand,
0:25:44 > 0:25:47and they'd rot if they were touching. But in here,
0:25:47 > 0:25:50in this very, very gritty compost,
0:25:50 > 0:25:54and clay pots, the water's going to drain away,
0:25:54 > 0:25:59and they'll sit out here on this top terrace all winter long.
0:25:59 > 0:26:05Tulips need a period of prolonged cold to get them to flower properly.
0:26:05 > 0:26:10Then in the spring, I'll see these little shoots starting to emerge,
0:26:10 > 0:26:14and within a matter of weeks, they'll have just burgeoned.
0:26:14 > 0:26:18Great big masses of wonderful colour.
0:26:50 > 0:26:55The colour this autumn has been magnificent.
0:26:55 > 0:26:59My Cercidiphyllums over here have been just beautiful,
0:26:59 > 0:27:01every colour imaginable.
0:27:01 > 0:27:04Golden, yellows, ambers, russets.
0:27:04 > 0:27:08And as for the Fothergilla, this little shrub up at the top,
0:27:08 > 0:27:12I've never seen it with such brilliant colour.
0:27:12 > 0:27:16But of all of them, this has got to be my favourite.
0:27:16 > 0:27:19This is Acer osakazuki.
0:27:19 > 0:27:21My mum gave it to me,
0:27:21 > 0:27:25so it's got very, very special significance.
0:27:25 > 0:27:32And any minute now, the whole thing is going to become this most glorious scarlet.
0:27:32 > 0:27:36The whole garden is glowing.
0:27:36 > 0:27:40But you come out one morning, and you look up at the branches
0:27:40 > 0:27:44and you realise that there are more leaves on the ground
0:27:44 > 0:27:46than there are on the trees!
0:27:46 > 0:27:52Underneath this acer, the whole thing is sort of crimson confetti.
0:27:52 > 0:27:57But then the wind starts to blow, and it's a northerly wind.
0:27:57 > 0:28:00It's a chill wind.
0:28:00 > 0:28:03You turn the collar up on your coat.
0:28:03 > 0:28:07And you reach for your warmest clothes and you realise
0:28:07 > 0:28:10that winter's on its way.
0:28:21 > 0:28:24Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd.