:00:12. > :00:18.The gates of the 2012 Floral Olympics have closed. The RHS
:00:18. > :00:21.Chelsea Flower Show is over for another year. Before London sees
:00:21. > :00:24.our athletes replace them there's time to look back at some of the
:00:25. > :00:30.magical moments that made this year's events one of the
:00:30. > :00:35.horticultural high points of our year. Coming up this evening:
:00:35. > :00:38.Origin of the species. Tom Hart Dyke traces some of this year's
:00:38. > :00:45.great plants back to their birthplace. They're for sure the
:00:45. > :00:50.Kings and Queens of the deserts. Hugh's views, Hugh Dennis treats us
:00:50. > :00:54.to his own look at the show this year. I have an urge to do that,
:00:54. > :01:00.but I am worried if you push down on the tops somewhere else in the
:01:00. > :01:03.garden something explodes. Diamond debutants, with the Jubilee
:01:03. > :01:13.celebrations around the corner, we meet the new floral arrivals
:01:13. > :01:16.
:01:16. > :01:20.Hello, thank you for joining us as we indulge in one last lingering
:01:20. > :01:25.look at the best bits of Chelsea 2012. In spite of the predictions
:01:25. > :01:31.to the contrary, this has been a vintage year, hasn't it? It's been
:01:31. > :01:35.stunning. Plants bridled by the cold, we have seen plants around us
:01:35. > :01:40.plants shivering and then suddenly the heat came on, winter finished a
:01:40. > :01:45.week and a half ago and everything just burst. The flowers and foliage
:01:45. > :01:49.faced the sun, everyone reracksed - - relaxed. It looks stunning. I
:01:49. > :01:54.think it's a vintage year. I don't think I have ever started the week
:01:54. > :01:58.in tweed and ended - and thermal underwear, you are right, and ended
:01:58. > :02:02.in short sleeves. We had leaves dropping off the trees above us.
:02:02. > :02:06.The heat has come too quick for them. It will all come right in the
:02:06. > :02:12.end. Yes, everything corrects itself. All the plants catch up and
:02:12. > :02:18.it's just perfect. As indeed it has been. The show gardens this year
:02:18. > :02:25.reflected a mix of gardens, stretching back to ancient Persia
:02:25. > :02:29.as Rachel and I discovered. The gardens of Persia emphasised
:02:29. > :02:37.the preciousness of water and that's what Nigel Dunnett has done
:02:37. > :02:42.here. This building at the end here, this
:02:42. > :02:48.was inspired by those little houses you find in Italy and if you look
:02:48. > :02:52.up inside you will see the most wonderful dry stone roof which is
:02:52. > :02:56.rather like an egg made entirely of pieces of sandstone. It's truly
:02:56. > :03:00.beautiful. Here the paving is more smooth. There is a practical angle
:03:00. > :03:06.to this, as would you expect from Nigel, a man involved in the design
:03:06. > :03:10.for the Olympic Park, all these beds here and their plantings allow
:03:10. > :03:14.water to drain through them and into these canals on either side,
:03:15. > :03:19.so they're part of the purification process. Also, a retaining water,
:03:19. > :03:27.which as we know even in a drought is a precious commodity. The
:03:27. > :03:37.planting is interesting. Grasses mixed with perennials but also
:03:37. > :03:42.
:03:42. > :03:47.Here the white variety. In front of me bright orange which contrast
:03:47. > :03:53.markedly with the turqoise bottom of the pond and water and I thought
:03:53. > :03:58.who would put together orange and turqoise and then I will remember,
:03:58. > :04:08.if you forget the name drop, when I last interviewed Claudia Schiffer
:04:08. > :04:15.she was wearing those colours. It's the Claudia Schiffer garden really.
:04:15. > :04:22.Well, this is a little slice of Heaven. It's the Arthritis Research
:04:22. > :04:32.UK Garden designed about -- by Tom Hoblyn. He took inspiration from
:04:32. > :04:32.
