Episode 8 RHS Chelsea Flower Show

Hello and welcome back to the RHS Chelsea Flower Show, supported by

M Investments. After last year's centenary celebrations, this event

is stepping firmly into the 21st century. But how fresh and forward

thinking are the ideas here? We'll be taking a closer look at some of

the gardens to find out. As well as seeing how young blood is

pushing the limits here at Chelsea, we'll be looking at how global

exploration past and present has shaped the way we garden today. But

also on the show: We'll take a walk with designer Jo Thompson through

some of London's secret gardens. James Wong discovers a Victorian

carrying case that revolutionised our gardening heritage. It looks

like a greenhouse but is really like an escape pod from a sharesship. And

design duo Thomas Heatherwick and Dan Pearson will be giving us an

alternative look at what Chelsea has to offer. It's hard to believe that

that's a real plant at all. It was medals day yesterday but there was

one special medal awarded today, sunflower award, given to Alan

Titchmarsh for his garden and also for 50 years in gardening. 50 years

in horticultural, congratulations Alan. You must be running out of

room on your lapel for another badge. Congratulations. What's

interesting is that the newspapers have been full not of experience and

age but youth. I know! And too many young men and not enough young women

designers. He's a bit of a rock star of the guardening world. That's

great, but what does it mean to him? Is it going to make his career? He's

made an impact here, won a gold medal. People cut their teeth at

Chelsea and have moved on from there. You have to set up a

business, a design practice, to get out there and get work. This is just

a starting point I think. Would it not have been a bit better if you

had got a silver gilt like the Rich brothers and then there wouldn't be

that weight of expectation. The Rich brothers will want to come back and

get that gold, as they are hungry for it, as you can see. It is like

investing in a football team, do we want to win it next season or the

year after? You've got an opportunity to win this year and get

that gold medal you are going to take it, aren't you? You would

certainly take it I would if I got the chance. Two of the gardens here

take elements from a part of the world rarely visited in inspiration

for garden design. While it is tempting for designers to look at

the formality of Italian gardens or the quintessential English cottage

garden, two designers have taken a fresh approach. They've looked to

the northern hemisphere. This garden is called the Extending? Space,

designed by Nicole Fischer and Daniel Auderset. It is conceptual,

in so much as they've based it upon an area of Switzerland call called

the Pfyn Forest, this is a natural pine forest, but they are

disappearing. This garden is, if you like, a hymn to the qualities of

that environment. Pines and firs in gem have become untrendy in gardens.

I can remember when I was a child that dwarf pines were used

everywhere, and now they seem dated. To bring that to Chelsea is quite

brave really. And unlike a lot of other gardens. I have to say, I

think it works completely brilliantly. I think this is a

beautiful garden. It is one that grows on you. Having seen it for few

days and walked past it, it gets better and better. They've got pine

wood for this pergola, with details, way it tucks in behind the yew hedge

and grows out of it. The extending space makes you feel better. They've

got Scots pine, dwarf pines. This sense of pines being something that

are subtle and sophisticated and not a bit naff is quite knew. I haven't

seen it at Chelsea for ages. The planting is light and delicate. The

sweet woodruff, the grasses, that lovely white geranium, and the

viburnum, the white foxgloves. These are combining not in an aggressive

way but to give the place a balanced delicate feel. The hard land

scaling, with the granite from Switzerland, with it is beautifully

done. One of the pieces of hard landscaping that I love is the

patina of the copper of this wall. I remember years ago colouring copper

and trying it out. You get this beautiful blue. We think of copper

as having a Greaney colour, but it picks up with the blues of the

foliage of the Pennines. What you end up -- foliage of the pines. What

you end up with is a celebration of a part of Europe that's

disappearing. Looking after wildlife, taking responsibility for

it but bringing it into the garden, creating a garden that's cool, calm

and beautiful. It got a silver gilt. I would have given it a gold.

This Norse garden, or the Viking garden as everyone is calling it

here at Chelsea, represents a Viking King as el travels across Europe.

