Episode 4 RHS Chelsea Flower Show

They say some things improve with age. Well, it's 99 years since the

first courageous Chelsea Flower Show wild the crowds. And just like

vintage port, it continues to get better and better. Tonight, we are

launching a week-long celebration of all things horticultural. I'll

be here every evening on BBC Two for all the news and gardening

gossip. I'll be joined by a host of familiar faces. We are beginning

right now. Coming up... Under control. The gardens adding a touch

of formality to Chelsea this year. The art of gardening. Designer Andy

Sturgeon tells us how the Arts and Crafts movement inspired his garden.

The garden I'm doing at Chelsea is not an Arts and Crafts garden,

which might seem odd when it's totally inspired by gardens from

that movement. Passionate plantsman. The French nurserymen Richard

Cayeux shares his family's love affair with the Iris. I was born in

Good evening and welcome to the 2012 RHS Chelsea Flower Show,

supported by M&G Investments. The week has only just begun and it's

already attracting headlines. Mainly because the sun is coming

out. Can you believe it? After yesterday, we were freezing

yesterday. Standby, my best is coming up tomorrow! People think we

forget that as well as gardens here, which we talk about a lot on that

Thursday because they are ready and the Great Pavilion isn't ready,

this is about flowers. Absolutely. I've just been in there. The first

thing that strikes you on Monday, everything is fresh so the perfume

in there is wondrous. I've just looked through the Roses, which you

know I like. Lovely. A lots of old fashioned ones this year. Yes, but

some new varieties as well, lots with a Jubilee theme. You can plant

a patriotic plant. Sweet peas out in force in there. This wonderful

fragrance. Simon Lycett made as this wonderful arrangement in a

teapot. Sweet peas mixed with green mint. They look and smell divine.

Sir simple. It's back freshness. I quite like the teapot as well.

Carol Klein has had a sweet pea named after her. Has she? Taking

after you. Mine was named in 1886 I nearly said! 1986. It is still in

there. It is very coral. Coral pink. Soft pink with a frilly edge and a

delicate scent, and the sweet pea is not bad either! But seeing

things like that every year here, it's a shot in the arm. The gardens

out there. When you said last night that you are feeling quite

emotional about it, I felt almost Deary about his garden. It is so

beautiful. We've been teasing him for years, come on, Joe, time to

put your money where your mouth is an Dewlay garden. It's fantastic.

never predict gold medals but... Fingers crossed, it is good. There

is more than a hint of formality about this year's event. Clipped

topiary and geometric designs are involved. Rachel and I have been

spanning the centuries, starting with the ancient walled gardens of

A paradise gardens of Persia, emphasised the preciousness of

water. That is what Nigel has done here on the Royal Bank of Callender

garden, which is based on a Persian paradise garden. It is building at

the end was inspired by those little houses you find in Italy. If

you look up inside, you will see Andrew Loudon's handiwork. The most

wonderful dry stone roof, which is rather like an egg made entirely of

pieces of sandstone. Out here, the paving is much more smoothly.

There's a practical angle to this, as you would expect from Nigel, a

man who has been involved in the design for the Olympic Park in Lee

Valley. All of these beds and plantings allow water to drain

through them and into these canals. They are part of the purification

process and of retaining water, it is a precious commodity. The

planting is interesting. Grace's mixed in with perennials, but also

with lilies. We are talking about Lilian in all its forms. Down the

end of the dusky pink variety. Over here, the wide variety. Just in

front of me, bright orange lilies, which contrast markedly with the

turquoise bottom of the pond and the water. I looked at this and

thought, who won earth would put together orange and turquoise? Then

I remembered, if you will forgive the name-dropping, that when I last

interviewed Claudia Schiffer or she was wearing an orange jumper and a

turquoise jacket. It is the Claudia This is a little slice of heaven.

It is the Arthritis Research UK garden, designed by Tom Hoblyn. He

took his inspiration from the Italian Renaissance gardens, places

like Villa D'Este teeth. He has used stone from Tivoli. Here, it is

rough-hewn and masculine. Then it is move along these walls and along

the bench. The planting is so beautiful. It is very much designed

to cope with those arid conditions, so you've got things that are still

believed, Salvias, which Cup very well with drought conditions. There

are pinpricks of colour. You have the bright red from the poppy,

which really sings. At the back, that focal point of those five

cypress trees. They are balanced just on the other side by the cork

oak. Exquisite. But this is also a garden about water. You have three

different forms. The lovely, still pool with the stepping-stones.

