Episode 3 RHS Chelsea Flower Show

Good evening and welcome to the Royal Horticultural Society?s

Stand by for a week of glorious gardens as the leading

lights of horticulture present their passion and hard work at

Will their efforts step up to the mark and meet

Across the week on BBC1 and BBC2 we?ll be showcasing the highest

standards in horticulture at this event supported by M+G Investments.

He?s back as a garden designer on Main Avenue!

I?ll be catching up with Alan Titchmarsh to see how he is marking

The stars have also been casting their vote at the show.

Benedict Cumberbatch will be telling us what gardening means to him.

I have only got a roof terrace, but it is such a lovely wonderful,

contemplative place. And we?ll be championing

neighbourhood spirit as we celebrate And the gardens are finished and

there is nothing more that designers can do. They had to leave them

alone, there is nothing more they can do, it is set in stone. We have

seen lots of designers pacing up and down whilst the judges have been

examining them in close detail. They will be better going, having a lie

down and a cup of tea. Tomorrow the judges will have made their

decisions. And we?ll be championing

neighbourhood spirit as we celebrate And the gardens are finished and

there is nothing more that designers can do. They had to leave them

alone, there is nothing more they can do, it is set in stone. We have

seen lots of designers pacing up and And all eyes are on the gardens and

Monday is when the press get a sneak preview of the gardens, flowers and

designs on display. Earlier on, I ventured out to ask them what they

thought of this year's show. You are a young horticulturalist and write

about gardens, what do you make of this? It is incredible. This is one

of my favourites. This year there has been quite a naturalistic

approach to planting. They are planting a lot of pastel colours,

which personally is my favourite planting scheme. I will be tweeting

about this garden and many of the others. You write about gardens

which you run and one of the theme is about young designers like Matt

Keatley who has joined us this year and done this garden. It is

contrasting planting and it is phenomenal and it is great to see

young designers coming through as well. That is what the people

young designers coming through as write about Chelsea think about the

gardens, but what write about Chelsea think about the

celebrities who have come here today? This caught my eye, I

absolutely love it. It is very natural and wild, a bit like my

garden. You come here and you see this and then, let it grow, it is

beautiful. It is such a great event and to day with this weather it is

very rare in England that you think you need a bit of shade. The R.N.

Garden is lovely. It has beautifully planted walls which I find

interesting and the sound of trickling water. And overhanging,

dangerous bits. And a cracking use of glass. Behind us here there are

grasses in between. In the old days people would say it was like having

weeds coming up, but it is lovely. So many people are talking about the

planting. It is so unnatural, the grasses, the Euphorbia and the

irises. A lot of people leaving Chelsea this evening will be

inspired, and they will be saying, I can do this at home.

The three different garden categories being judged here

at Chelsea are the Show Gardens, Fresh Gardens and Artisan Gardens.

These gardens are judged on precise criteria.

James Alexander Sinclair, one of the RHS Judging Panel,

I know you are trying to be transparent and there is a different

judging system this year. In the past the judging system has been a

bit obtuse catering. There are nine separate criteria. You get excellent

could, very good, satisfactory or poorer. You get points for those

things. We end up with a precise number and that tells you what medal

you have got. Does it change each year? A bit like O-levels and

A-levels? We are always looking to fiddle around and change and improve

the judging system. At the moment we have got a good system. We tried

this at Cardiff and now Chelsea. Do the designers get to see the marks

at the end? Yes, each designer will be given a piece of paper and on it

it will say, for my planting design I got very good, for my brief I got

excellent. They will see the areas they need to improve to get a better

medal next year. It sounds like a good idea. Over 100 exhibitors in

the great Pavilion are all aiming for the most prestigious awards. One

lucky notary will be given the Diamond Jubilee award for the best

pavilion exhibit. Yesterday our own Princess of the pavilion, Carol

Klein, chose her runners and riders. And this amazing exhibit has to be a

contender. The very first thing the judges are looking for is endeavour.

