Episode 3 RHS Chelsea Flower Show

As any gardener will tell you, there's a date on the calendar

every May that signposts the start of a week of law sightseeing. After

months of waiting, that day has finally arrived. So sit back and

enjoy the 2012 Ra just Chelsea Flower Show, supported by M&G

Investments. Because for those of us who love our gardens, the

horticultural holidays have arrived. Coming up... Garden getaways. We

take a look at the Show Gardens inspired by some of our favourite

holiday haunts. Caribbean retreat. Pop legend Sir Cliff Richard shows

us the secrets of his Barbados garden. As I get older, I really

enjoyed that there is he to somewhere on the planet and I tried

to find it. We visit the garden promoting the pleasures of the

Welcome to the Royal Hospital grounds, where plants, gardens and

gardeners from all over the globe have descended for the week,

bringing with them the very best horticultural offerings. I will be

here throughout the week on BBC One and BBC Two, joined by a host of

familiar faces, including Rachel de Thame. I love Chelsea, it's my home

town. Monday is very special. really good atmosphere. There is

something in the air, it's the 2012 feeling, the Jubilee, the Olympics.

You get a sense of something a bit special. Every year, fashions and

trends change and this is the place to spot them. But we've got this

new thing this year called Chelsea Fringe. First time. I like the idea

that Chelsea then it filters out into the rest of London. Things

like poetry readings, I hear there is also Guerilla Gardeners in.

These are guys who descend in the dead of night on roundabouts and

turn them into a garden. What could be better?! King and company who

are exhibiting here, decided that for the Diamond Jubilee they wanted

eight topiary corgi. So they commissioned the Italian nursery

that grows them to grow away Corbett. You do know what a Corgi

is? Of course! So this Korpi turned up and it looks more like a whippet.

So they are sinking its legs into a very large pot and they are trying

to fluff up its foliage. You get off and explore. A stroll through

the Royal Hospital grounds this year promises to evoke memories of

treasured holidays, from the Mediterranean to the Antipodes -

there's a garden vacation to suit all wanderlusts. And you can't

wander much further than Australia. The Trailfinders garden takes us to

the eastern seaboard of Australia. Anywhere from Sydney in the south,

right up to Brisbane. This, they are trying to persuade me, is what

all gardens have over there. Wonderful, relaxing areas like this

one. There's a hot tub here, can you see the steam rising? I can't

tell you how tempting it is to leap in there. The Australians are very

odd, you can tell that because yesterday they had these hot tubs

outside and they've also got a bath. It proper bath. In the garden. Old

people. But beautifully designed by Jason. This sitting area leads you

down at steps and flagstones set in the grass. In between these

wonderful fan palms. Past the barbecue and corrugated iron going

rusty. It is quite intentional. What these are just represent our

The Archers of Sydney Harbour Bridge, with these very neatly

cantilevered lighting Dan trees sticking out. That is where you sit

in the shade if the sun is beating down, as it does in Australia. But

when you want to dine and sit in the sunshine, you come over to this

lavishly appointed area what these wonderfully padded leather seats.

The planting is unashamedly tropical, with palms down the

centre and this lush planting and other exotics all the way down.

