Episode 5 RHS Chelsea Flower Show

Chelsea Flower Show, an event supported by M&G Investments. Over

the last 100 years the Chelsea Flower Show has built a reputation

for horticultural excellence. Winning a medal here is the

equivalent of scooping an Oscar, except here everybody wants one of

these, a gardening Golden Globe, it's the biggest honour a designer

or grower can receive. It's judgment day and we have the results. Coming

up on today's show: Gold rush, we reveal the garden designers leaving

Chelsea with a shiny Gold Medal. Cheer cheer -- CHEERING

AND RACHEL DE THAME IS AMIDST THE FLORAL FIGHT AS THE YOUNG FLORIST OF

the excruciating wait to find out who is leaving Chelsea's Centenary

year with a Gold Medal is over. Andy, you've designed quite a few

gardens over the year, what's it like on medals morning? That first

bit, when you're anticipating it, you don't know, it's awful, the

anticipation, is terrible. Once you get the medal and hopefully you can

celebrate, then... Euphoria!The best feeling in the world. You were

never here when I ran round with the medals in our hands. I don't want to

be seen crying on national television. But it must mean the

world? It is. It's just incredible. There's nothing else like it.

lucky for the anxious exhibitors the RHS judges don't hang around

delivering the nail-biting news. Wild horses couldn't keep James

Alexander Sinclair and I from finding out first.

# a kind of magic # We are here first thing because it's

the most important day of the week. It's medals day at the RHS Chelsea

Flower Show. And people are out there biting their nails to the

quick in anticipation that they might get one of these. Or will it

be one of these? Fingers crossed. I'm going to take Main Avenue.

doing the artisan and Ken fresh gardens. Shall we go? Don grach

lagss. Do we -- congratulations, do we get a woop? Woop. That's the best

Apology for the loss of subtitles for 50 seconds

you would expect (! ) Silver Medal, fantastic. Thank you very much

There we go Philip. What a morning. An incredible ten gold medals have

been awarded in the large show garden category this year. That's

more than ever for Chelsea. Now like all the exhibits these gardens

aren't competing against each other. They're judged individually to an

exacting standard by the RHS. In theory, every garden has a chance of

winning a Gold Medal. Now the standards are extremely high here

and every medal award issed a real accolade, be it gold, silver gilt,

silver or bronze. An dip's been looking at the gardens.

The This is a garden where it creates a habitat that brings

creates a habitat that brings wildlife and people close together.

The garden is fed by rain water, all these pools and plants. But it's a

haven for wildlife. On the roof there are habitats for lots of

different vertebrae and all of these plants will attract lots more

creatures. It brings people close up to them. It's a wonderful garden.

Christopher Bradley-Hole's wooded landscape garden also got a thumbs

up from the RHS and was awarded with gold. The windows through time

garden is a centenary garden which looks back at how our gardens have

moved on in the last 100 years. At the back here, we've got plants

which represent the 1900s. On the floor we've got York stone paving,

but it's not old, it's diamond sawn to make it more modern. At the front

of the garden there's a con tem contemporary -- come temporary

sculpture. The East Village Garden was instierd by -- inspired by the

Olympic athletes' village and sprinted home with gold. Adam

Frost's Sowing the Seeds of Change was designed for a small family to

relax, grow their own and connect with nature. It's certainly

connected with the judges because they gave it a gold stamp of

approval. It was designer Chris Beardshaw's agony as an arthritis

sufferer that inspired the garden. The garden is in three parts. Here

the final part is full of exuberant planting. It's optimist being and

looking forward for when you've learned to deal with what you're

going through. The colours here are very different for Chelsea and

that's what makes it so good. Robert Myers' design went native, packed

full the British wildflowers. The colours were striking and the garden

struck gold. The wasteland is a communal garden. The clever thing

about this garden is that it is made from recycled objects. There's a

seat here made out of an old bath. There are screens made from shopping

colies and old mattresses. -- trolleys. You don't see much crazy

paving at Chelsea because otherwise it's thrown in a skip usually. It's

a good use of old materials and ties clever garden.

The judges swooned over this romantically themed garden with the

strong structural framework and beautiful planting. It must have

been love because it was kissed with gold.

