:00:37. > :00:40.Society's Chelsea Flower Show, an event supported by M&G Investments.
:00:40. > :00:43.For three fleeting days in May 1913, the Royal Horticultural Society
:00:43. > :00:51.tentatively planted the roots of its Great Spring Show here in the Royal
:00:51. > :00:53.Hospital grounds, London. Fast forward a century and the Chelsea
:00:53. > :00:59.Pensioners' front garden hasn't changed much but this world-famous
:00:59. > :01:06.flower festival has. It's now the most important date on the global
:01:06. > :01:09.gardening calendar. Who could have predicted that the exhibits and
:01:09. > :01:18.designs showcased here over the last ten decades would dramatically
:01:18. > :01:21.influence how we garden? Tomorrow, the gates officially open for
:01:21. > :01:24.Chelsea Flower Show's 100th year. Tonight we invite you for an
:01:24. > :01:34.exclusive preview. Call it an early birthday present packed full of
:01:34. > :01:34.
:01:34. > :01:41.centenary surprises! Coming up tonight on Centenary Chelsea...
:01:41. > :01:46.Horticultural time travel. Designer Roger Platts reveals how he's
:01:46. > :01:49.captured a hundred years of Chelsea in a show garden. I have really
:01:49. > :01:54.tried to give a flavour of years ago, and a flavour of being
:01:54. > :01:59.up-to-date. Kelway's nursery reveals the century-old secrets behind their
:01:59. > :02:04.gold medal-winning peonies and irises. This one is going to go
:02:04. > :02:11.straight down to a shady place and we will try to get him to close up
:02:11. > :02:20.again, and that one might be OK for the show. Nicki Chapman takes a look
:02:20. > :02:26.at our front gardens through the generations.
:02:26. > :02:34.I'm sure you will agree it is set to be a momentous Centenary year, and
:02:34. > :02:37.you don't even need a much coveted ticket. Over the next seven days
:02:37. > :02:43.we've got an incredible 11 hours of coverage so you won't miss a single
:02:43. > :02:46.petal or leaf. And joining us each day is a line up reading like a
:02:46. > :02:56.who's who of horticulture. Carol Klein and Rachel De Thame from
:02:56. > :02:59.Gardeners' World. As well as garden designers Chris Beardshaw, James
:02:59. > :03:02.Wong and James Alexander Sinclair and plant hunter Tom Hart Dyke, to
:03:02. > :03:04.to name but a few. We also have a whole host of Chelsea-loving
:03:04. > :03:07.celebrities for you including Joanna Lumley, Rob Brydon, Judy Parfitt,
:03:07. > :03:10.Sandi Toksvig and Linford Christie. And if that's not enough we'll be
:03:10. > :03:14.tweeting all week with extra news. Toby Buckland and Christine Walkden
:03:14. > :03:17.will be ready and waiting for you when you press your red button from
:03:17. > :03:20.tomorrow lunchtime and I'll be here every day with Andy Sturgeon at 1230
:03:20. > :03:23.on BB One with even more Centenary Chelsea. He'll be joining us later
:03:23. > :03:26.in the programme for a first look at the small gardens. Chelsea's changed
:03:26. > :03:30.beyond recognition over the years. 240 exhibitors wowed the crowds at
:03:30. > :03:33.the very first show in 1913. It was a mix of trade stands, nurseries,
:03:33. > :03:36.and rock gardens, which were the height of fashion and continued to
:03:36. > :03:39.be so right up to the late fifties. A section of the ground is still
:03:39. > :03:42.called Rock Garden Bank. Today there's double the number of
:03:42. > :03:45.exhibitors and this year 15 of them are large show gardens. With time
:03:45. > :03:47.ticking away to the grand opening tomorrow morning, some designers are
:03:47. > :03:57.still working frantically to get finished. Trying not to disturb
:03:57. > :04:06.
:04:06. > :04:14.them, earlier we went to take an be at the peak of perfection? Why
:04:15. > :04:22.this avenue of dead trees? This is a garden designed for an agency that
:04:22. > :04:28.has put together this garden called Stop The Spread, reminding us that
:04:28. > :04:34.we need to be vigilant about diseases coming into Britain. By
:04:34. > :04:39.plans from British nurseries, check they are healthy, and then we can
:04:39. > :04:44.enjoy spring after spring. This is a springtime garden, this royal fern
:04:44. > :04:49.erupting through the beds and borders, and British natives which
:04:49. > :04:59.is foaming its way through roadside verges across the country now - cow
:04:59. > :05:00.
:05:01. > :05:04.parsley. There are reminders even in planned names. Even some of the
:05:04. > :05:10.plants in this garden are pasteurised, but this is the most
:05:10. > :05:15.timely reminder of all. A little oak tree growing on an island surrounded
:05:15. > :05:25.by water. It is important to try and protect our plants so they don't go
:05:25. > :05:27.
:05:27. > :05:37.the way of the ash. I hope this isn't the tombstone. The ash tree,
:05:37. > :05:43.
:05:43. > :05:48.5000 BC - 2012A.D. Let's hope it is not rest in peace. This garden is
:05:48. > :05:50.designed by Michael Balston and designed by Michael Balston and
:05:50. > :05:55.Marie-Louise Agius. There is some horticultural heritage back in the
:05:56. > :06:01.Lee Valley itself, going back many years and it's lovely structure at
:06:01. > :06:06.the back represents the glass houses that were there. The water itself
:06:06. > :06:11.dissecting the plot and the lovely curves, that is the river which is
:06:11. > :06:18.planted beautifully around with real volume. I am standing underneath
:06:18. > :06:23.this tree which creates a lovely shape. The planting, what I like
:06:23. > :06:27.about it, is it has been brought into the centre of the garden. You
:06:27. > :06:33.don't want to see a blank space in the middle with planting around the
:06:33. > :06:41.edge. That is a good tip for any garden. These beautiful white
:06:41. > :06:51.flowers standing nice and upright, and then the lush planting moving
:06:51. > :06:52.