This is a sure we knew exactly how a garden can be a living area in

Australia, where they do have rather better weather than we have

at this time of year. But for me, as well as being inspirational,

it's just a very nice escape to This is a garden with a real sense

of place. It's the L'Occitane Immortelle Garden, designed by

Peter Dowle. In this case, the scene is Corsica, that landscape,

very arid and rocky that runs up from about 400 metres down to the

coast. I love this beautiful stone, it really looks authentic. The

pergola around the seating area covered with vines. It is all about

the landscape, but plants are adapted to these very arid growing

conditions. So here you've got rose of these plants which were grown in

Corsica and then brought on in Spain for the show. That real touch

of authenticity. As you walk down here, you've got things like thymes

and lavenders in every nook and cranny between the stones. This

front section represents the coast. There are thrifts and sea kale. And

there is this cork oak. You see the olives. It transports you, you are

right there in Corsica, smelling that Mediterranean air. It really

is beautiful. The Show Gardens are not the only

exhibits offering a chance to get away from it all. There's a

tantalising, tropical travelogue delighting visitors in the Great

Pavilion. And who better to savour its floral flavour and garden and

writer Christine Walkden. When I think of the tropics, I think of

white, sandy beaches, heat and sipping rum. But I am often my

adventure to find plants from the Granada, a country full of colour

and flamboyance. And this is a stand which whisks you off in your

dream. The colours, the heat - you can almost feel that glow! Just

look at that spectacular plant. A beautiful and new colour in the

range of plants. We used to having Reds and Whites and pinks, but now

a beautiful mahogany red. Tropical night, a plant that can be grown at

home in the conservatory. Minimum temperature of about 65 degrees

Fahrenheit, high humidity. Then you just wait for those blooms to open

and create a sense he was feeling as the mist of darkness descends on

your conservatory. Spectacular as a cut flower. It adds a bit of zing

to your living room. A really good plant and not that difficult to

In my wildest of tropical dreams I would never have conjured up

something like this. The brain cactus. You can almost see it

moving. What a fantastically architectural planned to having a

conservatory or even outside on a hot summer's day. Just dream away

to the tropics. Traditionally, when we think of her Laconia, we think

of vibrant, tropical flowers. But look what I've just found on my

adventure. I've just arrived in the land of beauty - Jamaica. And the

Chelsea first. With that hairy Here I am relaxing with a very

familiar friend in Trinidad & The Swiss cheese plant that you all

know because it is not, to me, just about fragrant, vibrant flowers, it

is about foliage. What about this beautiful plant? This lush foliage

with these heavy rains that will really make your conservatory

sparkle. Plant it out in the summer and your heart area will really

become a proper court. Four shafts We grow this as a pot plant,

boringly, but let it go in your greenhouse and you will have shafts

Tropical holidays are full of lush, vibrant flowers and foliage and

exotic fruit. It's a shame I've got The Barbados Horticultural Society

has been exhibiting here since 1988 and has taken a metal home every

year since then. This year, with vacation in mind, their stand is

entitled Summer Holiday. And that is not just because the island

prides itself in its tourism, but also in acknowledgement of one of

its more famous residents, the Prince of Popper himself, Sir Cliff

Richard. He's been there for a while now. I've been going there

since 2001. I really have enjoyed it there. If I can get away from

winter, one does. My parents say to me, we are looking forward in our

old age to get away to the sunlight. In those days I thought, why, why

bother? You can always go there in July. But as I get older, I really

enjoy the fact that there is heat somewhere in the planet and I tried

to find it. Barbados, obviously the floor on here, you are used to

seeing this every day. You go there through the winter. Yeah. But when

you come to the flower show you find the profusion of flowers

clustered together in one area, which is why I tell my friends when

they say, ah, we've only got a postage stamp. Do you realise how

easy it is to make a postage stamp look fabulous? At 10 plants in.

Here they've got everything that I've seen in my garden, mostly.

Here it is pristine. I'm catching a Here it is pristine. I'm catching a

whiff of the tuberose. It does need full sun like the whole time. My

guard at -- Garden sometimes Tell me about this calendar. Your

calendar has been the top-selling Callander, and there are

photographs of you on the beach on this calendar in Barbados. Yes,

this next calendar for next year may be the last one I do in

Barbados. But we've found places I have not been to before, certain

beaches that was so dramatic. With every year it's got harder and

harder. There has to come a point where I won't have a Number One

calendar. I'm hitting that moment because they were all say, he's

failed! But there will come a moment where you don't want to be

photographed in your trunks! That's true, but at the moment it's fine.

The papers pick up on a couple of pictures, a couple of years ago I

came out of the swimming pool and they thought I'd put my head on

somebody else's body! This is a sartorial one. There is one shop

where I was getting changed, I had by genes on, I put this gold

waistcoat on. No sides, no back, I thought - nothing else is

necessary! It has been fun to do but I feel pressure now. So now...

