Episode 2 RHS Chelsea Flower Show

Hello. Welcome to the Royal Horticultural Society's Chelsea

Flower Show. The event, supported by M and G

investments is celebrating its 100th anniversary and we are join

in the festivities through the week. In 1912 nurseryman Harry Veitch

transformed the grounds of the hospital when he staged the The

Royal International Horticultural Exhibition. A year later, the Royal

Horticultural Society stepped in and changed its name and the RHS

Chelsea Flower Show was born. Coming up - show stoppers. We look

at two of the flamboyant Main Avenue gardens, designed to stop

the crowds. Prize-winning plants - your chance to vote for the flower

which symbolises the past 100 years of Chelsea and the far pavilion. It

has been wowing the crowds for 100 years, with many displays. Carol

Klein will look at the face of the changing marquee. Until about 30

years ago, you would never have seen a display of this kind.

So, we are celebrating 100 years here at Chelsea. Can you remember

the first time you came? I remember it like it was yesterday. It was

1984. My brother was working on a garden, a moorish garden. I was

blown away the way that gardening could be exciting. I can remember

the first day I walked through the gates. What about the first time

you designed a garden? It was here on this spot. It was 2001. It was a

wet year. It was sponsored by a shampoo for men with thinning hair.

You did all right then - you've got plenty. It was a baptism of fire. I

had no idea what I was doing and got a silver-gilt. I was pleased

about that. Going back to 1913, would someone like me be allowed

in? Probably not a lot of nurserymen and real gardeners from

country estates and that sort of thing which came here. Today we can

all enjoy it, can't we? It is not raining! There were no gardens on

the Main Avenue. It was home to rows of trade stands, but that

rows of trade stands, but that changed. Today, Main Avenue

provides a stage for some of the most flamboyant gardens. Andy has

been taking a look at a couple of D This garden manages to be

flamboyant. Nothing has been done by halfs in this garden.

If you look at the scale of this and the copper wall behind and this

stone, which runs throughout the garden and gives it a powerful

anchor, which is balanced by some of the top perry. The clipped yous

and these trees which puncuate the design. It draws inspiration from

well known gardens, one in France and the blues. If you look through

at the floi laidge in this garden as well, there were lots of colours

in the leaves which pick out the colours of the stone and the copper.

There is an underlying calmness here, that is from this grey-blue,

which runs throughout the garden. It is superb.

And this garden, designed by Christopher Bradley-Hull for the

Daily Telegraph is a stroke of inspiration.

It takes the inspiration from the gardens of Japan. They can only be

viewed from the outside. You look into the garden itself. Because

there are not people in it, it has a strong sort of zen-like quality

about it. That makes it special. Christopher has also taken

inspiration from the ancient landscape of Britain. That was a

wooded landscape. What happened was man came along, they caved out --

carved out chunks and exotic things amongst them. The field patterns

are represented by the lines which run through the blocks of these

hedges - they are all native plants. Thefpb is taken from -- even this

is taken from oak. The water in this garden - it is intended to be

as if you are flying over and see a river snaking through. You only see

glimpses of it, that is why there are only a few individual pools.

What stands out for me are the blocks of the hedges and this

wonderfully soft planting. They dance about like jewels in all

these grasses. It is really very, very superb.

So, Andy how were the tours? Were they superb? Very, very superb. I

want everyone to know that. A Gold Medal winner yourself. Hopefully

there'll be more tomorrow morning. It is Monday. It is, I think the

most exciting day of the week, because the gates have been open

for the press, we have celebrities - it is a 100-year celebration as

well. There is a special buzz, plus this morning they unveiled a skull

ter by Marc Quinn. It is the first time the RHS have worked with an

artist of note. What will happen for it? It will be auctioned for a

good cause. The first day of Chelsea - the goms have been

allowed in -- gnomes have been allowed in - the first time. They

were queuing at the gates when they were opened. They were allowed once.

It is for a good cause. We have had celebrities painting them - Elton

John being one of them. It will go to a schools appeal. You have to

love gnomes for one week. Will they ever appear in one of your gardens?

