Episode 6 RHS Chelsea Flower Show

Welcome to the RHS Chelsea Flower Show an event supported by M&G

Investments. Over the past 100 year, the ground of the Royal Hospital

London have been be sieged, dug up, redesigned an restored over and over

again. For a world famous horticultural hoo-ha. This floral

furore is caused by the Chelsea Flower Show, the crowning Helen

Glover ry and the place serious designers aspire to exhibit. But

just getting to the gates isn't enough. Here it is about the

winning, not the taking part, because every exhibiter wants to

leave with one of these. A covet ed Chelsea gold. It is a very special

centenary medal today but who struck gold in Chelsea's 100th year? Coming

up on the medal winning Chelsea. The Wizards of Oz, Flemings Nursery

revealed the inspiration behind their final show garden. The most

important criteria is to connecting people back with the beauty of

nature. Goldfinger, Carol meets the

exhibitors in the Great Pavilion who always grow for gold We have had 63

gold medals. 63?63. And a sport of gardening. Linford

Christie takes a run round the gardens and shares his passions for

plants. Aren't these beautiful? Well, you could have cut the air

with sectors this morning as Chelsea's centenary results were

revealed. Nicki Chapman and James Alexander Sinclair leapt out of

their beds to be first to hear the exciting news. We are hear first

thing, and why? It is the most important day of the week because it

is medals day at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show.

There are people out there biting their nails to the quick in

anticipation but they might get one of these. Or will it be one of

these? Fingers cross, I will take Main Avenue. And I will do the art

San. -- the arty San.

I don't want to look at it. CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Awesome. Well done mate. We have been awarded best in category.

you. That is a class six underreaction as you would expect.

Silver medal. Fantastic, thank you very much indeed.

-- classic. What a morning, a whopping ten out

of 15 show gardens won gold. That is more gold medals in this category

than ever before. Gold is of course the highest medal that can be

awarded followed by Silver-Gilt, silver and bronze. All the exhibits

are judged on their own merits, so in theory every one has a chance to

leaf here with a gold. Chelsea maybe seven brating its

centenary but rewind to 2013 and golds were a rarity, only one was

awarded across the whole show back then, and it went to John Wood, for

his rock garden. How things have changed. 100 years

and it is a gold rush. We went to take a closer look at three gardens

When I first saw this garden I was in no doubt it would get a gold

medal. It sings out. The plants are beautifully put together. As you

would expect from plants man Roger plait who has grown them to

perfection in a difficult Chelsea year. All his gardens have a

signature theme of beautiful planting but a lovely comfortable

feel about then that the visitors to the show love. It is one of those

gardens you want to take home and have in your own space. He has taken

onboard the theme, but he has done it very well, without having to

force the issue too much, so we are going 100 years back, this wall and

the win we do The Ivy growing through it. It is dating back to

1913, plants like the rhodendrons and the maples giving plenty of

structure. I love the Myrtles. Anchoring the oak summer house to

the ground, and they are reflected by the since us the. When it comes

to colour, he has got rose, and tell fin yums and those wonderful

glorious plants that we like to use, and this lovely flower. I know he

wanted that in flower, but it hasn't come good. It hasn't affected the

medal. At the front we have this rusty steel sculpture which is

echoed in the plants. So, Roger has done it again, and he

has made a beautiful garden, a well deserved gold.