Last year we went to Florida, Orlando. Gounod's, may be Vegas

would like to have pictures of me? -- who knows. It's great to talk to

you. We are halfway through our coverage of tonight's Chelsea

Flower Show. Still to come. Summer Holiday. The Chelsea show garden

promoting the joys of a very English pastime. Caravanning. My

favourite aspect of this garden is the Mini caravan here for Fido. Out

of Africa. The floral travelogue all the way from South Africa's

You can visit Chelsea all week. For those who want extra portions,

pavilion tours are on the red button. They are broadcast daily

from midday. The art san gardens are a magnet for visitors. Every

year they delight with their perfect pocket-sized landscapes.

This year, several have opted to recreate the beauty of some far-

flung lands. Taking a break, James Wong has been to visit a couple of

them. Join the BBC and see the world,

they said. They were not far wrong. Here I have been transported to

Slovenia and the cast region, with this fairytale dry meadow.

Not only have we landed here, we have also travelled back in time,

to a setting 100 years ago. The scene is one of a shepherd's garden,

a place to escape to, to spend time and be creative.

It's tricky to tell on television just how small these small gardens

are. This one is probably five metres by five metres, which is not

much bigger than the size of your average front room. Yet, it does a

brilliant job of atmosphere. It does it really through two things -

brilliant planting, which is lose and naturalistic and also has a

fantastic level of detail. A bird's nest here, a shepherd's whistle

casually laid out against the rock. The more you look the more you find

new things. With a flight time of, well about

20 seconds or so along the Serpentine walk, I am in a land

which could not contrast more. You join me in the space between the

mountains and the low lands of mountains and the low lands of

Japan. Again, we are reminded of a bygone

era, when Japanese life depended closely on nature. Spring water is

usedor drinking. Leaves are used to fertilise the field. Traditional

styles of planting are adhered to. Having said that, this is not a

garden which is an identical reply ka of Japanese countryside, this is

Chelsea Flower Show. It is really, in many senses, cuddly, a fairytale

version of a Japanese hillside. The planting in this garden is

really peared back so you can appreciate the form of each

individual plant. You notice it here with this Japanese pine tree,

which is windswept and spread out over, so you can appreciate its

character. Very naturalistic looking. The water feature echoes

some of Japan's agricultural heritage. You have things like this

growing in there - common water plant here, it Japan it is eaten in

salads and drunk in tea. A very common medicinal plant.

For me, one of the best things about Chelsea is it is a truly

global show. So you get to see a whole world of horticulture without

even buying a plane ticket. One designer here on Main Avenue

has taken the idea of the great British holiday to heart.

Jo Thompson tioned foreign climates to have a staycation, courtesy of

her favourite hotel - a caravan. Let me introduce you to Doris. It

is a 1950's caravan which comes from the Isle of Wight. Bless her

heart! A deck zigzags across this wonderful water course, polished

aluminium, which reflects in more than one ways. The planting is

wonderful. It is wrap-around. It is a cosy environment. In a way it is

not 50's twee. It has brought the mid-50's into the 21st century.

These wonderful Chinese birches here, with young twigs and white

bark. Foxgloves are erupting around it. You feel as if you had to have

a staycation this would be the right place to do it. There are two

distinct kinds of gardens at Chelsea - those who are pushing the

boat out, being cutting-edge and showing us how gardening should be

developing and how garden design should be going off in its own

unique direction. There are others which are romantic - they are fairy

stories, they are escapes, if you like. It strikes me what Jo

Thompson has done here is to marry the two together. We end one a

romantic garden. It is cosy, just in a comfortable way, but which is

nevertheless distinctly modern in its approach, particularly with the

use of timber and the use of aluminium. To marry those two

things together takes talent. My favourite thing here is the

minicaravan for Fido. The dog goes up that ramp. And the down pipe, we

do think about water conservation here - it fills up the dog bowl at

the bottom. I have a cat who will only drink rain water. If you have

a dog who will, this is the garden for you. We will catch up with Jo

Thompson on Thursday, to discover how her love of caravaning began.