:06:52. > :06:56.into the more exotic Euphorbia plants over there. The sinuous
:06:56. > :07:00.curves of the brickwork and the lawn in the middle, I think work very
:07:01. > :07:06.well. Another theme I think the visitors of the show will really
:07:06. > :07:11.appreciate is the way the garden is laid out, as if you are looking over
:07:11. > :07:15.a communal space. There are balconies where visitors can look
:07:15. > :07:25.right over it, very different from a residential garden behind an average
:07:25. > :07:30.house. Michael Balston, he has been a judge at the show many times so he
:07:30. > :07:34.is sticking his neck on the line. Has this one done enough to win a
:07:34. > :07:37.gold medal? The Chelsea garden catwalk has welcomed many new
:07:37. > :07:41.designers over the years. Back in the '90s it was Roger Platts'. His
:07:41. > :07:44.show gardens won him acclaim, gold medals and two Best In Show awards.
:07:44. > :07:48.Now he's one of Chelsea's most experienced exhibitors. This year
:07:48. > :07:52.he's back with a garden called Windows Through Time. Its aim is to
:07:52. > :07:56.reflect how British gardening has evolved over the last century. A few
:07:56. > :08:06.weeks ago, we went to meet him at Nymans in Sussex - a garden that has
:08:06. > :08:18.
:08:18. > :08:28.to see why somebody would want to live here with the fabulous views.
:08:28. > :08:32.You can see for miles. It is wonderful. You can understand why
:08:32. > :08:40.they have created a garden here, because it is lovely acid soil on
:08:40. > :08:50.which rhododendrons, camellias, to name just a few, thrive and make it
:08:50. > :08:55.
:08:55. > :08:59.so special. I trained as a grower, and then in the late 1980s began to
:08:59. > :09:03.design gardens. Partly because people are supplying plants and
:09:03. > :09:07.asking me how to use them and I felt they weren't creating the right
:09:07. > :09:11.spaces to put them in so they weren't getting the right benefit
:09:11. > :09:17.from the plants. Then you start to look more deeply at the structure,
:09:18. > :09:27.the balance, the scale, and suddenly I was fired up by the design aspect.
:09:28. > :09:36.
:09:36. > :09:44.I am a mixture of design and suddenly realised it had quite an
:09:44. > :09:47.influence on my design for the M&G Investments garden this year so it
:09:47. > :09:57.must have filtered through the subconscious and it felt quite
:09:57. > :10:01.
:10:01. > :10:10.exhilarating. I get very excited about seeing some of these
:10:10. > :10:15.historical elements. I love that sense of time, the pattern in age is
:10:15. > :10:20.wonderful. The stone paving is just the same as we are going to be using
:10:20. > :10:30.at Chelsea, meant to represent the older part of the garden, the
:10:30. > :10:35.
:10:35. > :10:45.historical aspect. Being at Nymans with this late spring is wonderful.
:10:45. > :10:49.
:10:49. > :10:52.Because it is so late, a lot is crossing over. Here at Nymans, this
:10:52. > :10:59.plant is full of promise so everything is bursting into life or
:10:59. > :11:04.just about to burst into life all at the same time. Rhododendrons
:11:04. > :11:09.represent the early days of Chelsea to me because they were hugely
:11:09. > :11:14.popular during the late Victorian, early Edwardian times, when the
:11:14. > :11:24.plant collectors brought them in. These wonderful Himalayan varieties
:11:24. > :11:27.
:11:27. > :11:31.such as this one, with the lovely part under the leaf. I have got to
:11:31. > :11:36.have some rhododendrons, albeit as a supporting role at the back of the
:11:36. > :11:42.garden just to represent that era. There are some plants which evoke a
:11:42. > :11:47.certain timelessness and this Japanese maple is one of them, which
:11:48. > :11:53.has been used in gardens over the last 100 years at Chelsea -4 the
:11:53. > :12:00.rock gardens in the 1930s, the 1950s. I started using them in the
:12:00. > :12:08.1980s, because they are such a versatile plant and I am sure we
:12:08. > :12:13.will continue to see them at Chelsea on a regular basis. The exciting
:12:14. > :12:18.thing about putting on a garden at Chelsea is having lived the design
:12:18. > :12:22.and the elements for months and months, you can at last put it
:12:22. > :12:26.together. You have got the time pressure, but that brings the
:12:27. > :12:33.frisson of excitement. It is pretty tough trying to work in such a small
:12:33. > :12:43.space, but each little piece that you painstakingly create, and you
:12:43. > :12:43.
:12:43. > :12:46.stand back and it just gives you a fabulous feeling. Sumptuous
:12:46. > :12:52.planting, Roger. You seem to have cheated the season is beautifully
:12:52. > :12:56.but how has it been trying to condense 100 years into a single
:12:56. > :13:02.garden? It is a challenge and I have been asked this question quite a
:13:02. > :13:08.lot. I have tried to take it from the angle of giving flavour of years
:13:08. > :13:13.ago and a flavour of being up-to-date. You are pointing that
:13:13. > :13:19.way and then that way, does the garden work through the years?
:13:19. > :13:25.we have the ruined wall, giving a feel of age and history, and the
:13:25. > :13:29.gate which is from around that period. I picked that up, it was
:13:29. > :13:34.circa around 1910, then the rhododendrons which were very
:13:34. > :13:40.popular in Edwardian Victorian times and also very much about what the
:13:40. > :13:45.Chelsea flower show was about when it first started on this site.
:13:45. > :13:49.feels like a very traditional garden. The visitors will adore it,
:13:49. > :13:57.the planting is spot-on, but the contemporary elements, where are
:13:57. > :14:03.they? Firstly we obviously start with the design and the materials,
:14:03. > :14:06.and I have used the paving for example, some stone paving rather
:14:06. > :14:15.than more rustic to give the contemporary feel, and we have run
:14:15. > :14:21.that right the way through. It is blending it which I hope is the
:14:22. > :14:27.trick. But then finishing it off with the sculpture, which is... In
:14:27. > :14:32.recent years we have seen a lot of steel structures so it is popular
:14:32. > :14:40.now, and then bringing the planting into that. I have used grasses which
:14:40. > :14:48.have been popular again in recent years. Together with those,
:14:48. > :14:58.wildflower planting, meadows. You have had to distil it down. You have
:14:58. > :15:01.
:15:01. > :15:07.done a fabulous job. Chelsea isn't all about the garden design.
:15:07. > :15:12.Standing at the very heart to have show ground is the great pavillion.