:04:33. > :04:37.rennaissance gardens. He has used stone and here it's rough hewn and
:04:37. > :04:41.masculine and smooth along the bench and that side. The planting
:04:41. > :04:51.is so beautiful. It's very much designed to cope with those arid
:04:51. > :04:53.
:04:53. > :05:01.conditions. You have things that are silver leaf. And also little
:05:01. > :05:08.bits of colour. The red poppy. And then at the back those five Cyprus
:05:08. > :05:12.trees and they're balanced on the other side by the oak. This is also
:05:12. > :05:15.a garden about water. You have three different forms. The lovely
:05:15. > :05:19.still pool here with stepping stones.
:05:19. > :05:24.You have the cascade at the very back. I think best of all, just
:05:24. > :05:29.look at this, water shoots leaping across that box hedge with the
:05:29. > :05:34.hedging as a background. Again, they just pop through the jets of
:05:34. > :05:37.water in the back of the seating and they're lit, so at night they
:05:37. > :05:47.really shine. It's a fabulous garden to look at, it's even better
:05:47. > :06:00.
:06:00. > :06:06.the history in a garden, it begins with the ancient, this well head
:06:06. > :06:10.but mixes ancient with modern. Here sits this well head on cobbles in
:06:10. > :06:15.this forecourt with a lime tree, a good old-fashioned touch. As we
:06:15. > :06:21.move forward, we start to get a touch more modern. Cleve says this
:06:21. > :06:25.garden is geometical and it seems to mix all kinds of periods which
:06:25. > :06:32.have been covered in 250 years. We come to a sunk area in the centre,
:06:32. > :06:38.which has at each corner the most magnificent topiary spesmans on the
:06:38. > :06:42.site this year. These are like great chessmen erupting among beds
:06:42. > :06:51.of border perennials. Then two formal and old-fashioned gate piers
:06:51. > :06:55.here, sitting attop them flaming stone with this wonderful rusted
:06:55. > :06:59.ornate gate. Interests a -- there is a modern touch. At the foot of
:06:59. > :07:05.the gate post you have skwruting out this wonderful channel
:07:05. > :07:15.depositing water water and it runs down either side of this central
:07:15. > :07:17.
:07:17. > :07:21.path. They seem to be the signature of Chelsea 2012. These are made of
:07:21. > :07:29.wonderful cobbled sets. It's a wonderful mixture of 250 years of
:07:29. > :07:33.old and new. Of the 16 large show gardens, nine
:07:33. > :07:39.were awarded gold this year which gives you some idea of the standard
:07:39. > :07:43.of execution. One of them went to Mr BeardShaw. Chris, I have been
:07:43. > :07:50.looking at this all week and today it was go up those steps and I have
:07:50. > :07:54.and it's magical! It's like those wonderful twisted tree paintings.
:07:55. > :07:58.Great craftsmanship and planting. You are pleased? Thrilled and this
:07:58. > :08:03.idea of this path leading you on, you don't really know where you are
:08:03. > :08:08.going, it's encouraging you to explore. That's reminiscent of a
:08:08. > :08:11.philosophy that teachers have back at Furzey with adults with learning
:08:11. > :08:16.disabilities. They don't take them on face value. They allow them to
:08:16. > :08:21.settle and encourage exploration of their own personalities to find out
:08:21. > :08:25.how horticultural can mesh in to their requirements. Everybody is
:08:26. > :08:29.best at something, and what they seem to do is find out what you or
:08:29. > :08:37.I and people there are best at and produce something like this. To
:08:37. > :08:44.watch this over the week it's changed. Amazing. Full bud at the
:08:44. > :08:47.beginning of the week, now fading. This is coming on. It's the
:08:47. > :08:53.choreography. That reminded me about Monday and the stars and
:08:53. > :08:58.celebrities who turn up here at this choreographied vent all glam -
:08:58. > :09:02.- event all glamorous. You wonder how many have come to be seen and
:09:02. > :09:05.get their faces in the paper and how many are keen and interested
:09:05. > :09:15.gardeners? One who was was Hugh Dennis and he gave us his take on
:09:15. > :09:24.
:09:24. > :09:30.gardens. I like the kind of British obsession with gardens.