Stunning informal planting there from Roger, if you retired of

gardens that are slabs and square, then this one will appeal too. I

spoke to the designer who said the trouble with small gardens is very

difficult to do curves in them. They have managed to succeed here, this

is the east village garden. It is inspired by the Queen Elizabeth

Olympic Park which is being turned over to housing. It is in the Leigh

valley, famous as a growing place, before it became the Olympic Park

and village. This is dominated by a wonderfully sins youly curving

stream down the middle. Mar re-Louise told me the secret is to

use small paving unit, which is why the path is made up of small brick

s, but I love the construction, from that curving sort of fan shape at

the top which is glazed and with the round seat, so the stream comes down

with this black lining and these copper spouts, which disgorge their

load into a series of fan shaped shelves down here, running right

down past this fabulous planting of lily, stark white trumpets standing

up in the middle. Contrasting with the water. Rhodendrons from ex

Britain and all the water making its way down and disappear ing through a

hole in the ground. This is not a garden that is going to go down the

plug hole in a hurry. Back in 2011 Robert got a

Silver-Gilt Medal at Chelsea, and I have to say, I doubted the judges

decision there too, we were worried we wouldn't see him for a while. He

is back with a bang. This is a stunning garden, gave the judges no

choice, a gold medal throughout. And what he has done is create a

minimalist contemporary stylish garden here, this L shaped deck

wrapping round, and in the water countering acting and wrapping round

the other side. What he tried to do with the planting is show what you

can do with native plant, you don't have to go wild, you can manicure

them and make them sit beautifully in a contemporary space. So we have

the field maple hedge on that side, on that boundary and here we have

the multi-stemmed trees erupting out of this border. In this central

sunken space, I love these box mounds, he calls them pillow, they

have been clipped into this shape. It was an accident. Back at the

nursery they got frosted and they got cut hard back, and that gave the

inspiration to a lot of the shape throughout the garden. So it has

been picked up over here, on this boundary, these have been routed out

of plywood board and we have this sculpture churl element. A pergola

here, and sculpture churl element of polished concrete ball, so this

year, he has come back, with a vengeance, got himself a well

deserved gold medal. Great gardens. We are asking all of

our presenters their memories of It goes back a long way. Rock

gardens were all the rage, so for me it was the rock bank, the huge

boulders and cascading waterfall, I remember that vividly, that must be

late 60s, 70s. Give your aim way.I don't mind. She was carried in. I

was tiny, a babe in arms, and also the marquee, that flapping of the

canvas, like a big sailing ship, sail. Are there bit yous Gou to

every year that are favourite spots? Yes, I try and do it all. And then

it is too much and you can't take it in, but I still love to go and see

the plant, I think that is just, being able to compare one Iris with

another, and look at all this the tulip s and taking that colour and

look at things in debail -- detail. Fantastic. You regard it as a living

plant catalogue, if you want to choose your tulips, they are all

there, I don't like that, I like that. From a catalogue you don't get

that. You can see them in the flesh so to speak, they give you lists and

you tick off the ones you want. Mine isle always so full of ticks of all

the things I would like the buy. They have a nifty idea. You don't

pay till autumn then you get the bill! "Did I have all those? "

a garden in 2008. That was an extraordinary expense. It was a

small forward none the far corner over there. -- garden in it was an

eye opener, I truly appreciated what goes into making a garden. You know

the logistics, the preparation, the research, the whole thing getting,

keeping your team together heartache. Absolutely. But I was

incredibly proud of it, I knew how much, body and soul had gone into

that little garden We have some footage, we have dug it up, of Carol

taking a look round Rachel's 2008 She has used roses in an innovative

way. She has built terraces made of slate and inspired by paddy field,

these wonderful tier, one-on-one, it is a beautiful idea to copy if you

have a small garden, when you love growing roses, I think it works

wonderfully. It is lovely to ea it again. Look, I brought my medal.A

silver medal. It is there. Lovely to share your memories. Well Linford

Christie is to stranger to winning gold but you are more likely to find

him potting up in the greenhouse these days, than warming up on the

track. He has been coming to Chelsea for 15 years for inspiration, he

allowed us to tag along as he set I am here because I am trying to be

inspired. I try to come twice a year. First day of course, I look

round an see what is going on, the last day when you can buy the plant,

I have a new garden, totally blank canvas, it is a lot of straight if

my fence. I want, I think it is nice, there is a lot of things I

would like in my garden. I love the garden It is a family garden so it

is created for family that want a garden, but they have got kids, they

have kids that are about 12, 13, 14, just at that moment when gardening

stops being cool and you have to be 60 plus to garden. But they want

their kids to understand not only about nature but they want to

understand where their food comes from. So it is breaking it into

three simple spaces. We have a lawn area, a beehive and fruit trees that

carry back over the garden, cooking area, and then at the back you have

the big old table, it is under to spend time together and put their

mobile phones down and maybe talk to each other. It is about getting the

kids understanding nature, if they understand nature, they will

understand more about the world, and understand more about the world, and

what is going on. That is true. Isn't it amazing the buzz going on

here. Considering it is not top story the public as yet. There is so

many people, all these are members of the RHS, these are people really

interested in gardening. It is amazing.

