:00:39. > :00:43.Chelsea Flower Show. The event, supported by M&G Investments, is as
:00:43. > :00:46.addictive this year as it always has been. So this afternoon, we're
:00:46. > :00:53.asking why visitors and exhibitors alike find it such a floral magnet.
:00:53. > :00:56.Coming up: Controversial but never boring.
:00:56. > :01:03.Designer Diarmuid Gavin tells us why he loves to hate Chelsea but can't
:01:03. > :01:05.keep away. I wasn't worried about gold, I
:01:05. > :01:09.suppose I wanted to change the world!
:01:09. > :01:16.Dazzling dianthus. Simon Lycett is here with a tribute to the woman
:01:16. > :01:26.dubbed Queen of Carnations. And, perennial favourite. Plantsman
:01:26. > :01:31.Roy Lancaster tells why the judges love a geranium called Rozeanne.
:01:31. > :01:37.Andy, it might be raining but it will not dampen our spirits. It has
:01:37. > :01:41.been a wonderful week. As we come to Saturday, I wonder what will happen
:01:41. > :01:48.to these gardens and plants? The great news is some of these
:01:48. > :01:52.gardens will have a new life. For examples, one will be rebuilt in
:01:52. > :01:59.Bristol zoo. Lovely to think it will be rebuilt
:01:59. > :02:07.somewhere else. And one going to Royal Aberdeen infirmary.
:02:07. > :02:12.And another will be packaged up to a new therapy centre.
:02:12. > :02:17.And, of course, if you are lucky to come here on Saturday, the great
:02:17. > :02:21.sell-off, it becomes a bit mad, you can take home a bit of Chelsea
:02:21. > :02:31.yourself. Almost everything in the pavilion
:02:31. > :02:32.
:02:32. > :02:34.seems to be sold off. People taking it home to give it a new life.
:02:34. > :02:38.This afternoon, we're asking some of Chelsea's regular exhibitors to
:02:38. > :02:40.share their memories with us. And in the Great Pavilion, those memories
:02:40. > :02:43.stretch far beyond the British Isles with many overseas growers making
:02:43. > :02:53.their annual pilgrimage to the show. Ann-Marie Powell's been to meet them
:02:53. > :02:58.
:02:58. > :03:03.and see what offerings they've When I come to Chelsea, all I have
:03:03. > :03:13.to do is choose my favourite outfit and jumped on the train. Some
:03:13. > :03:23.
:03:23. > :03:28.Tobago's 10th year at Chelsea, but this is your first. Getting here
:03:28. > :03:32.with all of these beautiful plants and flowers, how do you do that?
:03:32. > :03:38.We go to growers all over the country, they bring it to the
:03:38. > :03:48.society. It takes us up to three days to clean, box every flower, one
:03:48. > :03:48.
:03:49. > :03:57.by one. We have two layer everything with tissue, and shredded paper. You
:03:57. > :04:07.can only pack so many in one layer at a time. Because some of them are
:04:07. > :04:07.
:04:07. > :05:00.Apology for the loss of subtitles for 53 seconds
:05:00. > :05:06.quite big, we need bigger boxes. We need to condition them. We have come
:05:06. > :05:14.over from the Netherlands. How do you manage to bring over these?
:05:14. > :05:22.is not easy. We had to travel in the night, it is cooler. They come over
:05:22. > :05:28.by van and the ferry. Then, we tried to London. We build up this whole
:05:28. > :05:34.display on Sunday. My goodness. The heads are quite heavy. We support
:05:34. > :05:40.them with a pin. We have to do a lot of things before we can bring them
:05:40. > :05:46.safely over. The comments we get from the public, they love the
:05:46. > :05:56.scent. We offer that to all, for free. It is great, they get percent,
:05:56. > :06:12.
:06:12. > :06:17.the gold medal, and you as well the Great Pavilion with an
:06:17. > :06:26.unexpected display of some favourite -- summer flowering favourites,
:06:26. > :06:32.dahlias. Michael, this is a great stand. What
:06:32. > :06:38.made you come to exhibit here in 2009? In a way, we had done the easy
:06:38. > :06:43.bit, we had been to Hampton Court and Tatton Park, a more seasonal
:06:43. > :06:48.time for these flowers. They should not be in flower in the
:06:48. > :06:54.middle of May. That was the challenge. In part, it was time the
:06:54. > :06:59.public got to understand dahlias. Even now, we get people saying we
:06:59. > :07:04.did not think dahlias looked like this. There is an image they have.