You've got the cascade at the back. Best of all, just look at this

water chute, just leaping across that box hedge. They just pop

through, those jets of water, in the back of the seating. They are

eliminated, so at night they really shine. It is a fabulous garden to

look at, it's even better to stand Brewin Dolphin were founder members

of the London Stock Exchange 250 years ago. They have commissioned

Cleve West to reflect their history in a garden. It begins with the

ancient, is very old wellhead, certainly older than 250 years, but

it mixes ancient with modern. He has since this will head on cobbles

in this forecourt with eight Pollard at Lime Tree. Again, a good,

old-fashioned touch. But as we move forward we get a touch more modern.

Cleave says this garden is geometrical but not symmetrical. It

seems to me to mix all kinds of periods, which have been covered in

at 250 years. We come to a sunken area in the centre which has at

each corner of the most magnificent topiary specimens on this Chelsea

side this year. These are like gigantic chessmen erupting among

beds of border perennials. Then become tutu macro very formal and

old-fashioned Gade peers. Sitting atop them are flaming stone

Deiniol's with this wonderful, rusted, ornate gate in the centre.

But there's a modern touch here. Look down at the foot of the

gatepost and you have this wonderful little time all getting

out, depositing water into the wells that run down either side of

this path. They seem to be big Chelsea 2012 signature. These are

made of wonderful, Corbould sets. It is a wonderful mixture of 250

years of old and new. Cleve West is over on the red button, explaining

why and how he breaks the rules. You can switch-over immediately

after this programme. Juxtaposing the exquisite formality of designs

likely West's and Tom's, is a garden that takes its inspiration

from the creativity of the late 19th century Arts and Crafts

movement. Andy Sturgeon has chosen a style of gardening that

effortlessly mixes perennial planting that the art of the

craftsmen. One garden that reflects this style is Rodmarton Manor in

Cirencester, which Andy visited Rodmarton Manor in Gloucestershire

is a great example of an Arts and Crafts house and garden. The reason

that I've come here is because although I have always considered

myself as a modernist garden designer, I've come to realise

recently that in fact, the principles I used for garden design

of very much rooted in the arts and The Arts and Crafts movement really

began about 150 years ago. The whole philosophy behind it was that

it was a reaction against industrialisation and mass produced

good. It was really a celebration and a return to skills. As it says,

The main elements of the movement were architecture, interior design,

jewellery, even furniture and, of course, gardens. In this garden,

which is very typical, you have a series of garden rooms around the

house, and those rooms are framed by walls and clipped hedges. A lot

of the formality, that is close to the house. Then, as you move away

from the house, that formality slowly bleeds into informality and

becomes much more natural. Then eventually it connects with the

The garden I'm doing at Chelsea is not an Arts and Crafts garden,

which might seem awed when it's totally inspired by gardens from

that movement. But what I've done is try to look underneath the

surface elements and look at what the ethos is and will also be his

and the main elements. Then take those and interpret them in a more

contemporary way. Because the Arts and Crafts movement was new and

innovative, and I want my garden to be new and innovative. But it just

This is a common theme for the gardens, where you go from one room

to another. You actually come through a kind of doorway. It's an

idea I'd really like to use. Here you have this hedge. I'm going to

put it into a stone wall. But I'm going to try and capture this sense

of a vista that leads down the doorway, but you is framed and you

have a focal point at the end. -- When you look closely at this house

and garden you see some interesting details. This house was built using

local masons, local blacksmiths, local Carpenters. This stone was

quarried locally. These oak trees were taken out of the forests

locally off the estate. Using local materials and local craftsmen, that

was a big part of the movement. But it's also really important to me,

to keep those skills alive and use On all planting schemes, I really

like to get a strong contrast between some of the foliage

elements of some of the leaves. Here you have a strong one. You

have the clipped topiary and it is set amongst all this wild,

naturalistic planting. It is something I really love. The main

components of the Chelsea Garden of formal Italianate terrace in which

step down to a rectangular for more pond. I've celebrated the

architecture by putting in these monolithic walls. They are made of

stone. They also have the kind of idea of the garden rooms formed by