The rune stones are convention conventional stepping stones. The

runic symbol for an R means to journey or to travel. We've got a

backdrop created by two different species of northern European

confers, so we've got the pine and the larch as well. Larch is used for

garden use. We make fences and garden furniture out of it. It's

fantastic for outdoors, because it will last forever. This boat, well,

the Nords were clever. They created their boats out of it. That prow is

incredibly authentic and just how they would have looked. The

perennial planting represents the sea as the boat carves its way

through it. We've got foamy and frothy planting. This plant is one

that everyone is asking about. And then is Anchusa. It punches light

and sings out in a garden like this. Sadie got a silver gilt. I would

have liked to see these pools of water that represent the sea a

little larger and bolder. A bit more confident.

I've learned something here. Thousands of years ago in effect

these Vikings were doing Viking graffiti across Europe. I think this

one says, "Joe woz here." . ". There's a piece of horticultural

wisdom from Joe. Sophie Walker's Cave Pavilion is a

modern interpretation of what was a revolutionary Victorian invention.

Hit a huge effect on so many people's lives. This design caught

the attention of a regular to Chelsea, James Wong. It has prompted

him to head off on his own journey to find out more about it.

One of the gardens that I'm most excited about checking out at this

year's Chelsea has to be Sophie Walker's. The great thing about her

garden is it celebrates this age-old tradition of British plant hunters

but looks optimistically towards its future. I've come here to Cornwall

to look at a piece of horticultural cutting edge technology from 200

years ago. Here at the Tregothnan estate they've been collecting

plants as part of their heritage tore hundreds of years. As a result

this part of Cornwall is a horticultural hot spot. Even classic

old school favourites like this beautiful rhododendron come from the

high him layia, places like Tibet and Bhutan. Incredibly hostile

regions for Victorian plant hunters to get through. Only one in 20

plants ever made it back to the UK alive. Something was needed to

ensure their safe passage. 200 years ago Tregnothnan imported its first

camellias to Britain. This is otherwise known as tea. If you can't

go a day without your daily cuppa you can thank the Wardian case.

Every plantation in India and Africa all descend from plants brought over

in Wardian Cases. Jonathan Jones the garden's director

is about to offer me my first ever view of the genius piece of

industrial technology that is the Wardian Case. I've heard so much

about these and I didn't imagine it to look like this. This is a hefty

piece of kit. Yes, the original Wardian Case, we think the world's

only surviving example, this was found in an old shed. One of the

gardening team said, have you seen our ar it hutch?" These were

invented by Nathaniel Bagshaw Ward in 1894. Hence Wardian Case. Yes, it

was after Nathaniel Bagshaw Ward. I don't think this will be stuck on

the back of a mule going up to the top of the Himalayas. This is the

type of thing that would be on board ship. Yes, exactly. I think they

would have had rucksacks and get near to port and then use these. For

it to go to the West Coast of America, it has to go from a item

Pratt region to the roasting hot tropics, freezing through the

Antarctic and back up. This must have changed the game. That was

tough for the sailors but for the plants it could have been death.

Water was a rare commodity on board ship? Yes, before they set off they

had a really good soak and that was it until they got back to Falmouth

or London. Condensation would form on the inside, trickle down in the

morning and go around again in a closed case. There is less glass

than you would imagine, but there's shading. I think on the decks of the

ship it was bright. There is would have been those all over, so the

light would have been filtered, no direct sun. Almost as sealed as they

could get. It looks like a greenhouse but it is really like an

escape pod on a spaceship, supporting life and keeping

everything ticking along inside. It would be so easy to dismiss the

Wardian Case as some kind of dusty historical relic, but what you've

got to remember is at the time it was like the most pioneering

ground-breaking invention ever. It has changed the world you and I live

in today. Sophie Walker's garden and its 21st century reimagining of the

idea promises to carry on that idea. Sophie, explain how you go to

Victorian relic to something that's so cutting edge, out of a sci-fi

film. Traditional techniques and tools have got to be used in garden

design today, so the Wardian Case change changed the case of planting

forever, and it is why we have begged plants today. I want to say

new plants today can make new design. We've got to push the

boundaries. That's exactly it. I've never seen a garden brave enough at

Chelsea to only show itself from one side. I love that three sides of it

are voyeuristic. It is like the shower scene in the Hitchcock film.