:15:12. > :15:17.It's been the canvas-covered backbone of the show since the very
:15:17. > :15:22.beginning. Back then, it was called the Grand Marquee, about 100
:15:22. > :15:28.meetering by 100 metres, that's 300 feet in old money. These day, it's
:15:28. > :15:33.almost twice that size and one of the largest of its kind in the
:15:33. > :15:40.world. In here, it's all about the growing and showing of plant
:15:40. > :15:43.perfection. It's also the place I knew I would find Carol Klein.
:15:43. > :15:44.lurking in the olive grove. You are always in here. You love what we
:15:44. > :15:46.still call the marquee. You love the pavillion though? I absolutely love
:15:46. > :15:50.it. Probably because I exhibited here for quite a long time. But also
:15:50. > :15:57.because it's all about the plants. It's an Aladdin's cave of plants.
:15:57. > :16:02.It's a plant's person's paradise. We'll go on that one then! Do you
:16:02. > :16:06.remember the first time you got a gold medal? Yes, vividly, I really
:16:06. > :16:10.do. You never know. I came in and I was right over the other side and
:16:10. > :16:14.people were trying to stop me and tell me things and I almost closed
:16:14. > :16:18.my eyes, put my fingers in my ears because I just wanted to wait until
:16:19. > :16:22.I got there and it was there and it was like there was a very loud
:16:22. > :16:25.whoop, you could here me on the other side of the embankment.
:16:26. > :16:30.special. This is the highest standard of the world ever. You get
:16:30. > :16:34.used to coming here every year and people saying "oh, the Chelsea".
:16:34. > :16:39.It's difficult to overestimate the quality of plant material and this
:16:39. > :16:44.year the difficulty. How far behind do you reckon we are in terms of
:16:44. > :16:49.outdoors? Looking at some of the gardens, I think a month. Still,
:16:49. > :16:53.yes. Maybe it's come on a bit since the Bank Holiday but still well
:16:53. > :16:58.behind. Still worth looking at. We are not talking about bare branches
:16:58. > :17:03.though. We still manage to get flower-filled marquees and gardens?
:17:03. > :17:07.People are so resourceful and it's a splendid show, the whole place is
:17:07. > :17:11.fresh and wonderful and colours better with this cool weather too.
:17:11. > :17:16.The colours are even better this year for its Centenary. Sneaking in
:17:16. > :17:20.here before the show opens is a privilege. The petals and leaves are
:17:20. > :17:25.still being preened to perfection. It's the perfect chance to see
:17:25. > :17:34.which, out of the 109 exhibits, are going to cause a stir. Shall we take
:17:34. > :17:41.a sneaky peak? Let's do it! I don't know about a sneaky peak,
:17:41. > :17:45.I'm having a sneaky sniff. Here, the whole air is just full of the most
:17:45. > :17:52.delicious fragrance. In fact, the not just one kind of scent, because
:17:52. > :17:56.every single rose on here snells different. Over the arches here,
:17:56. > :18:03.it's the hill Langian Must have beening. I grow it at homism grows
:18:03. > :18:07.huge, right up into the trees, that the only way you can see it, is from
:18:07. > :18:12.the bedroom window. Here, you can get your nose right in, and it's
:18:12. > :18:20.delightful with this wonderful must have beeningy, rather exotic kind of
:18:20. > :18:24.sense. Here is Little White Pet. How 've
:18:24. > :18:28.they got all these roses to the Peak of Perfection? It's brilliant! That
:18:28. > :18:33.too has got a lovely must have beeningy smell. But there, the more
:18:33. > :18:38.a question of getting down on your knees to smell it because it's a
:18:38. > :18:46.short-growing rose. Daw I haves Austin Rose's are renowned for their
:18:46. > :18:52.English roses and combine all the qualities of old races -- vale did
:18:52. > :18:59.Austin Rose's -- David. Long, long-lasting flowers. They flower
:18:59. > :19:04.for ages and ages. The superb rose roses that they are. They real will
:19:04. > :19:09.you are. -- they really are. You look at one and think, that's the
:19:09. > :19:13.one for me, you go on to the next one and that's just as gorgeous. But
:19:13. > :19:19.everywhere, all of them have the most beautiful perfume.
:19:19. > :19:29.I'm going to say a word to you which will make you go "oh lovely" or "not
:19:29. > :19:30.
:19:31. > :19:37.for me" and the word is "dahlia" the national Dahlia Society is here.
:19:37. > :19:41.This is what most people tend to think of dahlias, big, fat, blousy
:19:41. > :19:45.growing between the came and cabbages, good for cutting, taking
:19:45. > :19:49.home and putting in a vase but not much fun in the garden and when they
:19:49. > :19:55.are in the garden, perhaps this is what you think they look like, still
:19:55. > :20:04.fat, big, and blousy. The National Dahlia Society is showing us that
:20:04. > :20:10.that ain't necessarily so. A lot of them like magenta star bred in New
:20:10. > :20:14.Zealand are going back, this frothy foliage of form makes them a great
:20:14. > :20:18.garden and border plant. While you are looking at one stand here
:20:18. > :20:23.covered in spring flowering daffodils and you come and look at
:20:23. > :20:26.late summer and autumn, it will remind you that this is a stalwart
:20:26. > :20:30.bloom which can give you colour in your garden from July, right until
:20:30. > :20:38.the frosts of autumn which can sometimes be as late as November.
:20:38. > :20:43.Don't spurn the dahlia, it's worth a second look.
:20:43. > :20:48.The Taiwan Or kid Growers Association is brought the most
:20:48. > :20:53.wonderful stand to Chelsea. It's a celebration of the Centenary,
:20:53. > :20:57.representing the 100 peaks of Taiwan. These are no ordinary peaks.
:20:57. > :21:01.These are covered, smothered in the most beautiful orchids you have ever
:21:01. > :21:07.seen. There's every kind of orchid you could think of. There are ones
:21:07. > :21:12.that we are used to seeing and putting on our own windowsills, but
:21:12. > :21:22.then there are incredible rarities too. Things like this delightful
:21:22. > :21:25.
:21:25. > :21:30.slipper orchid. This is wrothschild anium, one of the most sought-after.
