:00:34. > :00:39.Hello. Welcome to the Royal Horticultural Society's Chelsea
:00:39. > :00:46.Flower Show. The event, supported by M and G
:00:46. > :00:52.investments is celebrating its 100th anniversary and we are join
:00:52. > :00:55.in the festivities through the week. In 1912 nurseryman Harry Veitch
:00:55. > :00:59.transformed the grounds of the hospital when he staged the The
:00:59. > :01:05.Royal International Horticultural Exhibition. A year later, the Royal
:01:05. > :01:09.Horticultural Society stepped in and changed its name and the RHS
:01:09. > :01:15.Chelsea Flower Show was born. Coming up - show stoppers. We look
:01:15. > :01:20.at two of the flamboyant Main Avenue gardens, designed to stop
:01:20. > :01:26.the crowds. Prize-winning plants - your chance to vote for the flower
:01:26. > :01:32.which symbolises the past 100 years of Chelsea and the far pavilion. It
:01:32. > :01:36.has been wowing the crowds for 100 years, with many displays. Carol
:01:36. > :01:44.Klein will look at the face of the changing marquee. Until about 30
:01:44. > :01:48.years ago, you would never have seen a display of this kind.
:01:48. > :01:53.So, we are celebrating 100 years here at Chelsea. Can you remember
:01:53. > :02:01.the first time you came? I remember it like it was yesterday. It was
:02:01. > :02:05.1984. My brother was working on a garden, a moorish garden. I was
:02:05. > :02:10.blown away the way that gardening could be exciting. I can remember
:02:10. > :02:16.the first day I walked through the gates. What about the first time
:02:16. > :02:22.you designed a garden? It was here on this spot. It was 2001. It was a
:02:22. > :02:26.wet year. It was sponsored by a shampoo for men with thinning hair.
:02:26. > :02:33.You did all right then - you've got plenty. It was a baptism of fire. I
:02:33. > :02:39.had no idea what I was doing and got a silver-gilt. I was pleased
:02:39. > :02:43.about that. Going back to 1913, would someone like me be allowed
:02:43. > :02:47.in? Probably not a lot of nurserymen and real gardeners from
:02:47. > :02:53.country estates and that sort of thing which came here. Today we can
:02:53. > :02:57.all enjoy it, can't we? It is not raining! There were no gardens on
:02:57. > :02:58.the Main Avenue. It was home to rows of trade stands, but that
:02:58. > :03:03.rows of trade stands, but that changed. Today, Main Avenue
:03:03. > :03:13.provides a stage for some of the most flamboyant gardens. Andy has
:03:13. > :03:16.
:03:16. > :03:20.been taking a look at a couple of D This garden manages to be
:03:20. > :03:27.flamboyant. Nothing has been done by halfs in this garden.
:03:27. > :03:31.If you look at the scale of this and the copper wall behind and this
:03:31. > :03:40.stone, which runs throughout the garden and gives it a powerful
:03:40. > :03:46.anchor, which is balanced by some of the top perry. The clipped yous
:03:46. > :03:56.and these trees which puncuate the design. It draws inspiration from
:03:56. > :04:04.
:04:04. > :04:08.well known gardens, one in France and the blues. If you look through
:04:08. > :04:12.at the floi laidge in this garden as well, there were lots of colours
:04:12. > :04:20.in the leaves which pick out the colours of the stone and the copper.
:04:20. > :04:26.There is an underlying calmness here, that is from this grey-blue,
:04:26. > :04:34.which runs throughout the garden. It is superb.
:04:34. > :04:38.And this garden, designed by Christopher Bradley-Hull for the
:04:38. > :04:43.Daily Telegraph is a stroke of inspiration.
:04:43. > :04:46.It takes the inspiration from the gardens of Japan. They can only be
:04:46. > :04:52.viewed from the outside. You look into the garden itself. Because
:04:52. > :04:58.there are not people in it, it has a strong sort of zen-like quality
:04:58. > :05:01.about it. That makes it special. Christopher has also taken
:05:01. > :05:08.inspiration from the ancient landscape of Britain. That was a
:05:08. > :05:13.wooded landscape. What happened was man came along, they caved out --
:05:13. > :05:17.carved out chunks and exotic things amongst them. The field patterns
:05:17. > :05:23.are represented by the lines which run through the blocks of these
:05:23. > :05:28.hedges - they are all native plants. Thefpb is taken from -- even this
:05:28. > :05:33.is taken from oak. The water in this garden - it is intended to be
:05:33. > :05:37.as if you are flying over and see a river snaking through. You only see
:05:37. > :05:43.glimpses of it, that is why there are only a few individual pools.