You can see beyond it but you want to get to see it. That's a brave

move for you. It is either brave oar stupid. It uses traditional

techniques. This is a walled garden, the framed view. It is totally! Why

Chelsea, this is your first time ever at Chelsea, why here, why

nowhere else? We have to make new design. I want

to push the boundaries. I want to use plants we don't know about. I

want to make new design that we can't understand. I have never seen

any of the things in here. Species, I am completely lost. I can normally

name everything at a Chelsea garden. It is rare you are so bombshelled by

how weird and wonderful the plants are? It doesn't matter how you are,

whether you are a plantsman like you, or someone like me, you stand

there and you don't know what it is you are looking at. That is quite

important. Chelsea is very much - it can be very much about what you

know. This isn't about what you know. It is about what you don't

know and it is about looking at the design and taking it on for the

first time. So your inspiration is the Wardian Case. You had other

inspirations as well. This is a stage set, when you sit at the

front, you have that perfect frame and you have the seating. I love the

idea that you can go into a museum and be educated about something that

is completely other to what you know. Or that doesn't bare any

relation to its surroundings. This is like a museum and you have a

painting on the wall, you are looking at it, being educated in

some way. You are making the journey in your mind. My favourite garden

out of the show. Well done. Thank you.

Two other people have been fundamental in helping Sophie to

accomplish this garden - Bleddyn and Sue Wynn Jones of Crug Farm Plants.

Welcome. Your work in creating what I have to say is a stunning garden,

I love it. Thank you. Is really about the botany? Yes. You have been

collecting all these plants, or just some of them? All of them. Every

plant in this garden is fully traceable and every one has been

collected by ourselves as seed. When you say "fully traceable" what do

you mean? Each one is given an accession number so we write down

where we collected it, which country. The environment. What it is

growing with. So when we come home, we know the conditions that it's

happiest in. What sort of places are we talking about? Colombia up here,

then we move on to Vietnam and this pretty thing is from Japan. And they

are all fully hardy? Yes. I know people think of plant hunters as

something that is Victorian, Edwardian, but you are modern plant

hunters. Why do you do it? It is a conservation angle. It appeals to

us. Some of these plants we are grabbing in front of the bulldozers

as the forests, this population crashes all over the world,

especially Asia. In Vietnam, we are in an area that's never been

botanised before. The land is getting cleared and there are plants

here that have never been described to science. We are losing species

before we even knew we had them? Exactly. We are. How does that

relate to gardeners? It's a good place to conserve them. Lots of

gardeners share their plants to save them. Right. We do the same. We want

to spread the plants around the world, get them conserved,

especially botanic gardens, somebody's plants out there are not

known. So, by us gardeners growing the plants, we are keeping them

going and we might otherwise lose them? Very much so. Keep up the good

work. Thank you. You are welcome. Many of the plants there in Sophie's

garden celebrate the global diversity on display here at Chelsea

each and every year. Their presence at this show is due to the great

plant hunters of yesteryear who ventured out into the unknown to

collect and fuel the appetite for the new. Two nurseries in the Great

Pavilion are reflecting some of those great discoveries and Carol

went along. This is a shrub that is seldom seen.

Not because it is difficult to grow. It is difficult to propagate. It was

introduced by George Forrest in 1910. That gives you the clue about

how to grow it in your garden. If you are lucky enough to get hold of

one, it loves the shade from bigger trees. It will produce these

delightful little flowers. It's got peeling bark.

Almost every plant on this entire stand was introduced by one or other

plant hunter. Many of them an expeditions sponsored by the

Williams family. Charles Williams, it was your great-grandfather who

introduced a lot of them? He funded it was your great-grandfather who

George Forrest to go on 11 trips in his lifetime. Each trip to China

took probably the best part of two years because you had to go and look

at the flowers before you could collect the seeds. Such wonderful

plants, things like this primula bes ulleyanna? All these things which we

take for granted, they aren't native to Britain. They all came from China

100 years ago. Thanks to George Forrest and thanks to your

great-grandfather. Thing you so much for bringing it to Chelsea.