How could they have tried harder? There are plants here that are

astonishing. Everything is looking as fresh as a daisy. Two other

qualities the judges are looking for our originality and innovation and

every inch of this smacks of those. This display shows how man can

emulate nature to produce wonderful constructions. How about this

lovely, wicker chair based on a bird's nest. But the most innovative

and original aspect of the entire stand is this centrepiece, a

portrait of Nelson Mandela, and it is composed of these. The rosettes

of South Africa's National Plant, the protea. They have broken off all

the petals to reveal the centre and used each one of those to make this

wonderful picture. How is that for innovation? Another question the

judges ask is how difficult I these plants to grow? All of this is

composed of box. It is indigenous and you will find it up and down the

country. The answer to that is very easy. But to perfect these specimens

to this high standard in some cases takes 25 years of careful cosseting

and work. Another criteria the judges are looking for is what kind

of overall impression does this stand create? In the case of this

stand it is pure drama and absolute impact. What the judges are

interested in is how this stand is put together. Plant associations,

form, texture and colour. I just love this corner. This bright orange

set against the indigo purple. With the hostel in the background it is

beautiful. I hope the judges agree with me. We will find out tomorrow

who got the Diamond Jubilee award. One man in a very different role is

none other than Mr Alan Titchmarsh celebrating his 50 years in

horticulture and the Golden anniversary of Britain in Bloom.

Welcome to my beach hut. Your last exhibit was in 1985 and this is not

to be judged, it is an exhibit. Yes, it is to celebrate 50 years of

Britain in Bloom and 50 years in this career. I started in your

chair. Right up at the back are the Yorkshire moors and Ilkley Moor is

where I was brought up and did my apprenticeship. I worked my way down

the country and ended up on the Isle of White, so the beach bit at the

front is the Isle of White. You have condensed it all into one space very

cleverly. The dry stone walls came down from Yorkshire. I spent a day

putting moors in between. You looked like you were actually loving it?

Somebody asked me what does it feel like presenting and not gardening?

But I garden every day. The Australians have been helping to

build this as well. They had to be involved in Chelsea in one way and

they picked on you. It is an English garden made by Australians. And you

have got one slightly wobbly plant, is that what you meant? They grow

like that, it is a bit of fun. And you are worried about your water not

clearing. The tide is just beginning to come in. Every shell is hand laid

on the beach. And this is all about the anniversary of Britain in Bloom

and it is not all about you. No, it is to celebrate the breadth of the

flora in Britain. It is all here, reminding us of how lucky we are

that we can grow so much. And also the importance of community

gardening and getting together and enriching life. Would you like to be

judged by the judging panel? Not having to go for a medal takes the

pressure off. I brought the medal I won in 1985 to put in the back of

the beach hut. I have got a gold medal already. It is contemporary

and cutting edge. You are breaking barriers here. It is not a garden,

it is an education of two bits of British countryside. I love gardens

I want to be in, not that I want to look at, and I like being in this

one. Congratulations. Everyone and myself, we all love it. In both Alan

and any other garden in the People's choice award, but today the

showground of new faces, and it's my great pleasure to

showground of new faces, and it's my Lovely to see you. Gardening is

something you were introduced to your mother. As a lot of children

are. I spent more time decimating their efforts and my grandparents

before them. Gardens are wonderful things. I live in the city and I

have a roof terrace and I need help with it and I am barely resident for

more than three weeks or a month at a time, but it is a wonderful,

beautiful, content relative outlet for some headspace and to get away

from the pace of the city. Even my patch of garden has been influenced

by what my mum did, patch of garden has been influenced

watches what she did. -- which is what she did. I am picking up tips

but I can't profess any great knowledge

but I can't profess any great involves. What would you love in

your garden? I love wisteria. I think it is just a beautiful thing,

especially with Victorian and Georgian architecture and it is such

an archetypal site in London, so that gives me a thrill when I see

that. Apart from that, there was a problem with one plant which

suffered frost and bad weather. It does show you that even if there is

a small place, terrace, a roof terrace, it shows what you can do in

a small area. You can be very imaginative. We are standing in the

most extraordinary garden. Matthew is only 29. 23. It is extraordinary

the amount of imagination here. The acreage is modest, but it is

beautiful what you can do. There is a great influence this year on the

young designers, the under 30s. It's really impressive. It's always a

heartbreaking moment if the time between -- the tie between the

generations on the other is severed and you don't get that as you get

into your gardening. I am very conscious of doing that stuff with

my mum and dad, because they have been doing it properly for about 20

years with their cottage garden. We will hear a lot more from you and

your mother later run, but that will be on BBC Two. Benedict and his

mother will be joining Monty Don on BBC Two right after this programme,

and you can see what they thought of the show.