Last year, at Chelsea, I had the pleasure of meeting Tom Hart Dyke.

Tom has created the world garden at his home in lulling stone Kent. His

re -- he has returned this year on a busman's holiday, to seek out

some of his favourite exotic plants. That pill Grahamage has taken him

to the Great Pavilion. And to the South African botanical

gardens of Kistenbosch. As a travelling man, as a modern day

plant-hunter I have been to every corner of our green global. I am

pink with embarrassment, sweating at the brow because I have never

been to the hot spot of South Africa. Here at the Kistenbosch

stand, I begin my traveller's journey through four unique

changing landscapes. Each has a water colour painting. It is like a

picture postcard. In the middle of the grassland region of South

Africa is in the centre a plant from that region.

One of my favourite plants in the grassland sections, which is a

habitat in northern South Africa is the bird of paradise here.

This is not the queen bird of paradise, this is leafs like a Reed.

This is more tricky to grow. It is a stunner. The leafs are so

elongated like this you can see the flowers straight the way through

there. A fantastic plant. My next port of

call is one of the most biodiverse spots on our planet. The Western

Cape. It is like a pop-up story book.

You have a cart full of wine barrels. In the background, the

Cape Folded Mountains. One thing of the Western Cape that instpiers me

is a mixture of -- is this flower. A unique community, just from this

part of the world. These three are the coastal region of South Africa,

below Cape Town. A great illustrated travel-log. Through

this low fisherman's wall, you have the boats in the backtkwround and

in the background a coastal -- background and in the background a

coastal village. You have this white sand. You feel like you are

entering the coastal region of South Africa. My final destination

is one of the most iconic landscapes in South Africa, one of

the most arid. I love this fence post here, with the rusty barbed

wire. I love the daisys on the ground here. At the end of August,

beginning of September, it is covered acre after acre with a

bewildering array of the daisy family. What turns my red blood

cells green is one of the most iconic plants from this arid region

of South Africa - the Acacia Karroo. Seeing this stand today has

inspired me to go abroad and see these plants in the wild of South

Africa, to go plant-hunting in this wonderful place. I am tempted to go

straight up the path, through the stand. A fabulous inspiration!

And Tom is leading some of our Great Pavilion tours over on the

red button this year. Do join him. It is the start of a week-long

celebration of all that's great in gardening. So, sit back and enjoy

Apology for the loss of subtitles for 62 seconds

the traditional Chelsea Monday, # It could take all night

# Yeah # Get in the gove

# And let the good time roll # I'm going to stay here until I

soothe my soul # If you take all nightlong

# Yeah # Everybody let the good time roll

# We're going to stay here until we soothe our soul

year in terms of judging best garden in show. We have three

previous winners in best show. Arne Maynard, Cleve West and Andy

Sturgeon. We have two new comers, Sarah Price, The Telegraph Garden.

And Joe. We have two mavericks and Chris Beardshaw.

These have not been in for years. Nobody wants to go backwards.

Everybody wants at least a good a medal or better. His design - is it

a garden? Is it an installation? It is sort of on the fence. It looks

wonderful when you have Chelsea Pensioners. It was like a wedding

cake. You had the green and the Pensioners. What causes us concern

is how they will judge it, is what keeps this show fresh year on year.

It's not just the same guys competing with the same things in

the same way and girls of course, with Sarah. It's surely this

freshness is a good idea. This controversy there will be tomorrow

when the medals come out. Isn't this good for horticulture? I think

we need questions all the time and what we should and shouldn't be

doing. Even that new fresh category, that will do the same thing. It

shakes everything up. That is really good for horticulture.

everybody came to Chelsea and saw things they thought were lovely,

and not edgy or dangerous it might get dull. It might. It is

interesting, if you walk with people and eavesdrop and get

different opinions, how people respond to the same garden and have

a completely different opinion. The thing is, this year there is

something for everyone. It is a broad range. I am looking for the

person who wants an 80-foot Pyramid in the back of their garden!