No. There have been iconic plants championed at Chelsea since 1913,

so choosing a favourite is no mean feat. That is what the RHS are

asking you to do. To give you a head chance, a team of judges have

narrowed the choice down to one plant per decade. One of the judges,

the plantsman Roy Lancaster has agreed to give us a potted master

class on why each plant got into the final ten. We are looking at

two plants every lunch time. First up is a plant representing 1913-

1922 It is a variety, it is an alpine called Saxifraga tumbling

faces and the visitors to the Chelsea Flower Show in 1920 when

Saxifraga tumbling water was shown for the first time to the public.

I shall never forget my first meeting with it. I was an

apprentice at a local park - in my home town of Bolton, in Lancashire,

1953. This wonderful silver row set burst into a huge flower head, at

least 18 inches long, packed with hundreds of small white flowers.

After the flowers finished the rosette dried up and died away, but

it produced several side rosettes, which we potted on elsewhere. Well

for your favourite plant later. During the stebgond world war many

of the orchid growers were hit hard. There were vast glasshouses

unattended. The loss of these orchid exhibits brought about a new

era of flamboyance. What sort of displays wowed the post war crowds?

Dennis Van Wonderen is here to tell us all. Good afternoon to you.

afternoon. It was all change. What names of the time would have

exhibited at Chelsea? We look at the records. The first florists

here were Longmens and Constance Spry. They came with their own way

of making floral displays. Because the country had just come out of

war, there was little around in the way of sun dris. A florist now can

buy what they need. Back in the day they were struggling to find

containers. Flower shops were displaying things in old, brown

milk bottles. There was a bed pan, something like a fruit bowl and

when we made the designs back then, there was no such thing as floral

foam. So the florists had to use wire mesh. This is copper mess,

because it does not go rusty inside the container. It comes on a roll,

so you just cut off however much you need. That goes in the

container and the flowers are then inserted into the mesh, in the

absence of foam. Something like the big arrangement there is created in

that same way. This is fabulous! Can we create something like this

on a smaller scale? We can start. I have some smaller bits here. We

have done some tiny little pots there. They are very popular at the

moment. Vintage, as it is known, has gone full circle. Back in the

day, they had no other containers, so they were using every day items

from in and around the house. has gone full circle. If you were

getting married, having something like this on every single table....

The brides of today love it. They are very easy to make. You could

easily do something like this yourself. Even me? Even you! If I

could do this, I would be so happy. Perhaps I should start off with

something smaller. Get all the pieces together. I have a little

gathering of all my materials... Look at that already! I have brides

coming in. We had one last year who wanted the whole of this little but

multiplied at least ten or 20 times. You also have something else up

your sleeve. I will show you the Japanese art of flower arranging.

We will be talking ikebana. You are in for a treat. As well as changing

styles in floristtry, the stands have undergone a different of

transformations. Klein has been looking at ways in which -- Carol

Klein has been looking at ways in which exhibiters show off their

plants. Until about 30 years ago, you would

never have seen a display of this kind. Something which ewaited to

our own garden -- equated to our own gardens. Wonderful combinations.

It does not tell any fibs either. The whole thing is plausible, even

if you have a tiny garden with one tree, you could take a chunk of

this home and recreate it yourself. Lovely plants like this - the whole

thing is joyful and wonderful and it is obtainable. It is something

is the sort of thing you may have seen if you walked into the marquee

100 years ago. It is full of colour. It is utterly beautiful and it is

completely in your face. The whole thing is tiered - it is a very

traditional way of displaying such plants and it works wonderfully

well. Gorgeous things like this capitatum here. They were popular

then and they are still popular today. If you think a display like

this is simple and straightforward, it's not. Come and look how it is

done! Look! Not so much smoke and mirrors

- it's all bricks and pots. Here on Dibley Stand, there's no

way to hide anything - they don't want to. Even the pots are part of

the display. What you want to look at are these marvellous, wonderful

plants - fantastic ber gone yas. They are full -- bergonias.

Everywhere you walk, there are new things to see. The fact it has got

that structure means it encourages you to talk to your neighbour and

discuss the plants. Well, very few of us could possibly do something

like this at home. Over the past 100 years, Chelsea

has led the trends and fashions in gardening. It doesn't matter how