:21:30. > :21:36.The blooms are perfect, you cannot find fault with them. The whole
:21:36. > :21:46.stand is symbolic. It represents the landscape of Taiwan. Up on the top
:21:46. > :21:51.of the mountains are these beautiful, white, great big cumulous
:21:52. > :21:57.clouds floating over the top. Then there are all manner of tiny orchids
:21:57. > :22:02.representing fairy dancing in this lovely, musty place. You could just
:22:02. > :22:08.imagine yourself there. Everything about it is just perfection. You
:22:08. > :22:16.look up and you think, what? ! What is this tree doing? You look further
:22:16. > :22:21.into it and find that even it is composed full of orchids. A tiny
:22:21. > :22:24.taste of the treasures to be found in this year's great pavillion.
:22:24. > :22:28.Carol will reveal more about her exhibiting career on Friday at 8
:22:28. > :22:36.o'clock on BBC Two. For the specialist Chloers who exhibit here,
:22:36. > :22:46.Chelsea's all about reputation. Kellway's nursery, famed for
:22:46. > :22:50.
:22:50. > :22:55.penallies and iris know this more than most. -- Kelway. The owner
:22:55. > :23:00.wants to win gold. He's had to work hard to persuade his confused plants
:23:01. > :23:10.to flower on time. We swung by the nursery in Langport, in Somerset
:23:11. > :23:15.
:23:15. > :23:23.last month, to see how he was coping. Pf INEBREAK The first thing
:23:23. > :23:31.I do is run in and check the peonies which is very strange, but they
:23:31. > :23:38.often flower overnight. The growth overnight can be huge.
:23:38. > :23:48.For the Chelsea flower show, we are growing around about 2,000 irises
:23:48. > :23:58.
:23:58. > :24:06.Kelway's must be one of the best-known brush names in
:24:06. > :24:12.horticulture. It was set up in 1851 on May Day by James Kelway, head
:24:12. > :24:16.gardener at the time at a stately house not far from us. He started
:24:16. > :24:20.initially by growing vegetable, a small market garden, and progressed
:24:20. > :24:27.unto perennials. At one time, there was over 50 acres of glad owe loos
:24:27. > :24:33.here in Langport. He went on, he loved Peonies and it just grew unto
:24:33. > :24:40.a huge, huge victorial cacophony of all things horticultural, supplying
:24:40. > :24:48.the Royalty, the gentry, housing, estates, anyone who was anyone was a
:24:48. > :24:53.customer of Kellway at the time. It's a massive responsibility owning
:24:53. > :24:58.the business with the heritage that we have. I've only been involved for
:24:58. > :25:03.nearly 20 years and I guess it's a little bit like these people that
:25:03. > :25:11.own big country houses, no-one wants to be the generation where it all
:25:11. > :25:16.goes wrong. Pf The weather just got to the stage
:25:16. > :25:21.where you just don't know what to do really. We have had day after day,
:25:21. > :25:28.week after week of cold darkness. Even though we can make things nice
:25:28. > :25:35.and warm in the tunnels, you can't groat the light.
:25:35. > :25:38.On some plants, the irises, for example, they are very light
:25:38. > :25:42.dependent and without the light, they just don't grow.
:25:42. > :25:46.At the moment, some things are coming on too fast for the show,
:25:46. > :25:49.others are too slow and it's constantly moving plants from one
:25:49. > :25:57.environment to the other to hopefully get them perfectly ripe
:25:57. > :26:02.for the 20th May. It just never stops.
:26:02. > :26:06.Several times a day, we are looking at every single flower we've got
:26:06. > :26:10.coming on, feeling the bud to see the state of its development. If it
:26:10. > :26:15.softens, things are about to move and it will show some colour. If
:26:15. > :26:18.it's still hard and small, say like that one, that will need to go to a
:26:18. > :26:24.warmer environment, because that's not big enough 20 days before
:26:24. > :26:28.Chelsea. This beauty, which we suddenly discovered this morning,
:26:28. > :26:32.has been popped open overnight. I didn't think it would for a few days
:26:32. > :26:36.yet. It will go straight down to a very dark shaded place, probably
:26:36. > :26:46.even to a dark spot under some trees in the garden and we'll try to get
:26:46. > :26:54.
:26:54. > :26:59.him to close up again. Even that It's our biggest exhibit ever. It's
:26:59. > :27:04.going to be ten metres by ten meerts square, which is probably double the
:27:04. > :27:14.size of anything attempted before at the 100th Chelsea in our 163rd year
:27:14. > :27:14.
:27:14. > :27:22.and in the Colesed winter for 50 years, so no pressure!
:27:23. > :27:28.-- coldest winter for 50 years. Dave, what may surprise people fla
:27:28. > :27:34.is that they won't be surprised that some plants won't make it and some
:27:34. > :27:40.plants will have gone over, but that you can hold some of them steady?
:27:40. > :27:44.Peonies are temperature-dependent and we can adjust flowers and keep
:27:44. > :27:48.nit a cold store for nearly two years to stop it opening.
:27:48. > :27:53.Astonishing. How has it been? Have you managed it this year? I think we
:27:53. > :27:56.have just about got there. Some of the irises may not open. Although
:27:56. > :28:01.it's been a difficult year, it's been consistently bad so we have
:28:01. > :28:05.been automobile to work with it, whereas if you get flew chew
:28:06. > :28:10.weighses, you are in and out and it's a roller coaster. It's been
:28:10. > :28:17.steady all the way through so we have dealt with it pretty well.
:28:17. > :28:20.a fan of peonies, I love them. the ans the payings.
:28:20. > :28:25.postponement of gratification. I love that one there, this
:28:25. > :28:30.astonishing colour, almost peachy pink? It's coral charm, one of the
:28:31. > :28:35.colour changing peonies. They are intense pink, then they go orange,
:28:35. > :28:40.to salmon and finish up yellow. So you have different colours at the
:28:40. > :28:45.same time. Wonderful. Will you be selling those particular plants on
:28:45. > :28:50.Saturday? Possibly, yes.A little red tag on them now, please!