:05:43. > :05:48.What stands out for me are the blocks of the hedges and this
:05:48. > :05:55.wonderfully soft planting. They dance about like jewels in all
:05:55. > :06:01.these grasses. It is really very, very superb.
:06:01. > :06:07.So, Andy how were the tours? Were they superb? Very, very superb. I
:06:07. > :06:10.want everyone to know that. A Gold Medal winner yourself. Hopefully
:06:10. > :06:13.there'll be more tomorrow morning. It is Monday. It is, I think the
:06:13. > :06:21.most exciting day of the week, because the gates have been open
:06:21. > :06:27.for the press, we have celebrities - it is a 100-year celebration as
:06:27. > :06:34.well. There is a special buzz, plus this morning they unveiled a skull
:06:34. > :06:44.ter by Marc Quinn. It is the first time the RHS have worked with an
:06:44. > :06:44.
:06:45. > :06:49.artist of note. What will happen for it? It will be auctioned for a
:06:49. > :06:55.good cause. The first day of Chelsea - the goms have been
:06:55. > :07:00.allowed in -- gnomes have been allowed in - the first time. They
:07:00. > :07:06.were queuing at the gates when they were opened. They were allowed once.
:07:06. > :07:13.It is for a good cause. We have had celebrities painting them - Elton
:07:13. > :07:19.John being one of them. It will go to a schools appeal. You have to
:07:19. > :07:26.love gnomes for one week. Will they ever appear in one of your gardens?
:07:26. > :07:30.No. There have been iconic plants championed at Chelsea since 1913,
:07:30. > :07:34.so choosing a favourite is no mean feat. That is what the RHS are
:07:34. > :07:41.asking you to do. To give you a head chance, a team of judges have
:07:41. > :07:45.narrowed the choice down to one plant per decade. One of the judges,
:07:45. > :07:49.the plantsman Roy Lancaster has agreed to give us a potted master
:07:49. > :07:57.class on why each plant got into the final ten. We are looking at
:07:57. > :08:01.two plants every lunch time. First up is a plant representing 1913-
:08:01. > :08:11.1922 It is a variety, it is an alpine called Saxifraga tumbling
:08:11. > :08:16.
:08:16. > :08:22.faces and the visitors to the Chelsea Flower Show in 1920 when
:08:22. > :08:27.Saxifraga tumbling water was shown for the first time to the public.
:08:27. > :08:34.I shall never forget my first meeting with it. I was an
:08:34. > :08:40.apprentice at a local park - in my home town of Bolton, in Lancashire,
:08:41. > :08:47.1953. This wonderful silver row set burst into a huge flower head, at
:08:47. > :08:55.least 18 inches long, packed with hundreds of small white flowers.
:08:55. > :09:01.After the flowers finished the rosette dried up and died away, but
:09:01. > :09:11.it produced several side rosettes, which we potted on elsewhere. Well
:09:11. > :09:16.
:09:16. > :09:23.for your favourite plant later. During the stebgond world war many
:09:23. > :09:30.of the orchid growers were hit hard. There were vast glasshouses
:09:30. > :09:36.unattended. The loss of these orchid exhibits brought about a new
:09:36. > :09:42.era of flamboyance. What sort of displays wowed the post war crowds?
:09:42. > :09:45.Dennis Van Wonderen is here to tell us all. Good afternoon to you.