I think every garden should have a bit of sculpture in it. That is my

kind of thing. Me and the kids! I'm a lawnmower man! Love it. I've cut

the grass and put some stripes in it. That's me. Aren't these

beautiful? If I move from here to there, the weather changes because

I'm going over to Trinidad and Tobago. It's really nice. There's

lots of things here that reminds me of when I was in the West Indies.

You are responsible for this, I take it? Yes. I did the design and

everything. It was inspired by one of our most famous artists. I tried

to incorporate a little of where we came from and where we are now with

the various tropical flowers that we grow. I see you have got a gold.

Yes. Is that a real gold?It is! impression. What did you make of it

this year? I thought it was quite good. There seems to be a lot more

new things and different ideas than previous years. It refreshes itself

every year. You have been coming quite a while. How keen are you?

absolutely love it. It's nice to come along and get ideas and get

inspiration, and see what people do. And see things that you normally

think wouldn't be achievable. You get here and you realise they can be

achieved. So it raises your aspirations. What got you into

gardening in the first place? accident. When I was very young, my

father used to grow tomatoes and sweetcorn is. My job was to pick the

caterpillars of the tomato plants. Not a good job! Do you still grow

veg? No.It put you off for life? did! At one point, I was told that

if I looked after the garden, they would sell me the house. And I did.

I looked at all the books, tried to learn the Latin names, went to the

garden centre. If you know the Latin names, it makes you look like you

know what you are talking about. what have you got? Allsorts.Are you

as disciplined a garden as you are an athlete? I think you have to be.

In athletics, you have to be patient. You have to be, and if you

are patient, the race will run quite smoothly. It is the same thing. If

you put a plant in the garden, you've got to water it and be

patient, and you get the end result. One thing that would never crossed

my mind is that you need patience in athletics. Is that where you need

the training plan, not to rush things, to be patient? Jedinak yes,

because if you rush a race, you will never run as fast as you would like

to. With your stride pattern, you have got to wait patiently for one

likes to hit the ground, for your stride to come through. You are one

of the fastest man on no legs. Do you still run? No. I am about three

stone heavier than I used to be. They do say that gardening is a

great way of keeping fit. We welcome you from the world of athletics to

the world of gardening. Cheers!At the heart of the Chelsea show stands

the Great Pavilion. This canvas covered plant carnival has seen its

fair share of medals over the years. In petals are an appetite for

insects to be a success. This year, this gentleman wanted to bank is

dub-dash his 15th RHS Gold. Is this your highest gold today? Yes, it is.

You are knee deep in them. They looked absolutely stunning. What do

they live? What do they live off? -- what did they eat? They are all

coniferous. The largest ones are big enough to catch mice and rats, in

some cases. Incredible. Which ones, over the years, have you been able

to really rely on bringing to Chelsea? The best one has been the

big green one at the back there. It is very reliable. It is an old

plant, about 30 years old. It is a stunner. And your personal

favourite? This one here. It is named after my wife. And this one

here, the monkey cup, is named after my daughter. It adds a different guy

mention. And are they easy to grow? They do not look easy to grow.

do not look easy. One of these is an easy one, you can do well in your

kitchen and garden with this one. This one will take a temperature as

low as -20. They are a off than they look. -- a lot tougher than they

look. Hope to see you next year. Out of 113 nurseries competing for

medals here, this year, 60 21 gold. For some, it will not be there

first, and almost certainly will not be their last. Carol Klein went to

take a look at a closer look at plants grown not by green fingers

dynasty, the family engaged in growing these beautiful flowers.