In 1964 Britain in Bloom was set up to add some

50 years on, it?s still going strong and inside the Great Pavilion

an exhibit created by a regular to Chelsea, horticulturalist

and designer Jon Wheatley, celebrates this anniversary.

Jon?s display concentrates upon the South West of England

and its involvement with the competition over the years.

We caught up with him last month as he visited the city that has been a

We are actually creating something to celebrate the involvement of

Southwest in Bloom for the last 50 years. It was the first win of

Britian In Bloom, and horticulture has always been high on the agenda.

Bath is a world Heritage city and a beautiful place to live.

The Parade Gardens, they are a major tourist venue, iconic, especially

the 3-D features which have been some of the best in the world.

Really, people just love to see things that are on television,

particularly with the young children. I have stood and watched

young people look at these features and they go absolutely, wow, wow,

wow. The Magic roundabout, what a wonderful opportunity to create

something in 3-D. The wonderful one balls. I remember them going with

our own children to go and see them, and that led to the Herbs.

They were used in Bath last year, and how we will get them to London

is a big challenge. It is not easy to create 3-D

features at all. It's not like planting plants into a horizontal

scale. We are dealing with the vertical scale, which is always a

challenge for anybody in horticulture. They are built on

metal frames and packed with soil and moss, and the plants are planted

in them. They then required special maintenance and culture and watering

and feeding. In fact, you are at one of the highest levels of skill,

halted culturally, which is why it is so important to involve

apprentices -- 40 culturally. That is why we are trying to recreate the

horticultural skill that was lost in the last 25 or 30 years.

For me, 50 years pass, and that is wonderful, all well and good, but

the most important thing is how we can take Britian In Bloom onto the

next 50 years. That is why we are doing the exhibit at Chelsea,

because we want to show people that horticulture is such a wonderful

thing to be involved with. So what does the next 50 years hold for

Britian In Bloom? Yesterday I had a chance to catch up

with Jon as he put We see you here now, and we have

been pressed -- transported to the beaches of south-west England. We

have created North Devon. We tried to represent many of the things we

do in the South West. We grope subtropical plants in the sunshine.

We do these wonderful carpet bedding scenes -- we grow subtropical

plants. We celebrate adversity of the South West. It was difficult to

get in here and I drove in all the way from Bath but we arrived in one

piece. One thing you were talking about in the film was about the

challenge for the next generation, the next 50 years for Britian In

Bloom. How do you think it will progress? I've been involved in it

the many years. It started off with hanging baskets, but now it has

changed will stop its about communities and people and the power

changed will stop its about of flowers. It is about engaging

through schools and youth clubs with young people in this wonderful,

vocational hobby and also the career called horticulture. Growing plants

is one of the most wonderful things anybody can do, and we are working

with groups all around the country to engage young people in producing

food to eat, healthy living schemes and some wonderful projects. We have

some children here to look at the vegetables you have produced. The

cabbages, and the electric pink chard, that was inspirational.

Inspiration is the key. That is what we have to do. I stand behind the

people who look at the exhibits, and the children say wow. It captures

the imagination. Involvement of communities and schools, even this

which has been done by children from Scotland who sent south down for us.

-- stuff down. Are you optimistic for the next 50 years of Britian In

Bloom? It's one of the best things I've ever been involved with and I

hope everybody can get involved throughout the country. John, thank

you. Absolutely beautiful when the light catches it.

The great thing about Chelsea is that it is a hotbed of ideas

If your garden is home to a problem bed or border and you?ve

lost your gardening spark then that?s where gardening presenter and

Last night we asked for you to send in your gardening

dilemmas and since then he has been ploughing through them.

Thanks to all of you who took the time to write in and share images.