In the 1770s, Captain Cook put Australia on the map. It wasn't just

new places, new peoples they were hoping to discover, it was new

plants, too. There was invariably a botanist on board. This fantastic

arrangement - many of the plants here are associated with places that

Captain Cook sailed. Tell us about some of the plants. The first one

was brought back by Sir Joseph Banks on that first voyage. He was the

botanist on board then? Yes. He also went to South Africa and a gentleman

called Francis Massen, he brought back many of those plants. He was

appointed by Banks? He was the first official plant hunter from Kew. The

protea and the banks are the same family. The national flower of South

Africa? Yes, I wish it was ours. We can't claim that, no! No. I think it

would look a bit out of place in a meadow of daisies and buttercups. I

think it might. Those exhibits in the Great Pavilion

demonstrate that explorers were able to return to our shores with

extraordinary plants from all over the world. But what effect does they

have on our wildlife? Particularly our insects? Chris Beardshaw is here

to tell us more. Even amongst the wild parkland at

Chelsea Flower Show there are wonderful stories that unfold about

the delicate relationships between our native insects and our native

wild flowers. For instance, we have long

understood that flowers are visited by insects because the insects are

seeking food, nectary rewards. Nectar is a sugary solution, a

complex blend of fructose, glucose and suctrose. Insects are fascinated

by a specific flavour. As a consequence, they will travel from

something like this cow parsley to another batch of cow parsley seeking

out that very distinctive food reward. Evidence that the

relationship between our insects and our native flora is more delicate

than we'd ever perceived. As soon as gardeners started to

introduce exotic plants from foreign climes, the situation became more

complicated. We introduced a range of nectar flavours that they weren't

used to. They didn't have the taste for. And then we started to breed

them for aesthetic purposes, so, for instance, a simple introduction like

this rose is transferred through into a complex flower that

beautifies the whole structure but what happens is that while we are

happy, the nectar is hidden, the insects go hungry.

Today, us gardeners should be planting flowers in all their

physical forms, whether it is the deep bells of foxgloves, or these,

perfect for the hoverfly. We should consider producing a flower right

through the year. There should never be a moment when your garden isn't

in bloom. It is about a fusion of be a moment when your garden isn't

exotics and native species. If we achieve that, then we will provide a

healthy and balanced diet for our insects that is sure to tickle their

tastebuds. As city spaces are growing, urban

greening is becoming evermore important. Even our small back

gardens contribute to as much as 25% of the green space within our

cities. With me I have got two designers, Dan Pearson and Thomas

Heatherwick. Dan, you are extremely experienced here at Chelsea. Thomas,

you are known for a wide range of projects. You are working together

on something that relates to this. Tell me about that. Well, it's the

ideas - an idea of an actress who was a James Bond Girl in the 1960s,

Joanna Lumley. Yeah. I was introduced to her 13 years ago by

Terence Conran who had helped me when I was a student. Yeah. She had

this idea which was to give London a new garden that stitches the city

together. There's been such a divide between the north and south, even

papers like Time Out have done separate issues for north and south.

Yeah. If you go to Paris, the Seine is 100 metres, but London is ripped

apart in a way by a quarter of a kilometre. If we are able-bodied,

that is fine. You would think twice before you walked a quarter of a

kilometre. Her idea was could we make it a place... So... This idea

of an amazing garden. So Dan seemed the perfect person to make the

"amazing" bit. How do you make a garden on a bridge? We have got this

300-metre span and the bridge has been designed to take the garden. It

is very important, isn't it? Structurally, it is going to work.