When was the first year that blondes exhibited at Chelsea? The first time

was in 1948. My father started Chelsea off, and we have been there

ever since. Since then, we have had 63 gold medals. 63? That is

tulips. Which one do you choose? If you want to start with a winner, how

about something like this orange sun. It is a Darwin hybrid, and they

are known for being long-lasting. I grow nearly all my tulips in big,

clay pots, but that is because I have such heavy, solid soil, but

tulips really don't like it. They prefer something that is free

draining and always out in the sun. If you grow them in pots, they will

thrive and give you the most favourite at Chelsea, and this

year's Gold Medal makes it the full 20. It is particularly poignant

because Peter died earlier this year, so the whole stand is a

tribute to him. It is based on a medieval abbey, a wonderfully

romantic setting, with his incredibly romantic Rosing foot --

roses. Peter Beal is known for producing beautiful shrub roses, and

I roses that go up in the air, like these climbers. There are true

climbers and there are rumblings roses. Things like this rambling

Rector. If you have got the room, you have got the space. If there is

a host, you can just let them go, climb up into the trees and do their

thing. If you have to keep them slightly within bones, remember that

they flourish on old wood. They call this stumping. You take your

secateurs and go right the way along and cut off the old flowers. Johnnie

Walker has been growing daffodils since he was a lad in short

trousers, and this is his 20th Gold Medal consecutively at Chelsea. How

do you achieve something like that? Jonny knows his plans intimately. He

knows them -- he grows them beautifully and displays them

meticulously, whether it is something simple and straightforward

like Golden Joy, or something glorious and voluptuous. Winning

gold at Chelsea is all about devotion. It is about loving your

plants and wanting to show them off medal winning Chelsea Flower Show.

Coming up, designer Ann-Marie Powell takes a look at the small gardens

with big ideas. I think this is a wonderful space, and I am not

surprised it won a gold. We talk to the designer who has won Chelsea's

most prestigious garden award. Congratulations to Peter! And a

Welsh stand up of approval. Rob Brydon explains why he is passionate

about Chelsea. The first year, it was something that never appealed to

me. I came, and it was wonderful! There is nothing in the garden more

British than a carefully clipped hope you read. As a nation, we have

been boxing clever with our garden snips for years, and it is always a

regular sight at Chelsea. It was top television news in the 1920s and

caused quite a stir! Clipped bushes and topiary made a neat show.

the excitement for topiary took off at the very first Chelsea show in

1913, mostly because of the man called, and you are not going to

believe this, Mr Cutbush. To celebrate 100 years of clipped art

at the show, Chelsea is replicating what his stand would have looked

like. Tell us about this man. amazing. He was a real slogan. He --

he was a real great man. His slogan was, cut bushes! All you need are

individual oak barrels, cuts down the grass, and there they are. The

art bit was the actual plant itself. Is it true that you used to be a

hairdresser? It is true! It is a short shift, cutting hair to cutting

bushes. I John Wood and shapes on this side. What do you call that

snake thing? It is a cloud proof hedge. It is contrast it with all

these horizontal lines that are much more formal, just to get the

contrast. When it comes to doing shapes, things like the anchor or

the peacock, what sort of time are we talking about to create those?

depends if you have a multi-stem or a single stem. The single stems are

much longer and much classier. You have just the one. With multi-stems,

you have lots, and they race up. This is a man who really has fun. Do

you go out and clipped people's hedges? Absolutely, yes! That is

more exciting because you go into a garden and nobody has put a stamp on

that garden, so you have the opportunity to do at interesting

things with it. And what does it suggest? Congratulations on this

medal. It is a fascinating thing. There is so much water culture or

history in the Great Pavilion. There really is nothing like it, and that

is why people come back year after year. People come back all the time.

Hilliers nursery is one of them. They have walked away with gold

every year since 1947, and they hope the centenary show will be no

149 years old, so we are half a century old than Chelsea Flower

Show. Hillier was founded in 1864. It started down on Winchester high

Street, at a small florist and seed shop, and it has grown into what it

is today. At this stage in the game, the most important thing is

getting the job done, getting that exhibit built, and actually walking

away from it feeling that you did the best you possibly could, and it

is a showstopper. Hillier has introduced new plants over the

years, and also, we have changed the way we grow and sell. Container

growing in the past 30 years has become the way that people buy

plants. They want something that looks good when they buy it. They

want it to make an instant impact in their garden, so maybe, rather than

sending a group of men out with spades to lift and root ball a tree,

and then actually lift it onto a lorry, you grow it in a pot in the

first place, in the right compost, under irrigation, and then it is

much easier to move by machine. You reduce your manhandling. The most

important person in the exhibit is Ricky, he is responsible for the

preparation of all the plant material for the show.