hedges that were quite typical. What is interesting about gardens

like this is although I'm a huge fan of modern architecture, modern

art and design and all those sorts of things, when I come to these

types of gardens, more traditional, they always have a very familiar

feeling, they are comfortable, cosy. I love them. I always wonder

whether rendering the wrong thing! -- whether I'm doing the wrong

thing! And this is what it became. Are you happy? Very happy. Happy

it's finished. What I do love are the steps going down to this great,

long a lake. Timing in this arts and crafts, has it been a pressure

doing the garden? Do something like that become a millstone around your

neck? No, and if it does I think it means it's a bad idea. It worked

really well here because as I thought of each thing, it fitted in

really well. It was a natural fit. I knew I was on to something.

might be based on something that's a hundred and 50 years old but it's

incredibly modern. This wall, for instance, what is the arts and

crafts reference there? Arts and crafts was innovative in its day,

so that is important, but the war, everyone knows about William Morris

wallpapers, that's probably one of the most famous things that came

out of the movement, with repeated patterns that were inspired by

nature. Those circles echo the shades of some of the flowers.

Things like peonies and lilies were in the wallpaper. That is how I

have reflected it. What a lot of people, including myself, are

baffled about is, where do you go to find something like this? You've

made these holes. Where do you source all of this? You find good

people. Again, it's part of the Arts and Crafts movement. It was

using traditional craftsmanship. We have hand-picked, still make --

stonemasons have done the edge. The same quarry has done the highly-

skilled drilling of the stone. come past the terrors into this Ali

way. -- Terrace into this Ali way. You have planted all the way down

the sides. The planting is very Andy Sturgeon. We are getting that

reflection you were talking about, with these domes surrounded by the

fluffy planting. That is right. It's important to have some element

of formality. I've put these stones, that holds the whole thing together.

It allows me to have this almost naturalistic planting that floats

Then you have these in the water. These are a great talking-point.

People say "oh, look at those." Whenever they use the word "brave"

it gets me worry. This comes from jewellery. It is an arts and craft

thing. Although this is big scale, I wanted it to be finely worked and

elegant, like a piece of jewellery and the material, copper, again

arts and crafts. Of course you have got in here irises. They are

obviously quite important. Well, you need those pin-points of colour.

Without things like that it could just be a blur. You need things

that will take your eye and focus on before it drifts on to something

else. A garden inspired by the Arts and

Crafts Movement would not be complete without irises. Iris was

the rainbow goddess in Greek mythology. It captured the heart of

one French family 120 years ago. Today Cayeux Irises captivate

visitors. It is out in their 55- acre nursery that the Cayeux's true

love affair with the flower becomes apparent.

I am Richard Cayeux. I am the fourth generation of the Cayeux

family to grow, create new irises. I was born in an iris field,

perhaps. It is one of the first to flower in

spring. It is like an explosion of colour. You must know what they

need - they need full sun to flower well. They need excellent drainage.

You must plant them during the summer. That's all that they need.

The bearded irises, there are four different types. The miniature, the

standard dwarfs and the tall ones. The miniature dwarfs, they are

starting to flower mid-March. Then we can also have some late bloomers,

in the beginning of June, with the tall bearded. With the different

types of irises, we can have two This iris is an intermediate. The

name is Vitraille. It has almost all the qualities of a good

intermediate. That's to say good branching, with a quite low branch

on the stem. 24 iris is called orageux. Like a

stormy weather. And the contrast is amazing. It's quite hard to combine

yellow or white standards with black falls. It's not a very good

stem, we a only four buds. But the colour is so interesting. I will

keep this variety a long time in my fields.

The main character of Cayeux is to create new varieties. I want to get

a paler blue intermediate. So this one is a true blue and I will use

the pollen of this one and bring it to a white one.

So, you take the stay men, usually I take several stay -- stamen,

usually I take several stamen. Then I walk it to the white one.

I select a fresh flower. First of all I take this and then I put the

pollen on to the female part of the flower. We do what the bumblebee

should do. Going down to the ovary and the pollination is happening in

this side. We sow the seeds in October and two, three or four

years after the cross, we have the first flower.