We have two-metre soil depth at two points so we can plant little wood

lands. We have to think very carefully about all our views out of

the bridge and how London is reframed through a garden. And how

to create a journey from one shore to the next. And we are pacing that

and finding ways of allowing people to take the slowest route across the

Thames. The slowest route? If you come to Waterloo at 6.00am, you can

zoom through, but there is also - there will be - the main garden will

be made from a collection of gardens with their own seats and the best

views you could possibly get. Moments of delight. And, I mean, I

think it sort of is important to say that it felt that we should be

making something that is celebrating something that - and this proves it

really being here - the garden is somehow deep in British psyche. When

you hear Radio Four, everyone chortling away to Gardeners'

Question Time. That seems to be the moment to pause. We are going to

talk to Dan and Thomas later on, after they have had a chance to have

a good look around the show. A celebration of some of London's

characteristic green spaces forms the basis of designer Jo Thompson's

show garden at Chelsea this year called London Squares. She visited

some of the squares that are special to her in search of inspiration for

her show garden. London is full of noise and hustle

and bustle, but occasionally as you're walking along the streets you

come across these fabulous garden squares. From this side of the

railings you only get a glimpse of the wonderful things that lie

beyond. To get in there and see them, you need a key. It is just

beautiful. These glimpses of wonderful almost neon blue over

there and the whites and the pinks. I could stay here all day. I really

could. 20 years ago I lived here in Pimlico, very near this square,

Ecclestone Square. My mother sent me a book about Ecclestone Square,

written by Roger Phillips. I thought it was possibly going to be one of

the dullest books I had ever read, but I gave in and started reading

it. From page 1 I was absolutely hooked. It describes the process and

the ideas behind where you put plants. Something I had never really

considered before. It is invaluable. There are a few areas in this garden

that have given me inspiration for the garden at Chelsea. This is my

favourite rose of all time. The smell is just delicious. Oh look at

this! This beautiful climbing rose. Something I would never have

expected to see here. Really, really something special. I love irises.

I'm really hoping we'll be able to use the white form for Chelsea.

Everywhere you look here there's something different. Round every

corner there's a surprise. I've just spot spotted three silver birch over

here. I just love the way that their colour shines against the dark

background of the foliage beyond. Just a small number of trees planted

together and instant architecture. It isn't just Ecclestone Square that

I've taken my inspiration from. There are hundreds of garden squares

all over London. This is Wellington Square. What I particularly love is

the architectural feature which runs all the way along the top of the

second storey of the buildings. This detail is called a Triglyph. I've

reproduced that in the garden at Chelsea. This is Bonington Square.

It was saved by the local community from destruction. What a wonderful

place it is. I really, really love the planting. Simple and elegant. I

love the idea of this central space being used as a communal meeting

point. Garden squares are a continuation of that theme. They

give a sense that they are enabling the city to breathe. I want to come

to Chelsea and feel that my garden enables them to take a breath. Jo, I

love those garden squares as well. I spent my life in London. I can't

resist having a peek in and sometimes going in them as well.

That's the inspiration. You've created a square in Chelsea, where

we are being spied upon at the moment. Are you pleased with your

garden? Really pleased. It has created an oasis in the middle of

the crowds. It is fantastic. And the judges gave awe gold medal. And this

bench is a sculptural form. It dominates the garden. Were you

worried about that? I was. The judges did say it could have

dominated the garden, but because we balanced it with it going down the

stairses and turning into a sculpture at either end, they said

it worked. So it was bespoke? Absolutely. We designed it so that

it wouldn't just be a little bench in the corner. It would have become

too bitty, so we made it the main feature of the garden. And you've

got the lightness of touch in the paving and the gravel, and all-white

planting. Why? It is a tiny space, three by 12 metres. I just felt it

might become a bit too busy to have different colours distracting you.

And I was slightly trying to second guess everybody else. I had a

feeling there would be lots of colour, deeper colours elsewhere, so

I thought let's try something effort Interesting. And people walk all the

way round, so you had to think. You created height with the silver

birches. This cornice is fantastic. Everybody's asking about it. And it

is not on the plant list. It is one thing I saw in a couple of weeks ago

in the nursery and I had to have it in the garden. And what about the

sculpture? That was started off a long time ago. It is made by a

sculptor Frederick Cheverin. We gave him the design of the garden and let

him work through and get to this wonderful marble sculpture. It is

lovely. I garden square could have one. Lovely to see you.