:09:31. > :09:40.This is the Cleve West garden. He is a garden designer, not as many
:09:40. > :09:45.of you probably imagine a suburb of Cleve, he is an actual man. I like
:09:45. > :09:49.this topiarised yew, I believe it is. I have a touring do that with
:09:49. > :09:54.one of the tops but I am worried if you push down somewhere else in the
:09:54. > :09:59.garden something explodes. These gates, I think, are from a
:09:59. > :10:02.salvage yard and they're absolutely beautiful. They have a slight
:10:02. > :10:12.Mediterranean feel, Middle Eastern almost. They absolutely make this
:10:12. > :10:24.
:10:24. > :10:30.little bit like a purple and green microphone, but mostly they look
:10:30. > :10:40.like an enormous psychedelic dandelion clock, I think. Just
:10:40. > :10:42.
:10:43. > :10:48.beautiful. That brings back memories, we had a
:10:48. > :10:55.massive yucca in our garden and I used to ride my bike obsessively
:10:55. > :11:01.around the track which went past this tree and most days I fell off
:11:01. > :11:05.into it, it was right on the corner and it's essentially like nature's
:11:05. > :11:15.upturned knife block. I wouldn't have one in the garden now,
:11:15. > :11:26.
:11:26. > :11:35.That's what it is, holy vegetables. It seems to be easy to grow a
:11:35. > :11:41.massively long parsnip than carrot, wonder why that is? Those leeks
:11:41. > :11:44.look like things you would feed into a machine-gun, don't they?
:11:44. > :11:49.They're fantastic. Not as fantastic as this, which is a Formula One car
:11:49. > :11:52.made entirely out of hedge. You have to think, you know, with all
:11:52. > :11:55.the advances in Formula One technology that's probably a bit of
:11:55. > :12:01.a mistake. If you leave this car standing for too long it actually
:12:01. > :12:05.roots, does it? Every 26 laps it has to come in for a prune. I am
:12:05. > :12:15.freaked out by the hedge people. They're ever so slightly like
:12:15. > :12:18.
:12:18. > :12:28.something out of Dr Who. This is Arnie Maynard's garden.
:12:28. > :12:38.This walkway is fantastic. It's copper beech. Fantastic. There is a
:12:38. > :12:39.
:12:39. > :12:43.big conflict in our garden between kind of herbicious and planted
:12:43. > :12:46.borders and grass at the end of which is a massive football goal.
:12:46. > :12:51.Both bits have to be there, you know. I am sort of on the football
:12:51. > :12:56.side of it, mostly. Well, Hugh was visiting in the
:12:56. > :13:03.daylight but as evening descends, Chelsea takes on a new magical
:13:03. > :13:07.quality. Everything falls silent. The time we gardeners love, we
:13:07. > :13:10.arrive, quiet contemplation and that's the best time of day. It's
:13:10. > :13:14.extraordinary, you can know a garden so intimately during
:13:14. > :13:20.daylight hours and just after dusk, just as the sun's gone, especially
:13:20. > :13:23.if there is sa good moon in the sky or designers use subtle lights for
:13:23. > :13:28.architecture or plants it takes on a magical feeling and it really has
:13:28. > :13:31.a connection with the emotions, not just the gardens, it's like the
:13:31. > :13:34.great pavilion as well. I was in there at 2.00am and there was just
:13:34. > :13:38.me and a lonely blackbird who thought it was dawn because the
:13:38. > :13:42.lights were on. The smell in there is just intensified. It's paradise
:13:42. > :13:46.t really is. As the sun goes down we come inside, shut the door and
:13:46. > :13:51.that's it, thank you and good night garden until tomorrow. We should go
:13:52. > :13:55.out more and investigate, not great flood lights, but a little bit of
:13:55. > :13:58.something as you say, just to highlight it and appreciate this
:13:58. > :14:01.magical new world. That's definitely the key. It's all about
:14:01. > :14:09.placing your light in a subtle way so that you almost don't know there
:14:09. > :14:15.are lights in the garden and then you get the maximum effect. A light
:14:15. > :14:20.goes off at 10.30pm and I go out to see them on. It's imagine came. We
:14:20. > :14:23.have lots more memories to share with you, still to come:
:14:23. > :14:27.Royal recollections. James Alexander Sinclair talks to
:14:27. > :14:33.exhibitor who is played host to the Royal party this year. The Queen
:14:33. > :14:39.was in your garden? That's right. She seemed to know what she was on
:14:39. > :14:49.about, which is nice. Mary berry invites us on her own tour of the
:14:49. > :14:53.