:07:04. > :07:09.We wanted to change that image, to get them reinvented.
:07:09. > :07:12.Tell me about the history and story you are telling with the different
:07:12. > :07:18.varieties? What we try to do is follow the
:07:18. > :07:24.history of dahlias over the 100 years of the Chelsea show. We have
:07:24. > :07:28.this small species bred at the end of the 19th century, the sort of
:07:28. > :07:35.thing which would have been here at the first Chelsea show. We then move
:07:35. > :07:40.on to the most iconic of all the dahlias. This has its lovely dark
:07:40. > :07:46.foliage, a great favourite for many years. What then happens, of
:07:46. > :07:52.course, that the war years, they fell out of favour your -- and then
:07:52. > :07:58.the post war years. The image people have is of grandad on his allotment.
:07:58. > :08:05.We have tried to reflect that. Then, the issue of dahlias becoming big,
:08:05. > :08:10.they fell out of love with people. That is my memory from growing up in
:08:10. > :08:17.the 70s. The reason they fell out of popularity, you will recall that
:08:17. > :08:22.passion for instant gardening and the perception dahlias were hard
:08:22. > :08:28.work, they had to be done every winter. That was the reason they
:08:28. > :08:31.fell out of popularity. Over the last 15 years, we have tried to
:08:31. > :08:39.reintroduce them. Some of the modern breeding now has gone right the way
:08:39. > :08:48.back, a 200 Years Circle, to get these much lighter single flowers
:08:48. > :08:52.which are exciting. Bringing bees back into the garden. Simple
:08:52. > :08:58.flowers. Exactly. Use them as feature plants. Fantastic, thank
:08:58. > :09:01.This year, the RHS are asking you to vote for the plant you think
:09:01. > :09:05.epitomises 100 years of the Chelsea Flower Show. There are ten
:09:05. > :09:12.short-listed plants to choose from. And, all this week, RHS plantsman
:09:12. > :09:15.and judge Roy Lancaster has been explaining why each one was chosen.
:09:15. > :09:25.Today, it's the turn of the plant representing 1993 to 2002, a hardy
:09:25. > :09:41.
:09:41. > :09:50.the mountains of Kashmir. But I never did see they're a plant such
:09:50. > :10:00.gardening merit as Rozeanne. It was bred and first shown as a Chelsea is
:10:00. > :10:00.
:10:00. > :10:05.a bit in 2000. Correction-macro exhibit. It is a plant of rapid
:10:05. > :10:11.growth which doubles both as ground cover beneath shrubs or to plant in
:10:11. > :10:19.large containers. It flowers through summer into autumn and at its peak,
:10:19. > :10:29.it stands out at a distance. It is probably the most popular hardy
:10:29. > :10:30.
:10:30. > :10:33.geranium of its day. And Roy will be back later in the
:10:33. > :10:35.programme with the final flower vying for the title, RHS Plant of
:10:35. > :10:38.the Centenary. We'll also be telling you how you
:10:38. > :10:45.can vote for your favourite then. Diarmuid Gavin created his first
:10:45. > :10:47.Chelsea show garden here in 1995. But it was his vibrant city garden
:10:48. > :10:50.in 1996 that catapulted him to fame. Since then, his unique approach to
:10:50. > :10:55.contemporary garden design has made him a favourite with the Chelsea
:10:55. > :11:02.crowds. Who can forget his Sky Garden in 2011 and last year's
:11:02. > :11:05.Magical Tower Garden? Diarmuid may not have a garden here this year,
:11:05. > :11:14.but he still visited Chelsea this week to share his show memories, and
:11:14. > :11:19.give his own take on the show gardens.
:11:19. > :11:24.In 1995, I was homeless, based in Dublin and I had an improbable dream
:11:24. > :11:31.of coming to the Chelsea Flower Show and create a garden. I arrived with
:11:31. > :11:39.a friend, 300 quid in our pockets. We went and bought a wheelbarrow,
:11:39. > :11:47.two shovels and two spades. We walked up and down Sloane Square. We
:11:48. > :11:51.started digging. And it is on this very spot we
:11:51. > :12:00.started digging from soil, moving it over there and creating our vision
:12:00. > :12:05.of paradise. And I am back 70 years later, and we still have the waters
:12:05. > :12:10.and the wild in this Best in show garden. This spot in Chelsea is
:12:10. > :12:19.where I come back to, I like to come back to see what is happening in my
:12:19. > :12:24.place. In the last couple of years, we've created this. And also this
:12:24. > :12:29.multilevel garden. Sometimes, you come to Chelsea and you create a
:12:29. > :12:34.garden which is about your own indulgence, the biggest and the
:12:34. > :12:41.best, the most showy, to reach for the skies. I wasn't worried about
:12:41. > :12:47.goals, I was worried, I wanted to challenge the world. More than that,
:12:47. > :12:57.to make people smile, how they respond. I get an acceptance here
:12:57. > :12:59.