On the weekend of 14th and 15th June, the Open Garden Squares

Weekend will be flinging the doors open on over 200 London gardens.

This is all for charity, so members of the public can take a peek for

themselves. One of the pleasures of visiting

city squares, not just in London but all over the country, is to see the

ingenious ways in which our metropolitan gardeners have been

making the most out of small spaces. It's a theme that has been running

through your e-mails and it seems a lot of you are struggling with

planting in shady conditions. Here's Toby Buckland to cast some light on

your problems. Thank you for your e-mails and thank you Margaret

Barber for share energy this image of your shady border. Margaret is

after a few plants to brighten the gaps between the existing shrubs.

What I love about this garden is your boundary, this wicker-style

picket fence. You need some Lamium. Or sweet rocket. The must-have for

you, white foxgloves planted en masse, maybe 20-25 in your border so

they glow like living standard lamps.

Charlotte has also got shade. You've been a bit mean with your borders.

Look at been a bit mean with your borders.

base of the fence. No wonder it is shady and dark. You say it's dry.

I'm not surprised, because the grass right up next to it is stealing all

the moisture. If you want plants to grow you need more generosity with

the size of your border. There want to be four feet deep. That way you

can pile in the competitors and get things growing. You say bluebells

are growing for you. That's because they are under the dapple shade of

the Plumtree. That's great for some plants. They come up, flower and do

their thing and go to ground before the winter sets in. This will be a

cracking plant for you, this Dicentra. And this one, the bees

work the flowers. What's not to love about those? Get your spade out,

Charlotte. Leslie wants advice on what to plant

when she replaces this shaded is and patchy lawn. She's got an idea for a

slate gravel garden. Slate is the choice, because it is not porous. It

won't pick up moss. As for plants, acers at the back for spring and all

colour, and then a Persian tapestry. These will give good flowers as will

any Heuchera with a city name in it. Like people with pale skin, put them

in hot sun and they frazzle up. There is another reason to plant

these, Lese, they are resistant to slugs. You are going to but against

them when you create a new garden. They might have the odd nibble of a

leaf here and, there but they will prefer the plants next door.

Tonight we've been looking at some of the fresh ideas out of Chelsea

this year. With those ideas there are new exhibitors, including robin

and Annabel Graham from Drointon. They are exhibiting their glorious

auricula collection for the first time. We caught up with them last

month as they prepared for the show. It really started in the early y

'90s, when my mother-in-law gave my wife Annabel some plants as a little

hobby and sideline to keep her busy while the boys were away at school.

Like most auricula growers our collection grew. Sometimes at the

end of the winter after cold days I get a bit fed up, but when spring

comes and they come into flower, you realise why you do it and think no,

I will never part with you all. I have to keep you. We often tell our

customers that auriculas are not difficult to grow, but they are

quite easy to kill, if you don't get the basics right. They will live

longer for you on effect than too much love. Too much love will kill a

plant like this. Whenever we have one that's difficult, hide it in

amongst a tray of what you consider to be rubbish and treat it along

with the rubbish and therein is a high chance when you remember and

fish it out again, you will get a cracking great big plant because

you've neglected it. The real growth in expansion of auriculas came when

they started being groan as florist plants in pots. This is why you have

the classical auricula theatres and plants displayed for their beauty as

individual specimen plants. Here we grow not only those type of plants,

but also a wide range of border auriculas, which have been for many

years perhaps the underdogs of the pecking order of auriculas. We have

a particular fascination with the national collection of border

auriculas. This is a border, because it wants to, ideally, be planted

outside and left to make a large clump. Then you get loads of flower

spikes all from the same plant. You end up with a dome. At its best I

think we've had 17 flower spikes on one plant. If you can imagine the

display that that gives you. A florist auricula is much more

formal. It's grown to a set of rules, the pips must be flat. The

pip being each individual flower on a flower head. You have a circle of

white paste. It should be a tight, exact circle of white paste and then

a yellow not too big centre to at this time. They are idea on the

perfection of each pip on the flower. They are grown for a very

specific reason. They are grown to show you are not looking for a huge

number of pips. You are looking for the perfection of pips. This is is

an alpine auricula. The thing that distinguishes an alpine auricula is

that it always has a shady petal, from a light outside going darker.