:14:53. > :14:59.show. Oh, gosh, it's a myriad of Great Pavilion is the diverse mix
:14:59. > :15:03.of plants. You can see restios and Japanese maples next to each other.
:15:03. > :15:06.The temptation to travel the horticultural world got the better
:15:06. > :15:16.of Tom Hart Dyke earlier this week, when he had the opportunity to soak
:15:16. > :15:22.
:15:22. > :15:25.up some of the Pavilion's great exceedingly fantastic place to see
:15:26. > :15:35.a wide range of plants that have evolved so successfully in their
:15:36. > :15:36.
:15:36. > :15:40.native habitats. These are commonly called air
:15:40. > :15:46.plants and are a hugely diverse family from Florida all the way
:15:46. > :15:52.down to central and South America. The most iconic example of
:15:52. > :15:56.adaptation to air plants is that they grow as not parasites, they
:15:56. > :16:02.simply use the host as anchorage for good light, air and drainage.
:16:02. > :16:07.The good thing about a particular type of air plant, this old man's
:16:07. > :16:12.beard or Spanish moss, is that it has no roots at all. It simply uses
:16:12. > :16:18.its leaves to absorb the moisture and nutrients through special pores.
:16:18. > :16:25.It's one of the most successfully adapted plant to a wide range p
:16:25. > :16:31.conditions. Hats off to the air plant.
:16:31. > :16:36.The cacti in particular are very adaptable to a wide range of
:16:36. > :16:40.conditions. Instead of leaves they have spines, reducing their surface
:16:40. > :16:44.area. They also have curious structures at the base of the
:16:44. > :16:50.spines all areoles, where the new growth, flowers and spines come
:16:50. > :16:53.from. At the base of that it's very furry. They absorb moisture from
:16:53. > :16:58.the air. The moisture drips down the side of the cactus onto the
:16:58. > :17:03.soil. The roots absorb this moisture. The other important thing
:17:03. > :17:08.to mention about cacti are their curious shapes, which acts as a
:17:08. > :17:18.reservoir in times of drought. There is no doubt to me, the cacti
:17:18. > :17:19.
:17:19. > :17:26.are for sure the kings and queens of the deserts.
:17:26. > :17:30.This picture plant has a fabulous mechanism for survival. It grows on
:17:30. > :17:34.very poor, nutrient deficient soils. They produce modified leaves full
:17:34. > :17:39.of water and enzymes. When the fly gets close to the plant ah, tracted
:17:39. > :17:45.by the very meaty colours here, the insect will land sideways on the
:17:45. > :17:51.edge of the lip of the picture. It's a very slippery lip. It's like
:17:51. > :18:00.an ice-skating rink. It tries to scabl as it falls into the pitcher.
:18:00. > :18:05.In there are water, and digestive enzymes. Flies, bugs and even frogs
:18:05. > :18:12.are absorbed into the plant itself. They need to do this because they
:18:12. > :18:22.live on such poor soils. In 1998, I saw a rat's tail sticking out the
:18:22. > :18:29.
:18:29. > :18:34.end of this particular variety. Commonwealth will Join Together to
:18:34. > :18:38.celebrate Her Majesty the Queen's Diamond Jubilee. On Monday, as she
:18:38. > :18:42.made her customary visit to the show ground there was a feeling of
:18:42. > :18:45.celebration in the air. James Alexander-Sinclair was on hand to
:18:45. > :18:49.soak up the atmosphere. The gardens are ready, the hard
:18:49. > :18:55.work is done. The flowers are prim ped. The rain has gone and the sun
:18:55. > :18:58.has gone out. The atmosphere changes to one of anticipation, as
:18:58. > :19:07.we wait patiently and quietly for the arrival of the patron, Her
:19:07. > :19:12.Majesty the Queen. Since 1816 the society has received
:19:12. > :19:20.royal patronage from the reigning monarch. Her Majesty follows in the
:19:20. > :19:25.footsteps of Queen Victoria and her father King George VI.