As we suspected, a lot of problem gardens out there. An amazing number

of you want to have a bit more privacy or block out the neighbours

to hide an ugly boundary, and to be honest, Chelsea is the perfect place

to do it because all of this was a park a few weeks ago, and now with a

bit of clever design and some masquerade and disguise, you would

never know. This is the Telegraph Garden and it is the perfect place

to address our first customer to my clinic, Debbie Jenkins. I shouldn't

laugh. It is a huge garden but she's made the classic mistake of planting

conifers to take the edge off and hide it. I say it's a mistake,

because if you plant a conifer next to anything, all you get is a great

big green living arrow that highlights it even more and points

to it. The thing you have to do to hide something bigger than yours, is

to put the screen further in the garden. Because of the perspective,

it's closer to you and it hides more behind it. That's exactly what has

been done with these lime trees. You can achieve the same effect with

maybe an evergreen jasmine and you get plenty of height and you would

not need planning permission. Best of all, you would have some sent in

your garden over summer. -- something that smells nice. Next in

the clinic, Matt from Walton something that smells nice. Next in

Thames, his garden is nice enough, the fence panel, but do not plant a

climber and the stems will be bear against the woodwork and all of the

foliage and flowers will be on the top. What you want to think about is

hedging. Whatever you choose top. What you want to think about is

make sure you do not spare the hose in the first year so the roots can

get established. If you do that, you won't go far wrong. If you are after

blooms to brighten up a boring boundary fence, there's no better

place than the Great Pavilion for inspiration. There is no better

plant group than this. Paula in London has a terrace and she wants

climbers back in London has a terrace and she wants climbers back

and. But if you want to claim a test for a breezy situation, whenever you

plant these in a container, the trick is to line the insides of the

pot with newspaper. Particularly if it's up on a terrace. That way the

newspaper will insulate the roots from the harsh effects of the sun.

They hate having hot roots. in solving then don?t forget to mail

us at [email protected] and Toby will see

if he can come up with a solution. It's been an incredibly

exciting day here at Chelsea. The judges have made their minds up,

They exhibitors well, face a long night

Just before we close the evening here on BBC 1, Joe

it is all about explaining it through plants and hard materials.

John Everest, you can really interact with the garden. The

Artisan gardens have shown good craft, and there are three I love.

The Potters garden. I was looking at the topiary garden. There are chess

pieces. I was channelling my inner Alice in Wonderland. My bet for the

Best in show is Ishihara. It's a game changer. Every space has

something to there. These gardens are always stunning. On main avenue

there were three definite goals, and we're standing on one of them, this

is perfection. A hard landscape and it is that Chris kissed I have ever

sleep -- and it is the most crisp I have ever seen. Dina Lohan in the

middle in the second one, but beautiful. -- then a lawn. Every

time I go back to the third one, it's got real depth it gets better

better. I think he's the best plants, and I think he will get Best

in show. Sticking your neck out. We will have to wait to find out.

Well, those are some of our thoughts but we want to know what you think.

All this week we are inviting you to vote for your favourite large garden

To help you decide, over the next three days our Red Button coverage

will see designers Chris Beardshaw and Ann-Marie Powell previewing all

16 of the large gardens that are in the running for your votes.

The first five are available to view by pressing your Red Button.

Gardening is very much at the forefront of Chelsea but another

highlight today is the customary visit paid by Her Majesty the Queen.

She came to see your garden in 2012. She did and it was very surreal. It

was the Teenage Cancer Trust garden. She turned up and asked me

questions and it was a huge moment. She watches the Chelsea Flower

Show, which was an honour. A lot of the designers today have said it is

surreal being on the gardens because they were building sites a few weeks

ago, and then suddenly the Queen did it as well. It's a building site,

lots of noise, and then the cameras turned up, then they turn up and

they stop work and we have just started. It's amazing. You can see a

full report on the Queen's visit by switching onto BBC Two. Where I will

be joining Monty Don. Together we?ll be providing

a fresh take on this year's show which will unearth the details

and provide further analysis on the gardens and exhibits that are

new to Chelsea this year. I'll be back here with Joe

at the end of the week. Let's hope the sign keeps shining

all week. -- the sun keeps shining. Hello, I'm Ellie Crisell with

your 90 second update. Resume the search

for these four British sailors