They always have yellow, a central ring completely free of paste. They

are nationally versatile. You can grow them as a florist flower with a

single stem or you can grow them as a clump out in the garden. We've

been doing shows now for over 50 years, but this is the first time

we've gone to Chelsea. We know we can put together a stand worthy of a

good award. When I say we, it is really Annabel that does all the

hard work and design of the stands. That's something she will remind me

of frequently. What we are trying to do in our exhibit at Chelsea is to

bring to people's attention the border auriculas and alpine

auriculas. The trouble with Chelsea is trying to make the borders stay

back for long enough. Left to their own devices they would be over by

then. We need them to lift the display, because otherwise there's a

tendency for the whole thing to look flat. A series of small plants on a

large area, Chelsea is such a big thing that the thought that it could

possibly go wrong and we could have things not out at the right time,

that quality isn't going to be what it is meant to be, it is terrifying

but exciting at the same time. Annabel and Robin from Drointon

Nurseries are with me now. You have gone for a much more contemporary

approach here? We have. We've gone for an approach where we want to try

and show people the many different things they can do with auriculas.

They don't need to be displayed in a theatre, which is how people

traditionally think of showing them. You can plant them in the garden,

you can grow them in clumps. We can tell people that it is not unless

they see it that they can appreciate what they can do for themselves. It

is effective the way you have dropped the plants into the staging

so you can see how they would be at ground level? Yes. A bit freakish

seeing them against black at that level. That was to show people to

plant them in the garden. They love growing outside, not all of them,

but not the show ones. Are you pleased with the look of it? Is it

what you expected, Robin? We struggled with the weather over the

last few days. It has not helped us late in the season. But it has

probably come to the end of the development of this design and we

probably need to go back to the drawing board and think of something

different but still conveying the important parts of the different

ways you can grow auriculas. You have absolutely succeeded

brilliantly. And it was interesting to show that you can almost neglect

these plants and they give you these wonderful flowers? Yes. Most people

handle them far too much. Too much heat and too much water. They want

to be kept fairly dry and cool. No killing them with kindness? Don't

kill them with kindness. You are not the only people showing auriculas

here. Any rivalry going on? No, no, not between lock yeRps and us. --

not between Lockyers and us. Bill Lockyer does this show brilliantly.

He is traditional. He does the florist flowers and things. No, we

get on with him incredibly well. Room for both? Masses of room for

both! Jo tracked down the Lockyer boys to find out how they have

approached this year's exhibit. Bill, Simon, you have always shown

them and grown them traditionally and you are quite into the history

of them. Tell me about the history in the UK of auriculas? The history

goes way back to the 16th Century, that is when they were first

recorded. It was the Victorians that went to town, they went into it in a

big way to produce the varieties and the types of plants we have got now.

The Victorians were obsessive about lots of plants. Probably, the

auricula was one of the biggest at the time. One of the biggest. There

was a northern Society, a Midlands, a Southern and little splinter

groups that grew these for exhibitions. Were they competitive?

Absolutely. Have they displayed them like this always? This is a black

backdrop and I love the picture frames there as well. Was that the

way they would have done it then? Not necessarily. What we've noticed

that the early Flemish painters on the still life vase of flowers you

had auriculas hanging off the bottom of the vase. This is how we could

identify some of the early stripes. They are in the paintings. Oh right.

We have the stripes back. You have put your spin on it a little bit?

Yes. Have you got any new varieties here? We have a brand-new variety.