You can find out more about all the Gold Medal winning romantic gardens

straight after the show by pressing your red, for love, button on this

occasion. There is one more gold to reveal. It's the garden that's also

won the highly press didgeous Best in Show a award -- prestigious Best

in Show award. Of course, medals day isn't just about the gardens.

There's also been a fair bit of rejoicing in the Great Pavilion this

morning. Carol's been to find out which of the nurseries has been

given the RHS gold stamp of approval.

This must mean a gold again? Yes. . Fantastic. How many is that?

That's not a bad number. Your age Carol. Exactly! I wish! Your stand

looks fantastic. You couldn't have got anything else. Cheers and well

bulbs is one of 62 Gold Medal winners in the Great Pavilion this

year. Let's go and take a look. This won gold and no wonder. It's

just an exquisite stand packed full of treasures. But what makes a gold?

It's not just a question of subjectivity and what you like.

Points are awarded for plants, overall impression and endeavour,

you know all that creativity, use of props, all those factors. They all

have to be perfect to win a gold. I'd love everything on this stand,

but perhaps this plant typifies it all. Never, ever exhibited before,

utter perfection and look at the whole thing, it's just to die for.

If Creek Farm plants was all about green and tropicality this nursery

is all about colour. They've won gold and no wonder. They satisfy

every criteria. The plants themselves are exquisite. They're

all the the peak of their performance. You examine any

individual flower and it's individual flower and it's

have won loads of gold medals but sadly not this year. How do you

feel, Davies? I must admit we're really disappointed. We have put a

huge amount of everything into the stand. But with us the judge ises

always affected by the flowers and if they're open at the time of

judging. If the sun is in, they won't open and it loses us medals.

Two of the most difficult to deal with iris and peonies. I think it's

brilliant. Every picture tells a story stand

it's true, the picture is defer statingly beautiful. The story is

intriguey. -- intriguing. It's not just about ticking boxes. To win

that coveted medal you've just got to have that certain Jen say queue.

-- certain special detail. The RHS have short listed ten plants

to celebrate each of the ten decades of the show. All these plants have

been awarded the status of Plant of the Decade by the RHS. One of these

plants will win the grand title of plant Plant of the Centenary. That

result will be decided by your vote later in the week. To help you

decide every day this week Roy Lancaster will reveal these plants

one decade at a time and explaining why each is considered worthy of

such a title. Today he's reached the Without doubt, the highlight of the

1939 Chelsea Flower Show was a dazzling display of lupins, staged

by the nursery firm of Bakers near Wolverhampton. No ordinary lupins

these, they were the result of a quarter of a searchery of breeding

and select -- century of breeding and selecting by George Russell on

his allotments near York. When it's about his technique, he famously

gave credit to the bumble bees, the lupins natural pollinators.

The Russell lupins set the standard with the long straight spikes well

filled with flowers and a wide range of colours and bi colours. They

received wordwide acclaim. -- worldwide acclaim.

Roy will be back later with another Plant of the Decade. Within of the

things I love about Chelsea is discovering kin dread spirits who

share a love of gardening, like Linford Christie who joins us this

afternoon. Good afternoon. Welcome to the show. Thank you.Delighted

you're here. You're a big fan of Chelsea. You've been how many times?

I've lost count. I was a regular every year I was here. What is it

about Chelsea thaw love so much? It's just, you meet all sorts of

nice people, like yourself of course, and get gardening ideas,

inspiration. Normally when I come I get a new garden I want to do

something to. I believe you have a new garden, haven't you? Indeed.Not

too large, what are your plans? That's why I'm here, to get some

inspiration. There's nothing there at the moment. It's a blank canvas,

which is always great. I've started dotting a few camellias around the

place. I'm just trying to get some sort of inspiration of something I

can do to make it useable and me wanting to go out there all year

round. How long have you had a passion for gardening, was it

childhood? My father, when I came here, he grew tomatoes and sweet

corn and everything else. My job was to take the caterpillars off the

tomato plants, so that put me off! I'm not surprised. I don't touch it

any more. I go for things, you know bushes and shrubs and things and

flowers that are low maintenance. you like designing a garden from

scratch and getting really hands-on? Always. That's the best way. It's a

bit like athletics. It takes a long time, but the end result is always

good. I like to start with scratch. If I move on, then just to know I've

done something here that will last for many, many years to come.