:09:45. > :09:51.afternoon. It was all change. What names of the time would have
:09:51. > :09:57.exhibited at Chelsea? We look at the records. The first florists
:09:57. > :10:01.here were Longmens and Constance Spry. They came with their own way
:10:01. > :10:11.of making floral displays. Because the country had just come out of
:10:11. > :10:17.war, there was little around in the way of sun dris. A florist now can
:10:18. > :10:25.buy what they need. Back in the day they were struggling to find
:10:25. > :10:29.containers. Flower shops were displaying things in old, brown
:10:29. > :10:35.milk bottles. There was a bed pan, something like a fruit bowl and
:10:35. > :10:41.when we made the designs back then, there was no such thing as floral
:10:41. > :10:46.foam. So the florists had to use wire mesh. This is copper mess,
:10:46. > :10:50.because it does not go rusty inside the container. It comes on a roll,
:10:50. > :10:55.so you just cut off however much you need. That goes in the
:10:55. > :10:59.container and the flowers are then inserted into the mesh, in the
:10:59. > :11:05.absence of foam. Something like the big arrangement there is created in
:11:05. > :11:09.that same way. This is fabulous! Can we create something like this
:11:09. > :11:14.on a smaller scale? We can start. I have some smaller bits here. We
:11:14. > :11:18.have done some tiny little pots there. They are very popular at the
:11:18. > :11:23.moment. Vintage, as it is known, has gone full circle. Back in the
:11:23. > :11:28.day, they had no other containers, so they were using every day items
:11:28. > :11:32.from in and around the house. has gone full circle. If you were
:11:32. > :11:36.getting married, having something like this on every single table....
:11:36. > :11:42.The brides of today love it. They are very easy to make. You could
:11:42. > :11:47.easily do something like this yourself. Even me? Even you! If I
:11:47. > :11:50.could do this, I would be so happy. Perhaps I should start off with
:11:50. > :11:55.something smaller. Get all the pieces together. I have a little
:11:55. > :12:03.gathering of all my materials... Look at that already! I have brides
:12:03. > :12:07.coming in. We had one last year who wanted the whole of this little but
:12:07. > :12:12.multiplied at least ten or 20 times. You also have something else up
:12:12. > :12:22.your sleeve. I will show you the Japanese art of flower arranging.
:12:22. > :12:23.
:12:23. > :12:28.We will be talking ikebana. You are in for a treat. As well as changing
:12:28. > :12:32.styles in floristtry, the stands have undergone a different of
:12:32. > :12:36.transformations. Klein has been looking at ways in which -- Carol
:12:36. > :12:39.Klein has been looking at ways in which exhibiters show off their
:12:39. > :12:47.plants. Until about 30 years ago, you would
:12:47. > :12:54.never have seen a display of this kind. Something which ewaited to
:12:54. > :12:58.our own garden -- equated to our own gardens. Wonderful combinations.
:12:58. > :13:03.It does not tell any fibs either. The whole thing is plausible, even
:13:03. > :13:11.if you have a tiny garden with one tree, you could take a chunk of
:13:11. > :13:14.this home and recreate it yourself. Lovely plants like this - the whole
:13:14. > :13:24.thing is joyful and wonderful and it is obtainable. It is something
:13:24. > :13:34.
:13:34. > :13:40.is the sort of thing you may have seen if you walked into the marquee
:13:40. > :13:46.100 years ago. It is full of colour. It is utterly beautiful and it is
:13:46. > :13:52.completely in your face. The whole thing is tiered - it is a very
:13:52. > :13:59.traditional way of displaying such plants and it works wonderfully
:13:59. > :14:04.well. Gorgeous things like this capitatum here. They were popular
:14:04. > :14:07.then and they are still popular today. If you think a display like
:14:07. > :14:15.this is simple and straightforward, it's not. Come and look how it is
:14:15. > :14:25.done! Look! Not so much smoke and mirrors
:14:25. > :14:29.- it's all bricks and pots. Here on Dibley Stand, there's no
:14:29. > :14:37.way to hide anything - they don't want to. Even the pots are part of
:14:37. > :14:45.the display. What you want to look at are these marvellous, wonderful
:14:45. > :14:50.plants - fantastic ber gone yas. They are full -- bergonias.
:14:50. > :14:54.Everywhere you walk, there are new things to see. The fact it has got
:14:54. > :14:59.that structure means it encourages you to talk to your neighbour and
:14:59. > :15:07.discuss the plants. Well, very few of us could possibly do something
:15:07. > :15:12.like this at home. Over the past 100 years, Chelsea
:15:13. > :15:18.has led the trends and fashions in gardening. It doesn't matter how