:12:59. > :13:04.The garden in Chelsea this year that has invaded my headspace and which
:13:04. > :13:11.will remain with me is this, the National Society for the love
:13:11. > :13:17.children, it is about what we will leave behind. Childhood memories. It
:13:17. > :13:22.beautiful scene, a treehouse, foxgloves. Bluebells. It is lazy and
:13:22. > :13:27.gorgeous and summer. It is not the experience of childhood that many
:13:27. > :13:37.people have or can associate with. There is the unlucky and the
:13:37. > :13:40.
:13:40. > :13:45.unlucky. This garden is an important I think this is really wonderful. A
:13:45. > :13:48.garden from the Potteries full of pottery. Loads of schoolchildren and
:13:48. > :13:55.people from the hospices got together to create these bricks,
:13:55. > :14:00.they have all been brought down to London, sprouting with flowers.
:14:01. > :14:06.Not only a beautiful display at Chelsea, but it has brought the
:14:06. > :14:14.essence of a city from up north, to London. It is exuberant, it
:14:14. > :14:18.wonderful structure, framed in this beautiful planting and structure. We
:14:18. > :14:21.have the passion of one city, brought to another, and I love it.
:14:21. > :14:31.And let's hope he's back next year with another wonderfully
:14:31. > :14:33.
:14:33. > :14:37.have become synonymous with wedding buttonholes and garage forecourts.
:14:37. > :14:39.But back in the 1950s, one Chelsea exhibitor made them a cutting edge.
:14:39. > :14:43.Grower and flower-arranger Mrs Desmond Underwood won the title
:14:43. > :14:47.Doyenne of the dianthus because of her passion. So this afternoon, our
:14:47. > :14:49.favourite florist Simon Lycett is here to show us how to give these
:14:49. > :14:59.poor relations of the floristry world the majestic make-over they
:14:59. > :15:01.
:15:01. > :15:08.deserve. Have to say, I quite like carnations. They are a good bang for
:15:08. > :15:14.their buck, aren't they? They are. If he comes home with one of those,
:15:14. > :15:21.isn't he in trouble? ! But on the other end of the scale, we have this
:15:21. > :15:28.beauty. They are magnificent. They are also beautifully fragrant but
:15:28. > :15:34.you are just getting that gentle smell. Do you use carnations in your
:15:34. > :15:38.business? We use them for vibrant, architectural and sculptural forms.
:15:38. > :15:44.They are a brilliant flower. I sneak them in as dianthus and my clients
:15:44. > :15:47.don't know! I wouldn't know. The pressure is on me to do a fabulous
:15:47. > :15:55.arrangement today. This week has been a bit dodgy. My creative skills
:15:55. > :16:00.have been pushed to the limit! What are we going to design today?
:16:00. > :16:06.are all British grown beautiful pinks from down in the South of
:16:06. > :16:11.England. What is the secret?They smell magnificent and we are going
:16:11. > :16:20.to use some silvery grey foliage. She was also into that. Mrs
:16:20. > :16:25.Underwood wrote more books on her silvery grey foliage than she did on
:16:25. > :16:34.the dianthus. I am going to put some short stems in. About there, yes.
:16:34. > :16:39.What is the secret? Give them a good drink? Don't cut them on the nodes.
:16:39. > :16:44.Cut them in between at an angle. And give them a really good drink before
:16:44. > :16:54.you strip off the lower leaves. And you will then be able to start
:16:54. > :17:02.
:17:02. > :17:08.can see some wonderful displays behind me. What you can do... I love
:17:08. > :17:12.the coloured ones! Yes, they are phenomenal, aren't they? So vibrant!
:17:12. > :17:18.If I saw that on its own, I wouldn't give it a thank you, but as a
:17:18. > :17:25.display... Arranged en masse, they just give fabulous, fabulous spots
:17:25. > :17:32.of colour. Whatever they are, it will be gorgeous. So the key to this
:17:32. > :17:38.is using as many as you can. The key to using carnations in general for
:17:38. > :17:41.me is quantity. It's not what you've got, it's what you do with it. They
:17:41. > :17:45.are relatively inexpensive. So you get a good bang for your buck
:17:45. > :17:51.because you are able to buy lots for your money and you never die loot
:17:52. > :17:58.them down. Don't mix them with other things. The boys are going to love
:17:58. > :18:03.this! In about 20 years, I might finish... On one of those! And you
:18:03. > :18:12.will be a queen of carnations! you so much. Very proud of that.