:19:25. > :19:30.This year is Her Majesty's 48th advise ut to the show. This time,
:19:30. > :19:35.in honour of her Diamond Jubilee, the society have created a special
:19:35. > :19:40.garden just for her. Then it's off to the Great Pavilion.
:19:40. > :19:45.Once inside Her Majesty talks to children from the Knightsbridge
:19:45. > :19:51.schools garden before making her way through Raymond Evison's
:19:51. > :19:57.clematis stand. What did she like? Loved this. We put out a call to
:19:57. > :20:01.the school where the children gave us their smelly trainers and we
:20:01. > :20:06.made them smell better. She spent some time with the orchid society
:20:06. > :20:12.of Great Britain having a special interest in one of the flowers.
:20:12. > :20:15.same orchid was in her wedding bouquet. That's the one? That is it.
:20:15. > :20:20.Back outside and onto the show gardens, where Her Majesty took
:20:20. > :20:23.time to speak to the designersment The Queen was on your garden?
:20:23. > :20:29.That's right. Did she take any cuttings? No, she seemed to know
:20:29. > :20:35.what she was on about, which was nice. She enjoyed your bubbles.
:20:35. > :20:38.did. She wondered if I put soap in it. I thought that was a great idea.
:20:38. > :20:46.This year when we're all celebrating the Diamond Jubilee, it
:20:46. > :20:51.feels extra special. To commemorate the Queen's 60
:20:51. > :20:56.glorious years, the RHS launched a new Diamond Jubilee award, the
:20:56. > :21:02.accolade goes to the best exhibit in the great paiflion. This year it
:21:02. > :21:06.went to this one, greated by H W Hyde and son for their lilies. The
:21:06. > :21:09.celebrations didn't stop there as many nurserymen arrived at Chelsea
:21:09. > :21:17.with a plethora of new plants bearing a royal title. Carol Klein
:21:17. > :21:23.was there to greet them. There's no doubt Chelsea's gone
:21:23. > :21:31.Jubileetastic. It's a great opportunity to discover new plants,
:21:31. > :21:36.bred especially for the Diamond Jubilee. What better flower to
:21:36. > :21:43.celebrate the Diamond Jubilee than a rose. What a beautiful rose too!
:21:43. > :21:48.This is a modern classic rose, one of a brand new series, which
:21:48. > :21:52.combines all the qualities of the old roses, that sense of romance
:21:52. > :21:57.and softness, with the robustness and solidity that you come to
:21:57. > :22:04.expect from modern roses. The rose itself is called the Queen's
:22:04. > :22:07.Jubilee rose. It's got shiny green foliage and the most gorgeous
:22:07. > :22:13.scented flowers. It's a real belter! This rose is not just for
:22:13. > :22:17.Chelsea. It's going to be planted all along the Jubilee greenway, so
:22:17. > :22:27.people will be able to enjoy it this year and it will go on giving
:22:27. > :22:28.
:22:28. > :22:34.them pleasure for years to come. I was lucky enough to be sent a few
:22:34. > :22:38.sample seeds of this brand new variety of sweetpea. It's called,
:22:38. > :22:46.of course, Diamond Jubilee, and it really is one of the most beautiful
:22:46. > :22:52.sweetpeas I've seen. It's got these pale pink flowers, this gorgeous
:22:52. > :22:56.picotee edge. Though the flowers have a delicate fragility, the
:22:56. > :23:03.plants themselves are robust. They give long stemmed stalks with maybe
:23:03. > :23:07.four or five flowers to each stem. The colours -- the colour's divine,
:23:07. > :23:17.but when you lean over and smell, there's the most beautiful perfume.