We must be perfectionists. All the colours must be perfect. We keep

only 15 plants for 1,000. We have decided for Chelsea to

present a large range of colours to show. We ship the plants to England,

one year before the Chelsea show, because when the irises are

flowering, it's very difficult to move them and I prefer they grow in

the English climate before Chelsea. The first year, we have got the

Silver Medal, and then we have got three Silver-Gilt Medals. Now we

would be very happy to get the Gold Well the Cayeux stand is looking

stunning. Absolutely wonderful, Richard. You are in charge of the

British end of the operation, aren't you? Yes. I am. What is your

role? Richard sends the plants to me in August. Maybe early September.

We pot them up and grow them on and then bring them up to the show in

May. Sound very easy, dun't it? do you do -- doesn't it? Why do you

not just pot them up and bring them from France? It is too difficult to

bring the plants from France. your -- is your weather different?

It is a little bit warmer, but not much this year. So I prefer the

plants to be grown with Sue and she's doing that very well. It is

almost a terrible responsibility you have. Do you find it stressful?

The last month I do, yes. It's getting the timings right.

Obviously we have to try and get as many in flower as we can for today.

So, it's about moving them, keeping them warm, keeping them cool if

they are coming on too much. Additional lighting sometimes.

That's no mean feat. Because you have pure irises and intermediate

and tall they all come into flower at different times. Is there any

for you which is the favourite. for me Dame de Cour.

for me Dame de Cour. It is beautiful. I do like that too.

For me, the best ones this year are Piste Noir.

Absolutely stunning. Thank you very much. Thank you.

Monday is the day when a host of celebritys can be spotted. As

always, we have been out and about asking their views on this year's

I love the Chelsea Flower Show. This is a particularly fantastic

one. I saw it on television last night. It looks great. Yeah. I am

going to look at it, instead of talking to journlys. You are late!

This not a premier. organisation is fascinating and the

fact they come 20 days before and make things look like they have

been here for 60 years. It's absolutely brilliant. For me the

thing about gardening is about the long term. It is the opposite to

get-rich-quick society. It is about things which take investment and

patience and time and those are the things that are the most rewarding

things you can possibly hope for. It looks like Trumpton has gone

crazy. Something to do with Diarmuid Gavin. They are all

pensioners. I have no idea what it is, it is typical of Chelsea Flower

Show. I have a garden andvy a team of about 28 staff. That's not true!

Not true. I just let it grow. vegetarian we grow 75% of our own

food and thes a paragus were great. I have got to a stage where I

notice trees, I love trees. I can stop and look at a tree and it's

just a beautiful thing. I think what I like most about it

is it seems to be made of off-cuts, which I love. Everybody in England

loves gardening. Loves flowers. There's nothing like it really.

It's just an institution. I love gardening and anything to do with

gardening. Anything to do with Alan Titchmarsh, who is like the patron

saint of gardening. Well, celebrities have been

supporting the RHS Campaign for School Gardening, which is

encouraging primary schools to build gardens. There are 15,000 of

them now. They have painted lovely pots. This is a work of art!

That is really. Vy a couple here to show you. See these, who are they?

I don't recognise either. This is Cleve and that is Joe. Would you

let either of those characters into your garden? Talking of characters

- look at these. This one is from Downton Abbey. Now what have you

done?Vy Done very predictably.... So this is a rose by Rachel de

Thame. And yours? I am a sucker for Wind In The Willows. All these can

be bought online. They are auctioning them all in aid of the

RHS campaign. If you go to the website you can bid for these up to

next Sunday. That is where they will be. There is Ricky Gervais,

all sort of people. I have never had a Chelsea bun on the show

before. Are they buns or cupcakes? Well, they are squeezey cupcakes.

There is a story behind these - garden centres pull the market, but

there are specialist nurseries all over the country which need our

support. I try and go as often as I can. These are being sold in aid of

the nurseries - support your local British nursery. If you buy a

knitted Chelsea bun, you are supporting them. And support them

by going there and buying plants. That is the main thing. If you buy

in bulk and buy in a garden centre, it's a good place to go, but the

specialist nurseries glow a particular group of plants which

nobody else will grow. Don't use them, lose them. That is the

message. -- if you don't use them you will

lose them. That is the message. Still to come:

Welcome strangers, we are getting to know the new floral arrivals in

this year's Great Pavilion. A novel approach to designing using

Victorian literature. Three of the great loves of my life

are Yorkshire, gardening and literature.