:18:12. > :18:15.They better not be rude later While Chelsea's long-serving
:18:15. > :18:18.exhibitors have many cherished memories of their time here, one
:18:18. > :18:20.designer has been been making brand new memories by building her first
:18:20. > :18:26.ever show garden here. Toby Buckland's been to meet her.
:18:26. > :18:31.This is your first show garden. What was your experience like? It has
:18:31. > :18:37.been fantastic, fabulous. We had an amazing team. It was brutally long
:18:37. > :18:40.but, my goodness, what an experience to be here! Have you had a few
:18:41. > :18:46.hitches or has it been a roller-coaster? We had a tree at the
:18:46. > :18:50.end of the garden that was wrapped in a sculpture with a heater at its
:18:50. > :18:56.abundant skirts, so it was coming into leaf! You always have these
:18:56. > :19:02.things. You even made a difference to the handrail. It is the
:19:02. > :19:06.detailing, everything? Yes. We even decided after the first weekend to
:19:06. > :19:13.have edging along both sides of the brick path, which meant every single
:19:13. > :19:20.Rick had to be shaped and cut by hand. Extraordinary. -- every single
:19:20. > :19:27.brick. You've also brought some interesting plants? Yes, this was a
:19:27. > :19:32.wild collected seed form and it is a fabulous plant. Great textures and
:19:32. > :19:36.amazing foliage. Yes, one of the best forms as well. Beautiful. And
:19:36. > :19:45.you've also got this. They will recognise this at home from their
:19:45. > :19:51.gardens. Yes. It is where we have the circular pool and we wanted to
:19:51. > :19:58.draw the eye up and into the height. Yes, the conifer is coming back to
:19:58. > :20:01.Chelsea. Yes. We also have this conifer. It is not a usual one. But
:20:01. > :20:07.very graceful. And can I congratulate you on your use of
:20:07. > :20:11.lawn? It is wonderful to see that back at the show, because people can
:20:11. > :20:16.relate to it. Yes, people see this garden and they can empathise with
:20:16. > :20:23.it. They say, I want to take that back home and what can I do with
:20:23. > :20:26.it? Lovely seeing lots of shrubs and different types of plants, whether
:20:26. > :20:30.it is the marginals all the trees or shrubs. They love it. Thank you so
:20:30. > :20:34.much. Time now to look at a very special
:20:34. > :20:37.house plant, called Streptocarpus "Harlequin blue". It is the last of
:20:37. > :20:41.ten plants shortlisted for the title Chelsea Plant of the Centenary. The
:20:41. > :20:45.RHS are now asking you to vote which of the ten you feel defines the past
:20:45. > :20:55.100 years. So here's Roy Lancaster, to explain why this streptocarpus is
:20:55. > :21:07.
:21:07. > :21:14.When Dibley is exhibited their streptocarpus Harlequin blue, I
:21:14. > :21:17.could only stand and stare! It is compact and the growth and short
:21:18. > :21:27.flower stem is one thing, but when the flower colour combination comes
:21:28. > :21:33.
:21:33. > :21:37.streptocarpus on show, Harlequin blue really captured the public's
:21:37. > :21:41.imagination as something different and something new. And it was knows
:21:41. > :21:51.the price at all that Harlequin blue won the very first Chelsea plant of
:21:51. > :21:54.contenders for the title Chelsea Plant of the Centenary, and they're
:21:54. > :21:58.obviously winners with the professional plants men like Roy.
:21:58. > :22:01.But are they popular with our nation of gardeners? It seems they are, and
:22:01. > :22:05.to prove it, the RHS have enlisted ten amateur enthusiasts to champion
:22:06. > :22:15.each plant. Each champion was born in the same decade as his or her
:22:16. > :22:28.
:22:28. > :22:38.This is one of the hardiest plants ever and I can recommend them to any
:22:38. > :22:40.