with your gardening going for gold. Always! Thank you very much. You can

see more of Linford Christie tonight on BBC Two at 8pm when he talks more

about his passion for gardening. He will let us tag along as he takes a

tour around the show ground for plant inspiration. Every year the

RHS in conjunction with the British Floristry Association host the

Chelsea Young Florist of the Year competition. This is a fiercely

fought fight. Whilst everything in the garden might look rosy there's a

rivalry for the title. Rachel de Thame is in the Great Pavilion

meeting the fraying yant 16 to 25-year-olds determined to win the

crown. But there can only be one winner.

Earlier in the week, it was wonderful to see the sheer

enthusiasm that these young florists showed as they put together their

displays. Joe Massie is the man to beat. He's won for four years

running. Now at 25, this is the last year he's young enough to enter the

competition. I think there's a little more pressure. At the end of

the day, it comes down to just the piece of work we have to make. A

little bit more pressure, but fingers crossed. I'm dying to know

about the brief for this competition, who can tell me about

it? Basically, it's to celebrate the 100 years of Chelsea. We have to

create a never-ending circle. It's to be inspired by someone or

something associated with Chelsea. My inspiration came from my own

personal experience of the Chelsea Flower Show last year, where I won

my first medal. Then ip thought about all the other exhibitors who

had won over the past 100 years. My colours, I concentrated on the

bronze, silver, Silver-Gilt, gold. Are you hopeful for a medal this

year? Fingers crossed.There are exquisite entries. What do you think

of the standard? It's incredibly high this year. The judges have had

their work cut out for them. There are five gold medals awarded this

year. Picking the actual Young Florist of the Year from those five

is going to be a real challenge. Come on, Dennis, you must know. Are

we having a surprise this year? I think we could be in for a surprise,

but you know, I can't tell you. Let's wait and find out.

Now, it's the moment we've all been waiting for. You've all done

incredibly well in making it to the 100th Chelsea Flower Show final.

Although it's only the fifth year for the competition, it's a

fantastic occasion to be here. The RHS young Chelsea florist of 2013

is... Paula Mcclegan from something is... Paula Mcclegan from something

special flowers. Shock. I don't know what to say.

Speechless? Absolutely.You worked so hard for this, I know. Very, very

many congratulations. Thank you. Thank you so much.

The medals and awards keep on coming. This year, there are 19

small gardens vying for the attention of the judges. Now some

might say these compact spaces are far trickier to design, but they are

packed to bursting with detail and there's no end to the designer's

ingenuity for using the space. Toby Buckland has been taking a closer

look at winners. This year the small gardens are

split into two distinct categories, first, the fresh gardens- outlandish

and creative by design. Six out of the 11 gardens in the category

secured big gold ticks from the judges. The nine billion

conversation asked visitors to contemplate life in our future with

an ever growing population. They won gold. The The Mindfulness Garden was

about providing space for peace and quiet. The sensory bombardment

captured the judges' it tension and took gold.

The BrandAlley Garden got a gold stamp of approval. This was a big

risk with their social media, interactive garden when panels move

from the garden increases, their message of an online world worked

because the garden has gone global with gold. The First Touch Garden

was inspired by the neonatal unit at St George's Hospital London. It's a

reminder that we all start from small beginnings. But it was a big

finish for the garden. The last gold in the fresh garden

category Wednesday to the After the Fire Garden. He's also scooped best

in the category. You must be delighted. Very delighted, very

tired and very relieved. I love this garden. It's one of my favourites.

Thank you very much. Why do you think the judges loved it too?

studied this planting for four years, watching after the fire how

it regenerates. We wanted to translate that into hope for people

who are dealing with cancer, dealing with coming back from chemotherapy

and translate that so they can see nature's amazing ability to come

back. Very beautiful. Congratulations. Thank you very

much. Four artisan gardens won gold this

year. The free hills garden for Wateraid wanted to highlight the

transformation clean water makes to lives in India. The planting, a riot

of colour. It was gold for the brothers Harry and David Rich on Un

Garreg garden. This is only the second show garden they've ever

designed. The motor neurone disease garden spun gold too. The award for

theed best garden in the category went to the Alcove garden, based

around a Japanese teahouse. In terms of the planting and hard landscape

detail, well it's as good as it gets.