Also the cornice, they look They are better than they were last year

because of the later season. I never rely on specific plants because you

never foe what they are going to go. However, at the 11th hour, they are

always surprises. -- there are. And sometimes there is something that

Ricky's just brought along to the show, because it happened to be

looking good at the moment, and that ends up being the one which steals

ends up being the one which steals that particular Chelsea Flower Show.

When it comes to designing any planting scheme for a garden,

everybody thinks about flowers but in fact in a garden, you know, most

of the colour comes from foliage. It is the enduring factor, particularly

in that middle layer of the planting picture, you have trees up there and

you have got this stuff down here, which is, that is the part of the

garden, the small shrubs where we spend most of our time messing

round, the pit we look at in the middle is the bit that goes flat and

green half way through the year. In most cases, you add more foliage

interest in that layer and you will bring your planting the livful

-- life. We try do something different every year, so a start

with a theme and build on it. This year it is more adventurous, I am

using contemporary accessory, I intend to use whacky planting

combination, people like the soft pinks andly lacks and the feel --

lilac, and the feel good colours but some times we do colour, which is

what I like to think of as a bit risky, so we put hot orange and pink

together, with red foliage and shots of blue coming through it. That is

something that I really want to play with this year. Our theme is risk,

and I want to take a few risks with and I want to take a few risks with

colour. Hillafter -- Hillier are in the

Guinness boobg of of world records as holders of the most consecutive

gold medals at Chelsea Flower Show. It is important we maintain our

record and somewhere along the line it would be nice to have our 68th

consecutive gold. Who knows? Maybe the exhibit won't deserve it and

that is the way you have to look at I want I just hope at the end of the

day we believe it is a great day we believe it is a great

exhibit. Congratulations on your gold, you

have your 68 now, consecutive. have. A lot of people say don't you

just ex pict expect it? No, you don't. It is always a bit

nail-biting and no more so than this year, because it has been a

challenging spring for everybody, you know, I think it is remarkable

that the show looks as good as it does. Your stand looks astonishing,

you brought the colour in in your furnishing and dare I say your

apparel. I say you should dress to match your plans. You have! Looking

at the silver birches, they just about brush the top of the Great

Pavilion. They do indeed. These trees have come into leaf

beautifully, because round the show, you know a lot of trees are

reluctant to put on foliage this year, and we guessed the height of

these, you see them on the tree line on the nursery, you think, yes, that

will fit, no problem, then when they come off the lorry in here and you

walk them up right and put them in position, there was a few worrying

moments as to whether or not they were going to make it. We will have

to take the top out and will they look dreadful? You can't do that,

and I don't think the lads would have been too appreciative if I

wanted to send them home. We have favourite, there are plants that

come back every year, that is lovely to see, because they are old friends

in a way, but you do seem to have to find a new and novel way of putting

them together. Is that what the challenge is for you? It is. Chelsea

happens in the third week in May, so there are the things which are

performing at this time like aazaleas and maples, so you are

reinventing it by finding different colour combinations and in a way

that is what it is like in the garden. Choosing the sort of

familiar readily available plants and putting them together in the

right way for best effect. Why is Chelsea so special for you? Well,

Chelsea, I don't know what it is about Chelsea. It is sort of an

event during the year, which I think sort of reinvigorates your interest

and passion for horticultural. Horticulture, sometimes you get

jaded, thinking "Why do I do this? "You walk in and when there is no

stopping it and the plant also roll in and it has to happen within a

week, I suppose it is that adrenaline kick that makes it

happen. Many congratulations.Thank you. It is true to say the large

show gardens a tract most of the attention on medals day. The 19

smaller gardens still pack a punch. An Marinos more than most the

stresses of planning and designing a compact space. She has been there,

got the T-shirt and clinched a gold in 2010. So we sent her out to see

what she thought of the line up this year. The small gardens are so

important, because they give us the ideas that are easily transferable

into our own gardens at home. Chelsea has two categories of small

garden, there is fresh and artisan. The design here has made use of

every single inch of space. We have this tier of planting. The attention

to detail is lovely. These beautiful mounds of moss and the trickle of

water cascading through the space. There are some wonderful specimens

in this place, the heart of garden, marking the entrance into the tea

house. Isn't this garden absolutely joyful?