Code green - the garden using technology to get its message

across. 99 years after its inception, this is the Chelsea

Flower Show embracing technology It is the day went gargling

journalists are allowed a sneak look at the show. I caught up with

Bruce Forsyth earlier. Sir Bruce, is it true that Forsyth was named

after your great, great something grandfather? It's never been

completely proven. I think there's something in it. My great

grandfather, Joseph Forsyth Johnson, was a very famous landscape

gardener. And the forsythia, the Charles one, that was all about the

same time. I don't know whether it was his love child or what, but

something definitely went on. Alan Titchmarsh, what are you doing at

the Chelsea Flower Show? Who is the garden at home? I think I am. I've

really fallen in love with the English garden. When I wasn't

Puerto Rico, I couldn't really wait to see it. As soon as I moved to

England, I planted a lot of roses. I think they are absolutely

incredible. I see you here most years going around and looking and

pointing. Bruce, does she come home with lists? I get so many ideas.

She's got great taste. Not only in men! She's got great taste in

seeing things, how they look and putting them together. She's very

artistic. She can paint. I don't mean the ceiling! She can do

sculpture. She learns all these things. She could be an interior

designer. With flowers, yes, that would look... Specially cut flowers

and arranging. You see, you on a golfer. Do you notice the

rhododendrons? At Augusta is my favourite golf course because of

the rhododendrons. Normally at this time of the year, all the

rhododendron start macro there's hardly any. I live by the first

fairway. I don't do any gardening. I love to see it. That is my

hereditary, wonderful, famous man who was a landscape gardener. I

love to look at it. Even on the golf course, the shape of

landscaping, I'm very interested in that. The don't do any digging on

the golf course? He does! If she wants a ditch done, half-an-hour it

will take me to do a ditch. Lovely to talk to you. Chelsea has always

provided the perfect platform for growers to proudly unveiled their

brand new plants. In the past 10 years, over 600 have stepped into

the spotlight. All you passionate plant lovers waiting with bated

breath for this year's exciting new arrivals, here is Carol Klein with

her own guide to the floor debutants of 2012. -- floral

debutants. Every year when I come into the Great Pavilion it is a

thrill. You see lots of things which you are used to but the monks

to them are sprinkled these absolute treats, brand new things

which have never seen before. This is such a beauty. On Thorneycroft's

clematis stand. It's a brand new introduction from Japan. It was

developed for the cut flower trade. Strange how our culture is very,

isn't it? We would never think of cutting clematis or indoors. It's

got this marvellous trade. The flowers open, his big, single one

settles. Later on, they develop all these separate pieces. Eventually

these PETA Lloyd bits fall to the ground. So the whole flower goes

full circle, giving you a really The perfume from this is just...

It's beautiful! It is so light and delicate. You don't expect to

encounter a sweet smelling streptocarpus. But that is exactly

It is a sweet sweet. It really is. Lane, one of the Diddley crew, has

hybridised this between a single lift species that has got cent and

a normal hybrid. I think this is a plant with a great future. What's

more, the single simplicity of This is one of the best sounds I've

seen a. Many of these hybrids have visited Chelsea before. But this

one, cream tea, is making its debut. It's an Oriental trumpet. It loves

Sunshine. Don't grow it in the shade because it will get long and

attenuated. It has these simple, elegant flowers. It was bred in the

first place for the cut flower trade. They rejected it because its

flowers didn't face upwards enough. Well, for me, lily flowers

shouldn't stand up anyway. Their This is in the main A Bloomer. But

his lovely new hybrid is a particularly soft and scintillate

Inc sort of blue. It was bred by the nursery, Hoyland plants.