:22:40. > :22:47.gardener because they can just do what I do and sit there! This plant
:22:47. > :22:54.ages gracefully even if you have it for 20 years. It will still be well
:22:54. > :22:58.worth keeping it. One more big smile! Balloon pins are loved by
:22:58. > :23:05.bees. Plant them in your garden and they will create a spectacular
:23:05. > :23:12.rainbow of beautiful colours. A really good value plant. Straight at
:23:12. > :23:16.the lens! A big smile, thanks. Representing the rhododendron. You
:23:16. > :23:22.don't have to prune it. You don't have to deadhead it. And that is
:23:22. > :23:32.about it. It is a great plant for a small garden. A bigger smile than
:23:32. > :23:36.that! I particularly like this rose because it has memories of my dad.
:23:36. > :23:46.In fact, I have it as a standard in the middle of the bed and it is a
:23:46. > :23:48.
:23:48. > :23:54.lovely feature because it flowers so profusely in the summer. When it
:23:54. > :24:04.comes out in the spring, it is absolutely profuse. It swallows the
:24:04. > :24:08.
:24:08. > :24:11.plant. The most fantastic plant to your garden. I grew at last year and
:24:11. > :24:20.even when everything else was being devastated by slugs and snails, it
:24:21. > :24:25.kept flowering, so it is a fantastic plant to grow. This is well suited
:24:25. > :24:28.to this because it is colourful all year round. It has a wonderful
:24:28. > :24:36.tropical look to it, so for somebody like me who likes that, it would
:24:36. > :24:40.suit your garden. I'm representing this to rainy. It
:24:40. > :24:42.is low maintenance and also attract many insects, including the
:24:42. > :24:49.garden's friend the hover fly and the attract live and delicate
:24:49. > :24:55.butterfly. I like the streptocarpus because it
:24:55. > :24:59.has a beautiful blue and yellow colour on it. And it is good for
:24:59. > :25:06.boys and girls to enjoy! And it is an indoor plant, not an outdoor
:25:06. > :25:11.Now you've seen all ten, the RHS are asking you to vote for your
:25:11. > :25:14.favourite. To vote, simply visit our website and follow the link. And
:25:14. > :25:17.we'll be announcing the winner in tomorrow's show on BBC Two at 7pm.
:25:17. > :25:27.Sadly, we're near the end of our lunchtime coverage for another year,
:25:27. > :25:40.
:25:40. > :25:45.so let's celebrate a few of # Out of the tree of life I just
:25:45. > :25:53.picked me a plum. # You came along and everything
:25:53. > :26:02.started to harm. # Still, it's a real good at the
:26:02. > :26:11.best is yet to come. # Best is yet to come, and, baby,
:26:11. > :26:20.won't that be fine? # The best is yet to calm, come the
:26:20. > :26:30.day you are mine. # Come the day you are mine.
:26:30. > :26:38.
:26:38. > :26:42.but I had to ask you, at the beginning of the week, I asked you
:26:42. > :26:52.about gnomes and I asked you, are you for or against? I am getting a
:26:52. > :27:02.
:27:02. > :27:09.bit bored with it now. They are Two here! Yes, and they are going at
:27:09. > :27:16.�200. A snip, I think, because they are brilliant! Oh, my goodness, it
:27:16. > :27:23.hasn't stopped, has it? It is really important we get young people into
:27:23. > :27:26.water culture because the industry depends on it. I have had a spotty
:27:26. > :27:35.gnome and people have been buying these badges all week at Chelsea as
:27:35. > :27:41.well. I haven't got mine yet. You better get yours soon! I am going to
:27:41. > :27:49.put you on the spot. Next year at Chelsea, will you be trying a
:27:49. > :27:52.garden? You know, I think I would quite like to. Yes? ! All of the
:27:52. > :27:58.gardens are a bit straight lines this year. The one behind us is the
:27:58. > :28:05.only one with any sort of curves, so I am going to campaign for curves!
:28:05. > :28:10.And are you going to go for gold again? I will give it a shot but I'm
:28:10. > :28:17.not promising anything! It has been tremendous this week apart from the
:28:17. > :28:21.rain. The coverage of this year's Chelsea Flower Show isn't over yet.
:28:21. > :28:23.You can join Alan and Joe at 7.30pm this evening on BBC One, which
:28:23. > :28:27.includes a special tribute to one of Chelsea's favourite rose-growers,
:28:27. > :28:30.Peter Beales. There's also an hour-long programme over on BBC Two
:28:30. > :28:33.at 8pm, when we'll be meeting the champion delphinium growers who have
:28:33. > :28:36.been exhibiting here for the past 100 years.
:28:36. > :28:38.And plant hunter Tom Hart-Dyke is over on the Red Button now