There have been 62 gold medals won in total, but one of the gold

winning exhibitors went on to scoop the Diamond Jubilee Award. It's

given to the exhibit that the RHS judges deem to be the salute best in

the Great Pavilion. It was won by Peter for his alliums and amaryllis.

I'm very happy. I'm sure you must be thrilled to bits. It's so richly

deserved, everybody thinks so. How long has the nursery been going?

It's about 105 years old now. have you been exhibiting at Chelsea?

This is my 25th year on Chelsea. a centenary and deebl. Exactly.

Blooms come over from Holland? selected this from about a few

thousand flowers. I bring up here maybe 1500 to 1700 flowers. Half of

it is here on the show. The other half I send back to Holland.

rejected? You have the very boasts of the best. Absolutely.Perfection.

These alliums are just, they're wonderful. They're almost jee

mettic. -- jee metric. This idea, when did it come to you? It started

two years ago. I wanted to do something really special for my 25th

anniversary. I was thinking we would do this now, it's too complicated,

do that now. You hit on the best idea, surely. And the most

complicated for me, to build it up. Yes, but it was worth every second

of it. Thank you so much and congratulations. Thank you very

much. Tuesday at Chelsea is so exciting

and the medals and awards keep on coming. But not all the results are

down to the RHS judges. This year, you get to decide the winner of the

plant Plant of the Centenary. There's a short list of ten, one for

each decade of Chelsea. Every day Roy Lancaster is explaining why each

is worthy of the title. Now he's reached the decade beginning 194 p.

-- 1943. When rhododendron was first shown by

the RHS gardens at the Chelsea Flower Show in 1947, it earned for

itself a FCC, first class certificate from the judges and was

acclaimed by visitors. Its native in the wild in Japan. It's subject to

strong winds and rain. Ideally suited to the British climate you

might say, and so it proved. Its small, compact shape made it ideal

for the small garden. Its foliage in spring, when the young growth

appears like silver furry candles. Flowers are pink in bud opening to

pure white. There are hundreds of hybrids. They come in all shapes and

sizes and colours of flowers, hardy, tough plants for the garden. As long

as you have lime-free, moist but well drained conditions. Roy is back

tomorrow lunch time with two more contenders for the plant of the

centenary title. For more information about the plants and how

to vote, go to our website and follow the link to the RHS. Out of

the 15 show gardens entered this year, there were ten Gold Medal

winners in total. Only one can go on to win Chelsea's Best in Show award.

This is a show garden that the RHS judges have decided is the salute

pinnacle of design and horticulture. We can exclusively reveal that the

winner of the Chelsea centenary Best in Show garden 2013 has been awarded

to the Australian nurses Flemings and designer Philip Johnson and I

was there when they received the news. Good to see you both.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE Boys, congratulations. I don't think

you cheered enough then, did you (! ) You're so restrained. Lighten up.

I think the whole show garden must have heard you. I think everyone

heard us. Right down Main Avenue they heard us. Congratulations.

reason for the excitement is how you handle given us the Gold Medal. You

stage managed it beautifully. You stuck -- snubbing up on it. We were

naught naughty. You've been coming here since 2004, your ninth time.

What took so long to win Best in Show? I'm not quite to your level.

It took me longer than you. We Bring a different designer every year.

This guy has won Best in Show in his first attempt. You are a fantastic

team. Absolutely, we've moved around the corner from each other too.

heard a rumour this could be your last time at Chelsea? It's something

that we've been planning for the last 18 months that this would be

our swan song. We've done it for nine years, which is two more than I

wanted originally. We've achieved what we needed. To get a Best in

Show was icing on the cake. It's time to focus our work back in

Australia and really trying to take horticulture to the next level and

get involved politically. That's where our focus will be in the

future. You'll be back! Have a future. You'll be back! Have a

fantastic week. I've come up with a new design. Congratulations. Thank

you very much. What an exciting morning we've had here at Chelsea

Flower Show. Alan and Joe will be back tonight at 8pm on BBC Two

looking at more detail at the Gold Medal winning exhibits and the ones