:28:50. > :28:55.what we can do. Best of luck. You have done it again. Hone how you do
:28:55. > :29:01.it. Thank you very much.Still plenty to come on this exclusive
:29:01. > :29:04.Chelsea show presue. Fresh full of ideas, Andy Sturgeon's looking at
:29:04. > :29:08.gardens for designers to think outside the box. This garden makes
:29:08. > :29:13.you think, you can do a lot in a small space. Extraordinary things on
:29:13. > :29:19.a small budget. The incurable gardener, Chris
:29:19. > :29:22.Beardshaw reveals why he feels his latest design in his bones. I was
:29:22. > :29:26.diagnosed with arthritis as a teenager. It dedestroyed everything
:29:26. > :29:31.I wanted to do and there's a moment in your life when you think, what am
:29:31. > :29:36.I going to do now? And gnome way! Lawrence explains why these
:29:36. > :29:46.naughties are being granted access all areas, when they've been barred
:29:46. > :29:52.
:29:52. > :30:00.the last century, and it has contributed to the way each
:30:00. > :30:07.generation has made use of its front garden. There has been an
:30:07. > :30:11.opportunity to see how much in the generation garden. This year's
:30:11. > :30:21.generation garden highlight the changes of people's gardens over the
:30:21. > :30:25.
:30:25. > :30:28.last 100 years so let's stepping -- step back in time to 1913. Our first
:30:28. > :30:35.garden is dominated by these ladies, the suffragettes, fighting
:30:35. > :30:39.for the right to vote which wasn't granted until 1918. This Edwardian
:30:39. > :30:45.garden has the formality and precision of the time. You have got
:30:45. > :30:49.the very structure of lines of the flower beds, violets and sweet
:30:49. > :30:54.peas, but everything done in a garden of this age would have to
:30:54. > :31:04.have been done manually. Can you imagine how long it would have
:31:04. > :31:06.
:31:06. > :31:12.taken, mellowing with this. -- mowing. We have jumped forward to
:31:12. > :31:17.the 1940s and Britain is at war. The motto of the time was dig for
:31:17. > :31:23.victory, everyone was encouraged to transform their gardens into
:31:23. > :31:28.vegetable patches. Behind me is an Anderson shelter, a sobering
:31:28. > :31:38.reminder that gardens were about saving your life as well as growing
:31:38. > :31:39.
:31:39. > :31:43.vegetables. It is the 1970s and we are using our gardens as an
:31:43. > :31:50.extension to our homes. It is officially the patio revolution. We
:31:50. > :31:53.have even got a glitter ball for a hanging basket. We have our first
:31:54. > :32:03.electric lawnmower. Can you imagine how many hours that must have
:32:03. > :32:10.saved? I'm not too sure about her outfit. Bringing us up to age, 2013,
:32:10. > :32:16.our contemporary garden, the fusion. We have plans and vegetables
:32:16. > :32:23.side-by-side. Check this out for technology, the robotic lawnmower.
:32:23. > :32:26.No arguing who will mow the lawn on Sunday afternoon. We have four
:32:27. > :32:32.garden is celebrating 100 glorious years of gardening, but I wonder
:32:32. > :32:38.what the next 100 years has in store. Small gardens have played an
:32:38. > :32:42.important role at Chelsea, first making an appearance in the show at
:32:42. > :32:49.1988. Since then they have appeared, disappeared, been split
:32:49. > :32:55.into categories, known as courtyard, chic, city and urban gardens. The
:32:55. > :32:59.designers created clever solutions for smaller spaces, the budget was a
:32:59. > :33:05.lot smaller, but don't be fooled, these innovative spaces still pack a
:33:06. > :33:11.pond. This year there are 19 altogether, 11 of them in the fresh
:33:11. > :33:15.garden category. Andy Sturgeon is taking a look. The fresh garden
:33:15. > :33:22.category demands the designer to think cutting edge and experimental,
:33:22. > :33:32.and to be less conventional. These gardens aim to provoke a reaction,
:33:32. > :33:34.
:33:34. > :33:39.and this one certainly makes you think. Designed by Paul
:33:39. > :33:44.Hervey-Brookes, he has tried to focus on the psychology of what we
:33:44. > :33:49.wear, why we wear it, and what people think when we are wearing
:33:49. > :33:54.certain things. The garden is divided into two parts with the
:33:54. > :34:00.private section here, and the public section on this side. On the private
:34:00. > :34:05.side, there are these textile sculptures. You have to make an
:34:05. > :34:10.effort to look at them, and when you do, does that person want to be
:34:10. > :34:17.looked up? When you look closer still, they are lenses so they
:34:17. > :34:22.distort the view. It is about perception. All of the colours here
:34:22. > :34:28.are taken from the major fashion houses springing 2013 collections.
:34:29. > :34:34.These colours are all very fashionable. It just so happens I
:34:34. > :34:42.have got a tie like this hanging on my wardrobe so that shows I am right
:34:42. > :34:45.on it! This is the 9 billion conversation garden, and sponsored
:34:45. > :34:51.by a charity whose aim is to get businesses to think about what their
:34:51. > :34:55.impact is on there environment. By 2050 there will be 9 billion people
:34:55. > :35:00.in the world and we are going to have to live together in harmony,
:35:00. > :35:06.and that is why this garden is very Serena and harmonious. Very green,
:35:06. > :35:14.the flowers drawn from calm colour palettes. It is also a garden that
:35:14. > :35:19.makes you think, think goodness you can do a lot in a small space! And
:35:19. > :35:26.the lawn does not have to be flat. Three things, business, community
:35:26. > :35:30.and media, they have to work well together. This amphitheatre
:35:30. > :35:37.represents society because people have to come together and think
:35:37. > :35:41.about things. Finally, the reflective pool, this will make
:35:41. > :35:45.people think about how to work together. There is a great message
:35:45. > :35:55.in this garden and the thing about it is it will make people go away
:35:55. > :36:09.
:36:09. > :36:11.gardens category are Artisan gardens, gardens that shows
:36:11. > :36:21.sustainability, giving flavours of different parts of Britain.
:36:21. > :36:24.
:36:24. > :36:29.Particularly this one from Yorkshire. Why? In 2014 the Tour de
:36:29. > :36:36.France begins in Yorkshire, and you may say what is sustainable about
:36:36. > :36:43.steel? This wonderful great freeze of the towns that the Tour de France
:36:43. > :36:48.will be going to, including my hometown. There is a wonderful bit
:36:48. > :36:58.of Yorkshire dry stone walling, inside its wildflowers and at the
:36:58. > :37:08.