Although Bano that - not what the mother was, it's got an unknown

father. Whatever its parentage, they've produced a really beautiful

child. It looks at its best at twilight, just as dusk is

descending, when it really blows. So far, it's been Hardy to-nine in

Yorkshire, so it's going to be quite a tough one. It's the sort of

plant that I'd love to put into my Borders. In fact, all the plants

we've seen today are very, very While the nurseries proudly

unveiled their perfect plants, the small, Artisan Gardens on the other

side of the hospital grounds have answered the call of the wild. Some

of the gardens this year are reflecting the best of Britain's

and tamed landscapes. The welcome to Yorkshire garden is one of these.

Designer Tracy Foster has looked to Victorian novelists Charlotte,

Emily and Anne Bronte for her inspiration. It was then area that

allowed them to escape from the restricting conventions of 19

century society, Yorkshire. So we travelled to Bronte country, to

find out from Tracey how she intended to capture the spirit of

I would say three of the great loves of my life on Yorker,

gardening and literature. So I'm really excited to be able to

produce a garden at Chelsea based The Brontes lived in Howath, which

has over in that direction, probably about two-and-a-half miles

from here. They lived in the Parsonage, which is now the Bronte

Parsonage Museum. When I come up here I feel a real sense of how

wild it is. It is incredibly beautiful scenery. But at the same

time it is very bleak and there is a kind of tension between that

beauty and bleakness. I think it was very special to them. I think

this was their escape. I think life in Howath must have been very

difficult. I think this was where they came for their freedom and to

There isn't just the literature that the family have left, there's

a legacy of all sorts of other things and that includes the

paintings they did. They were quite accomplished painters. They did

studies of all sorts of things, including botanical studies which

have been immensely useful. This is a painting that Charlotte did of a

pansy. I am hoping that I'm going to be able to include this in the

garden at Chelsea. It shows really that, as well as observing the

landscape, Charlotte has honed in on the detail. I would really love

to have a wild rose in the garden because it is a garden for

Yorkshire. I have my fingers crossed and I'm really hoping that

the wild white those that I have on order will be ready in time for the

show. -- Wild White rose. This bonnet belonged to Charlotte. She

would have worn this possibly when she went out walking. I'm having a

replica made to use in the garden. What am hoping to do is to lay the

bonnet on a rock in the garden, just to hint that Charlotte could

be there and that may be she has stood up and gone off to have a

closer look at some flowers or a little look around. I've also

selected some books to indicate the sort of books that the girls would

have read. I've picked out two volumes along with a pair of

Victorian spectacles of the type very similar to the ones Charlotte

would have worn. There may be no flowers out at this time of the

year but it is still absolutely stunning scenery. It has a certain

magic. It is the sort of place where the vegetation that makes it

up gives it not just its rugged looks but gives it a certain smell,

a certain field, the way it feels when you walk on it in your boots

is completely unique to this place. On here, here is an example of one

of the different types of mosque appear. There are so many different

types. This one is beautiful. I call it * Moss, I don't know what

it's real name is. It is fresh and green, just one of the many

These days, I'm getting so close to the landscape, I've been

photographing things and people have been asking me what on earth

I'm doing. But it's that level of detail that I'm looking for. Coming

here again and again is helping me to soak that up and get that

feeling, so that hopefully when I'm at Chelsea and going to be able to

Tracey, youths made it. Yes, I'm here and I've built it. Everything

went really well. I'm really pleased with it. That is half the

battle. It does look incredibly natural. That is what you were

aiming to do. I was aiming to get it natural. I wanted it to have a

hint of wildness that is present on the moorland around Howath. I

wanted it to show how pretty Yorkshire is as well. It was kind

of trying to find the right balance between the pretty and the wild and

bleak. Now the sun is shining and the hawthorn and the Campion are

out, the garden looks really Clement. But I was here on Saturday

when it was cold and damp. It had a real feeling of menace about it.

It's a bit of a muti garden, a little bit like the landscape up

there. It seems to have picked up that moodiness, which is brilliant.

The atmosphere in the garden is very much dependent on the weather.

It is beautifully planted. I see that the Heartsease made it. That

was an important plant. Some things did get left out but many things

made it into the garden, including the books and glasses that we

looked at before. The cotton grass, it is nodding away by the babbling

stream. I'm pleased to have the cotton grass. It has been growing

in my greenhouse since February, trying to get it to do some seeding.