After the long winter that we have had, a bit of colour like this is so

very welcome. The message is the importance of clean water to

communities in India. You might be wondering what that is?

But it's a really clever rain water harvesting store, now when I was

younger I spent a good six months in India, living with an Indian family,

and this garden takes me straight back there. I am not surprised it

won a gold. Now the fresh garden category is a

relative new category at Chelsea of small gardens. It celebrates

innovative, new and fresh in garden design spheres, I love this gold

medal winning garden. The mindfullness garden. It is an

explosion of vitality, and just here, through this tube, you have an

encryption on slate, which is all about all the busyness of life round

you, but within that finding a moment of silence, a treat.

Something my boyfriend would not believe I just said!

Now as an avid Tweeter I love this garden by Halffleet. Every time you

tweet RHS Chelsea on the garden it controls the panel, allowing you a

sneak into the wonderful planting behind. Now this the planting style

is very exhuberant, frothy and fluffy, very very Chelsea, but when

these screens open, we have the very lush Verdant tropical planting that

lies beyond. Now this garden is not only my

favourite garden and exhibit of the show, but it won the best fresh

garden in its category, and a gold medal.

The garden is called after the fire. We have all of the sticks coming up

out of the ground, creating such a sense of energy, and you can almost

feel the blaze that would have been burning through here. This exploring

the regeneration of nature and its incredible about to do so, so

beautifully. I love the texture and the contrast and the Thierriness of

the whole space. This wonderful, the fresh, the creative, its innovative

and it does encompass everything the fresh gardens are all about. I

wonder what the judges back in 1913 would have made of the fresh garden

category. Love them or hate them, this show has never shied away from

controversy and big ideas. It recognises young talent. This year

20-year-old Jack Dunckley is making his debut. This is his first Chelsea

garden called Juxtaposition. Lovely to see you Nice to be here.You were

14 and now you are here, living the dream at Chelsea Very happy.How do

you feel? Brilliant. Amazing. Tell us about the garden This is

Juxtaposition, it is based on two different sides. On this side, very

lush, so we have steamy tropical planting, there is thing things like

lilies, tropical plants. It looks bold and Jungly. On the other side?

A contrast, we have a desert with love lovely yucca, off set by sand.

The spiky forms and space between them. You can feel the dry arid

desert. In contrast to the other.I love the screen, the way you have

divided it They are perspex.They look like they have holes in them

They are just printed. You have a Silver-Gilt. How chuffed do you

feel? Amazing from my first time here it is a great achievement.

is lovely to see you, next year, what do you think? Main Avenue?

would love to be, I would love to go to Main Avenue, if you know any

sponsors. I will send them your way. Well done, you have done a great

job. John Van Hage was the youngest garden designer to win gold and Best

In Show in 1991 with his Forgotten Pavillion garden. He was 25. So

Jack, you have are more years to top that. Chelsea has nurtured new

talent. It has the power to whip non-gardening types into a

horticultural frenzy. Rob Brydon is no exception. Yesterday, I asked him

why he loves Chelsea. : Rob, you are becoming a regular, how long have

you been coming? We were trying to do the math, our fifth year.