:37:08. > :37:14.back propeller -- a peloton of wheels. This flower, just gently
:37:14. > :37:18.skulking at the bottom with the grasses, reminding us of
:37:18. > :37:22.Yorkshire's grasslands offering some of the rarest plants in Britain.
:37:22. > :37:30.These small gardens are placed for new designers to try out their
:37:30. > :37:37.skills and see how they work. The Rich brothers have done two show
:37:37. > :37:47.gardens so far, and they are here with a third, really flexing their
:37:47. > :37:50.
:37:50. > :37:59.muscles. We did our first show garden last year, and now suddenly
:37:59. > :38:02.we have been given the opportunity to stage our garden at Chelsea.
:38:02. > :38:10.is such a prestigious show and some of the greatest designers are there
:38:10. > :38:15.so it is an awesome thing to be able to do it. We have always grown up in
:38:15. > :38:21.the foothills of the Brecon Beacons, surrounded by woodlands and nature
:38:21. > :38:24.so this has been our playground all of our lives. It is fundamental
:38:24. > :38:28.having the landscape into our designs because a lot of
:38:28. > :38:35.urbanisation is going on these days, people distancing themselves from
:38:35. > :38:38.nature. What we find so important is making that re-connection and
:38:38. > :38:48.letting people experience the wilderness, but within a usable
:38:48. > :38:49.
:38:49. > :38:52.environment. The name of the garden means one stone, so if we have got
:38:52. > :39:02.one large stone it will be cut down to create these different aspects of
:39:02. > :39:08.the garden. We have the stone for stonewalling, the boulders produce
:39:08. > :39:12.-- protruding out of the walls. This is all part of the landscape, our
:39:13. > :39:21.natural landscape, local to this area so I think that captures the
:39:21. > :39:28.heart of what we want. We have kept our wall very traditional in the
:39:28. > :39:32.sense that it looks just like this, but we are trying to change it from
:39:32. > :39:41.the horizontal to vertical. It is simple because we are not changing
:39:41. > :39:46.anything else except the direction of the stone. It will attract the
:39:46. > :39:49.eye. Our main concern is due to the cold weather and the plant is not
:39:49. > :39:54.coming on, but something that we love is to have that natural feel
:39:54. > :39:59.and you lose it from bringing plans on when they are not supposed to be
:39:59. > :40:03.out yet. You are forcing them on and we are looking to show a
:40:03. > :40:10.representation of what they will be like in nature as it is now. In this
:40:10. > :40:14.woodland, the snow would have slowed everything down and it is nice to
:40:14. > :40:19.show people at the show that if it is not out at this time, that is
:40:19. > :40:29.what it would be like. We are taking a snippet of this inspiration and we
:40:29. > :40:39.don't want to represent it in a non-truthful way. One of the first
:40:39. > :41:08.
:41:08. > :41:10.gardens we did when we started was a garden called Stargazer, on top of a
:41:10. > :41:13.common looking over the Brecon Beacons. The design plays with the
:41:13. > :41:16.natural forms. We have really worked with the landform to create
:41:16. > :41:18.different spaces. We have used a fallen down oak tree on site so it
:41:18. > :41:21.was nice to recycle something that wasn't going to get used or grown
:41:21. > :41:24.over that we could use and create this natural structure. This is my
:41:24. > :41:26.favourite part of the garden. I love the way these firms have grown over,
:41:26. > :41:29.even the fundi growing up amongst it. They have taken over again and
:41:29. > :41:37.if we can capture this in the Chelsea garden, we will be so
:41:37. > :41:40.pleased. Ultimately we believe gardens are spaces to be enjoyed. It
:41:40. > :41:44.is a space to be outside and a retreat to be by yourself or with
:41:44. > :41:52.friends and family. Even though the clouds are out today, it is
:41:52. > :41:57.something you can enjoy, and take a step back and really feed the soul.
:41:57. > :42:02.Here you are, Chelsea first timers, how does it feel? It has been a
:42:02. > :42:07.surreal process, it has been really nice to be part of the show. We have
:42:07. > :42:13.worked hard and we are pleased with it. I love the stonework, the
:42:13. > :42:17.different size of the boulders, the paving, the way it gives a
:42:18. > :42:23.harmonious feel. The plans must have been tricky because you didn't force
:42:23. > :42:31.any plants, did you? Know, and it was a bit of a worry because we had
:42:31. > :42:41.snow just before Chelsea. The dark stems of these plans reflects back
:42:41. > :42:41.
:42:41. > :42:47.on the stone wall. Who did the moss and the fern? It was a long process
:42:47. > :42:51.but it was really enjoyable! I love the box as well, it gives it a
:42:52. > :42:56.solidity to the planting. We were conscious of bringing the stonework
:42:57. > :43:03.back into the garden because the planting is soft and it flows so it
:43:03. > :43:09.is really nice. I think you have done a brilliant job. Do you think
:43:10. > :43:18.you might be coming back next year? It is a definite possibility.
:43:18. > :43:25.sound like a football manager or a politician. Yes, then!Enjoy your
:43:25. > :43:32.week. For 100 years, gnomes have been barred from Chelsea. It even
:43:32. > :43:38.states in the regulations that any brightly coloured creatures in
:43:38. > :43:43.general are not allowed. Have you seen what is up there? This year for
:43:43. > :43:53.the centenary, they have been given a special dispensation hummer but
:43:53. > :44:22.
:44:23. > :44:27.some mischievous imps have been Lawrence Llewellyn Bowen is a big
:44:27. > :44:33.gnome man. But Sue Biggs, what possessed you, why did you allow
:44:33. > :44:38.them in? We decided it would be good to have fun and also to raise money
:44:38. > :44:43.for the Centenary appeal. You did pot idol last year? Pot art.That's
:44:43. > :44:47.it! How did it do? Very well. Raised over �14,000 for the campaign for
:44:47. > :44:51.school gardening and we have very, very high hopes for our gnomes this
:44:51. > :44:56.year. The calibre's gone up for the auction. All kinds of celebrities
:44:56. > :45:01.doing them from Maggie Smith and Elton John? Yes.To the man to your
:45:01. > :45:06.left? Yes.You are setting the bar incredibly high with your gnome, not
:45:06. > :45:10.least because he's bigger than the others? I've gone for quality and
:45:10. > :45:15.quantity. I've always been such a huge gnome fan subsequent winly ever
:45:15. > :45:19.since I was quite small. Gnomes are naughty in the corner of the garden,
:45:19. > :45:26.aren't they, that little element of wild misrule. Some people think they
:45:27. > :45:34.are plain naff, don't they? But it's down to what they look like. There
:45:34. > :45:44.are naff gnomes noovened naff gnomes. This is a Lawrence Llewellyn
:45:44. > :45:50.