The window, it overlooks it and gives a feeling that is quite

uncomfortable. The window is a little nod towards the Wuthering

Heights story. For me, that is the window that may be Kathy would have

knocked on to get Heathcliff to let her in. You must have had a lot of

comments passing by today. Anything special they but said? The best

thing is when people from Yorkshire have gone past and said it is just

like being at home. We will be finding out what the judges thought

of all the other gardens in tomorrow night's programme on BBC

Two. While small, Artisan Gardens like Tracey's have been a staple of

Chelsea for some years, 2012 has seen the Royal Horticultural

Society introduced a number of new features. I'm joined by the

Director General to tell me more. Environment is ever present now. It

didn't used to be much but now it's everywhere, and its sector

continued to be so. Absolutely, and this year more than most. The

garden designers have done an amazing job in bringing together

the heat of March, then the drought, then the weather, we are hopefully

going to get some hot weather, but the environment plays a major part.

In a lot of the garden you will see drought tolerant plants. Throughout

the whole of the RHS environment, lots of ideas on how to conserve

water, how to work with the environment so we can still or have

beautiful gardens. It's been a tough year to get plans to have

enough foliage on, never mind to have flowers as well. It must be an

even bigger pressure on the judges, to have to go round the millions of

plants in this show and pick out one which they say is best plant in

Show. How on earth do you decide? We have the world's finest experts

really looking at all of these plants. They decide whether it is

the colour, form, foliage... The plants are just Stanning. I

wouldn't be that judge for all the tea in China! It is Crufts for

gardeners. Possibly. It is. All of this beauty at Chelsea, how do you

side -- decide the plan to of the year. But we've got fantastic plans

and they are Stanning. Who would be a judge? The Fresh Gardens category

is new. We've had Sheikh Gardens, urban gardens, artisan garden, what

is fresh about them? It's very different for the RHS to have

smaller gardens with less rules. There's the freedom to create

contemporary gardens for today's living. I think they are really

exciting. Whether it's the cold that you can download. You can

cycle on a bike to water your garden. There's lots of exciting

ideas. Cycling on a bike I I know you love technology!

doesn't love me. That is the trouble. Fresh gardening brief was

music to the ears. Jade studies art before going into

horticulture. That influenced her approach to design. They explore

cutting-edge technology and the QR codes - quick response codes.

James Alexander Sinclair has been finding out.

On the face of it this is a formal On the face of it this is a formal

garden, but with more to it. You've got clipped box, with

plastic. Then grasses sunk below ground level. Red per cent pex,

maybe Japanese. In the middle -- response code. It was invented in

1994, in Japan as a stock-taking arrangement. It is only in the last

year it has become popular in this country. You take your smartphone.

You point it, not just at this code, but on all of the gardens on Main

Avenue. You point your smartphone at it and this will link you

straight to that garden's page on the RHS website. So, what this is,

is this is 99 years after its inception. This is the Chelsea

Flower Show embracing technology you can still look at this as a

garden. So this could be an abstract sculpture. In here is a

wonderful green wall. Four species of plants. You have a hearts tongue

fern. You have got - here is a white primula. Tucked in the middle,

just here is avy - la. All through it is this -- a viola. All around

it is this. While walking around the show, look out for QR codes.

It's not just about technology, 60 years ago there was still no

such technology. Still not with me. I am not keeping up with it much

either. The Queen came here and we have this wonderful arrangement

here, in a jubilee tin, which has all the flowers in from Great

Britain. We have roses from England. We have daf fills. They --

daffodils. They could not find shamrocks. In that caravan garden

there is a dog kennel, it has a down-pipe which fills the dog bowl.

Look at what came out of this kennel - it's of regal proportions,

this kennel. It is of no surprise when a Corgi - I don't think it was

one of Her Majesty's - came out of it. At least we know now it fits.

Do you think it has moved in permanently? But, I have got to get

a bit of royal gossip from you, because you are doing the flowers

on the Royal Barge on the Thames jubilee pageant. No pressure there

then! No pressure at all. It is on the

3rd June. I cannot tell you too much because I would be carted off

to the tower. It is all secretive. Actually like Judith, we are doing

things which always have the emblems of the blish Isles and

which are celebratory about our -- the British Isles and which are

celebratory about our British Isles. I want everything to stay on, not

to fall off. If you get a lick on it, it will fall off. Will you be

on the barge with her? I don't know yet. I will be there on the morning

making sure everything is perfect. Beyond that, I am not sure. I am on

a little boat way, way back. I have heard!