being? . Me and my career, or my wife as she is also known. We loved

it. The first year, it was something that had never appealed to me. And I

came and you go wow. Blew you away? Yes, so I keep this Monday free,

because I want to come. So gardens like this, this lovely stream going

down the middle, is this your sort of garden? This is the sort of thing

we like, love a bit of water. I like the kind of wild feel, you know, of

lots of flowers, not being too neatly arranged but lots of things

popping up. There are lovely trees we are only doing under. What appear

-- appeals to me is good line, like these curves, but within them, the

trees you have to dodge round. the lines seem natural, the curve,

they are mimicking nature, they are gorgeous, last year we were here,

and we were looking and there was somebody did a lot with dry stone

wall. We liked that. We were wanting to revamp our garden so we took a

few of the ideas, and we had this wonderful designer, Ross Alan came

in and he has put some, this great, it is like a piece of art, because

it is a big section of dry stone wall at the bottom of the garden. It

has water coming out at the bottom. And just, it sounds silly, but you

can look at the dry stone wall like you would a piece of art, it is

fascinating to look at. When you get the softness of the planting round

it. It is fantastic. This is great to hear. A busy man, stand up all

over the country, apart from film and television work, you find the

garden great solace Relaxing, more and more as you get older. I am sure

people will identify with it. To be able to go and sit out surrounded by

nature, but also close to the fridge, is, you know, that is the

ideal isn't it. Do I take it from this that these hands are quite

soft? I don't know what I am doing. People ask me what is your favourite

plant. We have some allium, I love those. In fact, I am going to ask

him to bring more, I have spotted alliums here, beyond that and a

daffodil I am lost. When people say what is Rob Brydon like, I will say

he knows his onions. I got into trouble in the pavilion. A lady came

up to me From the National Association of Flower arranging.

said we were rude arrangement. We were rude about Nikki's version. So

we love your arrangement. We love this one here, a fabulous

arrangement in a sieve. Isn't that gorgeous. There is a bit of mint in

there. Thank you, Judith Blackmore flower School. Over in the Great

Pavilion, gold-medal winning -- gold-medal winning nurseries are

competing to win the Best In Show. It is called the Diamond Jubilee

Award. Toby has taken a look at why one exhibit over all the others have

taken the prize. The Diamond Jubilee Award is given for the best display

in the Great Pavilion. The winner is chosen by the moderators and

chairman. This year, the display that scooped up the honours is quite

and alliums, have created a stand of beauty, which is something the

judges look for, as is plant quality. But it was the wow factor

that clinched it for the Dutchman. The design of the plant is based on

a film set. This is like a lighting gantry, but where there should be

lamps, Amaryllis Hang. That is quite a brave move, because Amaryllis are

usually plant bulbs that look up at you. It is a great way to compare

all the different varieties, of which there are new ones coming out

every year. The days when Amaryllis were just white or pillar box red

are long gone. There are so many types. You have got bicolour forms

like apple blossom. You even have doubles like white and green nymphs.

Each one kept hydrated by a top up of water down the stem every night

when the visitors have gone home. It is the alliums that are particularly

stunning. They are displayed in square boxes, breaking away from the

northern -- the normal way, which is in circular tubs. I love this layer

cake effect of one flower on top of the other. That is not natural.

Alliums grow in drifts. But still, the explosion of petals and the

natural beauty just shines through. The effect is one of effortless

perfection, but the work that goes into getting alliums species that

flower at different times during the summer all out at once is just

incredible. That, combined with the innovative design and the sheer

plant perfection, is the reason why the Diamond Jubilee Award is so

richly deserved. A lot of happy faces, and a lot of happy faces on

the gardens. Ten gold medals. Such as Chris Beardshaw. Chris Beardshaw

got the goals, as you would expect. He has been trying for gold for

several years. Nigel has done it this year. Christopher Bradley-Hole

as well. He is a legendary garden designer. Cutting edge. The British

should be crowd of him. He has combined Japanese garden designed

with a fantastic garden. It has grown on me big time, that garden.

Another wonderful garden from Sweden there. I is the modernists of it,

but also it has softness. It is his kind of palate as well. A few

oranges in with the blues and greys. We also have this wasteland. People

are calling at the shopping trolley garden. Lots of recycled materials.

A great garden theme. There is a bath cut in half. And Adam Frost.He

is a fantastic garden. He has 100 square metres of plants in there. He

was really worried about it, but it has come good. The apple tree has

held onto its blossom. For the last eight years, Australia has been

represented in the show gardens by Flemings Nursery. Sadly, 2013 is to

be their very last year, but they are determined to go out with a

billabang. The owner chose Phillip Johnson to design his final garden.

He looked to nature for inspiration for sustainable ideas. Last month,

we caught up with them in Philip's garden, as they prepared to set off

pinnacle of horticulture throughout the world. It is the Olympics, the

Ashes, the Academy Awards for horticulture. We get a lot of media

back here in Australia for building one garden in London. The reason we

have done it is to really showcase the Australian horticultural

industry back here in Australia. Over the last eight years, I have

been fortunate enough to work with some of the best designers this

trade has got to offer. In 2013, I have the pleasure of working with a

young, up and coming landscape designer called Phillip Johnson.