:45:50. > :45:57.non-naff gnome. Here we go. Look at that! Who is this unspired by?
:45:58. > :46:02.Pooss. From Cheltenham?I think it probably was. I call it the stealth
:46:02. > :46:09.gnome because if I painted to it look as posh as possible, then you
:46:09. > :46:13.lot and the society would be perhaps beguile and entranced by that.
:46:13. > :46:16.both beguiled an entranced by that. I'll be bidding for that one, that's
:46:16. > :46:20.a promise. We'll take a look at some of the celebrity gnomes throughout
:46:20. > :46:25.the week. Doubt they'll match that one! If you would like more
:46:25. > :46:29.information on how to bid for them, go to the RHS website. Unlike
:46:29. > :46:33.gnomes, Chris Beardshaw's no stranger to Chelsea. He has scooped
:46:33. > :46:37.three gold medals here to date and is hoping to add another to his
:46:37. > :46:47.Cabinet. But this year, the inspiration for his Chelsea garden
:46:47. > :46:54.
:46:54. > :46:59.is personal because it's a design he hugely beneficial, emotionally and
:46:59. > :47:04.spiritually. They are emotionally uplifting places. This is one of my
:47:04. > :47:09.favourite gardens. It's one of the best examples, in the UK, of the
:47:09. > :47:14.English garden style. It's Woolaton Old Hall and I've been coming here
:47:14. > :47:19.for many years and have watched the garden unfold and develop. It's like
:47:19. > :47:23.a work of art where every time you visit, you, in a way, just clear a
:47:23. > :47:28.layer of dust off the surface and something else reveals itself.
:47:28. > :47:32.The reason I wanted to come to this garden today was, as a reminder of
:47:32. > :47:40.what we are trying to achieve at Chelsea flower show. Although this
:47:40. > :47:45.isn't the direct influence for the garden, so many of the components
:47:45. > :47:52.within Woolaton Old Hall can be found in the garden at Chelsea.
:47:52. > :47:56.This year for me is about arthritis research UK and my involvement with
:47:56. > :48:01.that particular charity. It's very special for me because, as a
:48:01. > :48:05.teenager, I was diagnosed with arthritis to the point where I was
:48:05. > :48:08.unable to do all sorts of activities. One of the most
:48:08. > :48:12.frustrating things for me was the fact I'd already decided what I
:48:12. > :48:17.wanted to do in life, I wanted to be a gardener, I liked the physicality,
:48:17. > :48:21.the outdoor life. So to suddenly find yourself in a situation where
:48:21. > :48:25.you can't walk, you can't have any outdoor activity, particularly
:48:25. > :48:28.during the winter months, it was just absolutely crippling. It
:48:28. > :48:34.destroyed everything that I wanted to do really. There's a moment in
:48:34. > :48:39.your life when you think, what am I going to do now. ? The design is
:48:39. > :48:44.very much a reflection of an emotional narrative, an emotional
:48:45. > :48:48.journey, and in a way, it came from my own experience of being
:48:48. > :48:52.diagnosed. The garden has three distinctly different areas. The
:48:52. > :48:56.first is towards the rear of the garden, as most people will see it.
:48:56. > :48:59.I wanted people to be taken right back to the beginning, to the point
:48:59. > :49:04.where diagnosis or perhaps the inflammation, the pain, is at its
:49:04. > :49:09.most acute. It's referred to as the valed garden. It's reminiscent of
:49:09. > :49:14.that feeling of your boundaries suddenly starting to reduce, your
:49:14. > :49:19.optimism starts to wane. We wanted to try to create an area where the
:49:19. > :49:25.views were, in a way, foiled. That's very much how you feel with
:49:25. > :49:30.arthritis, that life is existing, but you can't engage fully. And
:49:30. > :49:34.there is a suggest sun that you would want to take steps to get out
:49:34. > :49:39.of it. That's really the intention that, it provokes you to make the
:49:39. > :49:49.next bold step. What can I do to deal with the condition I've been
:49:49. > :49:51.
:49:51. > :49:55.The lucid section of garden is an area where there is light back in
:49:55. > :50:00.life. You realise that, firstly, you are not alone in having to deal with
:50:00. > :50:04.the condition. So in the planting, it becomes a little more consistent
:50:04. > :50:10.and considered. Light starts to creep back in. The canopy which has
:50:10. > :50:14.been restricting your view and acting as a fog starts to come back.
:50:14. > :50:24.You can start to see the sky. Your horizons suddenly broaden. There is
:50:24. > :50:30.
:50:30. > :50:35.The radiant section of garden is very much herbaceous rich. The sorts
:50:35. > :50:40.of things that you would see in a normal garden like this will start
:50:40. > :50:44.to Brunning that sense of enjoyment back into the garden. The trees and
:50:44. > :50:49.shrubs, they are heavily prune and tortured, but what's important about
:50:50. > :50:54.them, is that they have a new lease of life, that there are new shoots
:50:54. > :51:02.bursting out of every section and it's that positive feel we want to
:51:02. > :51:07.convey. There is no doubt in my mind that I wouldn't be embarking on the
:51:07. > :51:13.range of activities in my career that I am able to do today had I not
:51:13. > :51:17.been diagnosed with arthritis. So what started out as inincredibly
:51:17. > :51:26.soul-destroying and challenging effect on me, suddenly became twist
:51:26. > :51:31.and turned and reapplied into something much more positive.
:51:31. > :51:35.So, Chris, you obviously have put your heart and soul into this garden
:51:35. > :51:39.almost like no other? Yes. Thest been a very personal experience,
:51:39. > :51:44.more personal than anything I've ever done, certainly in show gardens
:51:44. > :51:52.because it's a case of opening up and admitting to people that you
:51:52. > :51:57.have arthritis and for 20-odd years, I've not admitted that. I didn't
:51:57. > :52:01.know that. Did it make this garden easier or harder? Harder I think.