Once again the Royal Horticultural Society is asking viewers and

visitors to vote for their favourite show garden. It is the

only award at the show decided by a public vote. You can have your say

There are Show and Fresh Gardens and then Artisan and Generation

Gardens. You have until 4pm on Friday to vote. We will announce

the winning garden on Saturday. It's Monday - that's traditionally

the day when Her Majesty the queen and her family enjoy a private tour

of the Chelsea Flower Show. Despite their jam packed jubilee schedule,

the royal party arrived with their pun cualty. And waiting at the gate

was James Alexander Sinclair. gardens are ready. The hard work is

done. The rain has gone and the sun has come out. The atmosphere at the

showground changes to one of anticipation, as we wait, patiently

and quietly for the arrival of the show's patron, Her Majesty the

queen. -- Queen.

Since 1816 the society has received royal patronage from the royaling

monarch. The Queen follows in the footsteps of her father.

This year, is Her Majesty's 48th visit to the Chelsea Flower Show.

This time, in special honour of her Diamond Jubilee, the society have

created a special garden, just for her.

Then it is off to The Great Pavillion. Once inside, Her Majesty

talks to children from the Knightsbridge Schools Garden,

before making her way through the clematis stand. What did the Queen

like particularly? Loved this, the gym shoes. We asked the children to

give us their trainers and we said we would make them smell better.

Ter majesty spent time with the -- Her Majesty spent time with the

Orchid Society. This orchid was in her wedding bouquet. Back to the

show gardens, where Her Majesty took some time to speak to

designers. Did the queen take any cuttings? She seemed to know what

she was on about, which is nice. She enjoyed my bubbles. It is a

wonderful moment when the royals visit Chelsea. This year when we

are all celebrating the jubilee, it feels extra special. Now, as the

royal party leaves, you can feel that Chelsea has truly begun.

Well, James joins us, hot-foot from following HM - a good turnout?

extraordinary turnout for jubilee year. Many people than there

usually are. And a jubilee trophy. It is this first time - it is the

jubilee trophy, which is presented to the best exhibit in the Great

Pavilion. Sarah Hyde got the award. They are lily growers. This is

their seventh Chelsea. They are relative new comers.

Do you think they had any idea that they would be awarded this? We had

no idea. They had no idea until ten minutes before it happened. There

was this trophy sitting there. A lot of people standing around.

Nobody had any idea. It could have been anybody in the pavilion. Ten

minutes before, Sarah was told, in a fluster to receive the

presentation. She was wiped away. She could barely speak afterwards.

If tonight her family have set the recorder to record the programme,

they will have that lovely footage and those other pictures of her

getting her trophy. It was a very, very special moment for them.

Usually there is an award for the best exhibit. It is the President's

Award. To get it from the Queen is very special. We were given a -- an

award for the jubilee year. When you have come here as many times as

the Queen and the Duke have come.... 48 times. That's more than you!

Not many! It means something to them as well

- it is a landmark in their dairy as well as ours. She spent longer

here than she normally does. Saw a lot of people. The Princess Royal

spoke for a long time here to the people by the Korean Garden. They

take enormous trouble to talk to people who matter, don't they?

think so. That is really good to see, because people put so much

effort into the garden. Just the few minutes to talk to her means a

lot to them. They are tired by this stage and they are exhausted.

royal seal of approval. We have only just started what promises to

be a glorious week. Tomorrow, the excitement of medals day beckons.

Until then, sit back and enjoy a magical Monday, when the annual

# Get this party started on a Saturday night

# Everybody's waiting for me to arrive

# I've got a lot of # Check my diamond rings

# I can go for miles # If you know what I mean

# I'm coming up, so you better get this party started

# I'm coming up # So you better get this party

started # Get this party started

Lovely day. We'll be back here on BBC Two tomorrow night at the same

time, with a full report of the day's medals. Before then you can

join us at BBC One at lunch time. We want to hear your thoughts on

this year's show too. E-mail us this year's show too. E-mail us

with any views D or questions at: We will try and answer. If you want