:23:17. > :23:23.What more could you want? With sweetpeas and roses, it's all about
:23:23. > :23:28.flowers, but on this stand there's hardly a flower in site. Here it's
:23:28. > :23:35.foliage that's important and what foliage it is - dark, dramatic,
:23:35. > :23:42.truly exciting. And there's one new introduction, it's Diamond Queen.
:23:42. > :23:48.There are lots of queens at Chelsea this year. Here's a fragrant one.
:23:48. > :23:53.It's hosta fragrant Queen and it's got delightful lily-like pale lilac
:23:53. > :23:59.flowers full of scent. Of course, the real reason you grow hostas is
:23:59. > :24:05.for their magnificent foliage. In this case, big vair gaited, heart-
:24:06. > :24:12.shaped leaves. One of the problems with growing hostas is that they're
:24:12. > :24:15.very prone to attack by slugs. But in this case, off with their heads!
:24:15. > :24:18.It's always refreshing to hear other gardeners' views and get
:24:18. > :24:23.their take on Chelsea. Cookery writer and broadcaster Mary Berry
:24:23. > :24:27.joined us on Wednesday to share her passion for gardening. Mary loves
:24:27. > :24:34.roses. So there was a certain predictability about her route
:24:34. > :24:43.around the show. Oh, gosh, it's a myriad of
:24:43. > :24:50.different plants and colours. Oh, here's a friend. We've grown these
:24:50. > :24:54.now for three years. They are wonderful smell, lovely for picking,
:24:54. > :24:58.healthy foliage. We prune them in March really hard, took everything
:24:58. > :25:08.out as thin as a pencil. They're looking very good now. But here
:25:08. > :25:09.
:25:09. > :25:15.they are in bloom - what a joy. I just love this because you can
:25:15. > :25:25.see how big the actual hostas grow. There are miniature ones, there are
:25:25. > :25:26.
:25:26. > :25:30.big ones. I go for the big ones because I like a big show. I have
:25:30. > :25:33.great success with hostas, but what I really want to know about are
:25:33. > :25:38.hardy freesias. There is a new range of prepared freesias, which
:25:38. > :25:42.means that they've been given the cold treatment, because freesias
:25:42. > :25:46.are a native of South Africa, so they can be grown. The biggest
:25:47. > :25:51.problem is drainage. They like good, well drained soil and they need the
:25:51. > :25:54.cold period. Best to plant in the Autumn time. Let them sit in the
:25:54. > :25:58.cold soil over winter, then they'll germinate in spring and the new
:25:58. > :26:07.growth will start to come through. Oh, I can't wait to order some.
:26:07. > :26:12.will be exciting. Thanks for your advice. You're welcome.
:26:12. > :26:16.This is my favourite garden. It's got wonderful structure. This would
:26:16. > :26:21.be lovely throughout all seasons. I like the way they've grown their
:26:21. > :26:28.roses. I like the idea that you can weave Hazel into a nice dome. I
:26:28. > :26:32.might have a go at making them. I've had such a wonderful day. This
:26:32. > :26:42.must be the place Chelsea ever. I've got lots of new ideas, all my
:26:42. > :26:43.
:26:43. > :26:46.questions answered and I can't wait to get in the garden this weekend.
:26:46. > :26:49.You know, she even brought me lavender shortbread. It was
:26:49. > :26:53.delicious Mary. Thank you very much. It's been a week of memorable
:26:53. > :26:58.moments, something we've all come to expect from Chelsea. So, as this
:26:59. > :27:08.year's flowers begin to fade, let's capture those moments just once
:27:09. > :27:09.
:27:09. > :28:09.Apology for the loss of subtitles for 60 seconds
:28:09. > :28:14.on from those memories, yet move on we must. The excitement for Chelsea
:28:14. > :28:17.2013 is already starting to build as the royal horticultural prepares
:28:17. > :28:19.to celebrate the centenary of the to celebrate the centenary of the
:28:19. > :28:24.very first official show. Before then, there's a host of other
:28:24. > :28:27.gardening shows to enjoy, Gardners' World Live kicks off at the
:28:27. > :28:31.National Exhibition Centre in June. I'm building a small allotment