:52:01. > :52:04.It's a personal thing and it's about the emotions you feel on that route
:52:04. > :52:10.from diagnosis where you think the world is closing in to learning how
:52:10. > :52:16.to live with it. I didn't accept to anybody that I was struggling with
:52:16. > :52:19.arthritis. I think in admitting it, you realise it will be helpful to
:52:19. > :52:22.people because if I had the help that hopefully a show garden like
:52:22. > :52:28.this will provide, I would have known what treatments were
:52:28. > :52:35.available. How's it affected your life? Yes, I have an undiagnosed
:52:35. > :52:41.form because I gave up talking to consultants because I just became an
:52:41. > :52:45.experiment largely. There is a diverse range, some are muscular and
:52:46. > :52:50.skeletal and some are to do with inflammation and age so it was very
:52:50. > :52:54.difficult to diagnose this. How does yours affect you? The joints, all
:52:54. > :52:58.the soft tissues disappear and the bones fuse together every time you
:52:58. > :53:02.walk. It's like breaking your feet. You hurt a lot then? It's not
:53:02. > :53:07.pleasant. Especially when you push a wheel barrow. It's the silly thing,
:53:07. > :53:11.you get up, move forward and suddenly you go and when you go it's
:53:11. > :53:15.like just breaking your toe. People might be surprised to hear that of
:53:15. > :53:21.you, but won't be surprised by your standard of planting. We have come
:53:21. > :53:26.to expect this wonderful explosion of pictures of flowers, an
:53:26. > :53:31.astonishing border. You've had fun doing this, haven't you? I've had
:53:31. > :53:35.great fuvenlt these are boisterous, bold, excitable, unabash and it's
:53:35. > :53:40.plants on steroids! So to play with them in a way where you don't want
:53:40. > :53:42.them to completely dominate but you want to keep that energy and
:53:42. > :53:47.injection of pace, it's been a challenge and it's great to
:53:47. > :53:51.challenge yourself at Chelsea. I think if you play safe, in a way you
:53:51. > :53:58.are talking away the risk and I like producing gardens that are really
:53:58. > :54:08.quite risk toy for me in terms of delivering a product -- risky the
:54:08. > :54:14.for me. I'm here with Adam Frost on his Sewing the Seeds of Change
:54:14. > :54:20.Garden. Adam, you look tired! know, you look lovely. Yes, 19 days
:54:20. > :54:24.and I'm nearly finished. The garden looks stunning. Seen it on paper but
:54:24. > :54:27.didn't realise how elevated the trees would be, blocking the views
:54:27. > :54:32.and creating exciting spaces. It's all about getting people to grow and
:54:32. > :54:37.cook more at home? Yes, it is. The I think separation is really for a
:54:37. > :54:43.family. Parents love gardening but want the kids to engage with what is
:54:43. > :54:48.going on outside. In a sense, you have two words, harvest and habitat,
:54:48. > :54:52.somewhere wildlife can too. So that's the principle. Also it's a
:54:52. > :54:56.social space, it's broken into three areas, you know, a big kitchen table
:54:57. > :55:01.at the back, central cooking area, beehive and lawn at the front.
:55:01. > :55:04.lovely. People think family garden, massive lawn, play equipment down
:55:04. > :55:09.the end, somewhere to sit and eat something, but it can be so much
:55:09. > :55:13.more exciting? Oh, yes. If you think that we want our kids to engage with
:55:13. > :55:22.their environment, the tanks, you know, they're dipping ponds, they
:55:22. > :55:27.are inspired from - I had a scruffy nan yes - and outside her door she
:55:27. > :55:30.had helligan. She had Belfast sinks and she would hoard stuff and it was
:55:30. > :55:35.all there. I look back and think about that and it was awesome. We
:55:35. > :55:40.want our kids to get involved. leave you to it. You have a bit of
:55:40. > :55:45.work to do. It's looking great. one, cheers. Bless you.
:55:45. > :55:48.There are some garden designers whose work you look forward to with
:55:48. > :55:55.interest and some whose work you look forward to with excitement and
:55:55. > :56:04.one who falls into that latter category is the designer of this
:56:04. > :56:08.garden, he's designed a garden for Laurent-perrier. Ulf, what did you
:56:08. > :56:15.want to create here? I wanted to combine knowledge from the past and
:56:16. > :56:19.present and I wanted to do something new, contemporary with a twist of
:56:20. > :56:29.romanticness. Old-fashioned with a twist of romantic and modern as
:56:29. > :56:36.well, that's me! You have used two distinct trails, relaxed and
:56:36. > :56:40.trailed? It's a simple way of doing contrasts, using few species and sub
:56:41. > :56:43.see seize. That's my way. It seems to me, particularly with your
:56:43. > :56:48.gardens, that line and perspective are perhaps the most important
:56:48. > :56:52.things of all. Is that true? Yes. The structure, it's very, very
:56:52. > :56:58.important, but of course the light in the garden which we have put in
:56:58. > :57:06.here with a copper wall this year, it puts the feeling into it like the
:57:06. > :57:10.South of France, also with the glittering of the stone. The
:57:10. > :57:13.sculpture too, I am very proud to have that in the garden, which
:57:13. > :57:19.celebrates the life. I could stay here all afternoon. Thank you very
:57:19. > :57:22.much. Thank you. One thing's for sure, this garden
:57:22. > :57:27.from the Australian nursery phlegmings and designer Philip
:57:27. > :57:31.Johnson is going to get a lot of attention. Certainly is. It's a
:57:31. > :57:37.crowd-pleaser. This structure you can see from all over the show
:57:37. > :57:44.ground amazing. A statement. Yes. This is a billabong, not a pond, I
:57:44. > :57:49.had to tell you. Tell you what, it's great to see a rock garden back on
:57:49. > :57:54.the rock bank. Been absent too long. We'll take a closer look tomorrow
:57:54. > :58:02.BBC One at 7. 7.30. It's really worth a close look and the pressure
:58:02. > :58:07.is on for all the exhibitors to get to the gates. Her Majesty the Queen
:58:07. > :58:12.will be here. I'll be back at 12. 30 with Andy Sturgeon to find out if
:58:12. > :58:19.we'll get the horticultural high we've come to expect. Joe and I will
:58:19. > :58:24.be back tomorrow night. If you can't wait until then, follow us on