What is amazing about our Chelsea garden is the inspiration I had is

actually my own garden here in limbo, just of Melbourne. I wake up

in the morning, I have this beautiful misty valley to look down

into. When I design a landscape, the most important criteria now is

connecting people back with the beauty of nature. I find that when

people walk around one of our incredible habitats, they respond to

the issues that are affecting this world. They want to make the right

decision. They want to source sustainable products. They want to

be off the grid from power. We have used a whole range of sustainably

sourced materials. Our stone has come locally from quarries. Our

timber is sustainably sourced from throughout Australia. I am fully

self-sufficient from water. What waterfalls, I am capturing. The

driveway run-off, the roof water, is all stored and reused on this

property. 2013 will see the end of the Flemings' involvement at the

Chelsea Flower Show. This is our ninth garden and we thought we would

go out with a bang. Phil Johnson has designed a garden that is

absolutely, quintessentially edge of the river, so when the rains

return and the river floods, these billabongs on the edge of the river

are punished. They come back to life. They are full and rich in

biodiversity. Then the dry season returns, and they slowly dry out.

Another thing I love about this billabong is it is a natural

swimming pool, so no salt or chemicals are being used in this

system. That is something I am trying to inspire around the world,

how we need to work against using chemicals in these environments,

because it works against nature. What really excites me about the

garden this year is the Australian natives. The whole palette is as you

would find here, just in our natural environment. We have these most

beautiful Dicksonia antarctica, or the soft tree fern. We have the

rough tree fern, cyathea australis as well. Some of these tree ferns

are in excess of 200 years old, so I have designed my landscape around

these incredible plants. Is there a better way to end the Chelsea

experience, or our involvement in it, and taking a natural bush

environment garden to demonstrate, or to show the rest of the world...

How beautiful this country is? amazing. I couldn't wish to a better

finish to our involvement at Chelsea.

Wes Fleming and the Australian team awoke to the incredible news that

not only have they won gold, but they have won a special Centenary

Q? Incredulous! Could you believe it? I could not believe it. After

nine years, I did not think it could be possible for an Australian garden

to win Best In Show. We were blown away. What is wonderful to see is

that this is basically your own back garden. It is like my own home in

Victoria. I can't believe you live in surroundings about this. Tell us

about this studio. Our studio is extraordinary. My mother lived in

London years ago. She met my father at the airport after returning. They

got engaged that evening, and he gave her a flower. We worked with

the geometry of that flower. have even managed to bring the sound

of the frogs. I the sound of frogs. One late night in my garden, I had a

candle, -- a camcorder, and I was recording the frogs to bring to

Chelsea. It is just beautiful for people to hear the experience in

Britain. Mad as a box of frogs! Is this really going to be your last

Chelsea? Yes, it is, unfortunately. I am going to miss it, but it is

time. With what we have achieved over here, raising our profile and

the industry's profile... But we have to move on. We have to use what

we have learned back home to improve our own environment. We are going to

miss you so much. You have brought a breath of fresh air and a degree of

warmth to the show, where we desperately need it. And this one is

so reminiscent of Australia, the real Australia. This seems to me to

be your homeland brought here. is. I heard some people in the crowd

before saying, this isn't Australia. I had to pull them up. I had to say,

this area is like where we live, a Western Australia and wildflower

meadow. Given its modern twist, we have this snake, the billabong,

which rises and falls with the rainfall. It is a natural pool. And

the sustainability is very good. Absolutely. We harness the water off

your rooftop to sustain the billabong. The timber is sustainable

use sourced. We capture power when the sun comes out. We sourced the

rocks local to the UK. We did not bring them across from Australia. We

worked with your remarkable stone from throughout the UK. Wonderful to

see the rock. I am going to put this back in your hands. I know you do

not want to lose it. Nine years of cure Antipodean pleasure. What a

fantastic end to an emotional, roller-coaster day here at Chelsea.

What do you think of the winning gardens? You can have your say by

voting to your favourite show garden at the RHS People's choice award. To

take part, go to our website and follow the link to the RHS. We will

announce the results on Saturday on BBC Two at 7pm. That is all from

tonight's Chelsea. We will be back tomorrow on BBC1. Joe and I will be