That's lovely. It was raised by a good friend of mine, Derek Salt. It

is the first one and I'm waiting for an offshoot to come so I can say I

have another one. That is the only one at the moment? Yes. Simon, your

dad has his suit, tie and the hat. Where is the rest of the garb? I did

have it on yesterday, Jo. Today, I have been working! I'm sorry about

that! You have a gold medal. Is it good to have competition?

Absolutely. We do like people to promote the auricula. The more

people that grow these plants, the better it is. If they were to die

out tomorrow, you would never get these again. It would take an awful

long time. You do it in a traditional way? Yes. Chelsea is a

chance to showcase some alternative ways of planting. Carol has been

finding out more about the movement towards greening our vertical

spaces. This concept has moved a step forward and found its way

indoors. If you think I'm lying down on the

job and just taking it easy, you are wrong! Over the last few years, we

have all got used to the idea of green walls. But they are all

outside. Now those walls are on the move - they are coming indoors.

Planting like this is ideal for conservatories, or rooms where you

have got French windows. They really join the outside and the inside of

the house and make an easy transition.

All the walls here are composed of different varieties of begonia. It

is a popular house plant and it has been since Victorian times. They are

incredibly easy to maintain. It doesn't need any direct sunshine,

either. It keeps its leaves all the year-round. All you need do is pick

off an occasional brown leaf. The colours are subtle. The shapes are

beautiful and the texture is wonderful. But just occasionally you

yearn for a splash of colour. It doesn't get much more colourful

than this. Alongside the begonia Rex is this glorious Streptocarcus. You

can paint any picture you want on the living room wall, with one

through those roots, so providing you give them something to grow on,

they will be perfectly happy. A bit of branch, bamboo cane, anything of

that description. Nearly all these exquisite plants are from the

Tillandsia and this one, it has become quite familiar. It has that

lovely ghostly air, it looks like it came out of an enchanted wood. Green

walls bring a new dimension to gardening. If you are making your

green wall inside, the possibilities are endless!

Nurserymen and designers are looking to push the innovation boundaries

this year. Here on the Positively Stoke-on-Trent Garden, it is about

the future and the council's plans to become a leading contemporary

city. Now, last year, Stoke-on-Trent did a garden which was about

regeneration and this year, it is about rebirth, so they have taken

over the island plot here, the triangle as we call it here, and

they have done a really good job. It is all about sustainable energy and

harnessing it. So we have got these huge arches with water running over

it, the power of water and how to control it and make the most out of

it. The site has this water teardrop water feature in the middle. I

learnt something today. Stoke-on-Trent has the thinnest

piece of crust of the Earth's surface than anywhere in Britain.

There is potential for geothermal energy to be harnessed there as

well. Now, this structure is made from acrylic, they call it a

Pavilion. I think it is a fantastic place to shelter from the rain. The

judge went in this bit of water yesterday, he stepped back and was

up to his knee in it. I'm not going to go in at all! I do like the

Arnold Bennett poem on the back. "It is easier to go down a hill than to

go up but the view is better from the top." So, it is all about

investing, it is about looking to the future and working hard, too.

The planting here starts with white plants at the back and goes to plums

and pinks and reds towards the front. I think some of the planting

here is absolutely sumptuous. The feathery fennel and there is a rose

Darcey Bussell here as well. What I do like is its boldness. I do think

the central area feels too corporate. I would have liked to

have seen something breaking up the space a bit. The visitors look right

across it and what do you see? Some more visitors! So to break a garden

up at eye level is very important. Now, remember this garden and the

other 15 large gardens here await your vote in the BBC RHS People's

Choice Award. If you press the Red Button at the end of the programme,

it will take you through to the final six gardens. Details are on

bbc.co.uk/chelsea. Two of our guests here are Dan

Pearson and Thomas Heatherwick. I can remember Dan nearly 25 years ago

when he was still a student showing - he showed exceptional talent. In

1996, I remember the stir his rooftop garden caused. Thomas

Heatherwick's own work in the world of building design is now recognised

as having a major influence across the world. So, what did these two of

our best-known designers make of this year's show?

I thought this was worth looking at. These Japanese tools are exquisite.

Certain part of the blade is used for different things. You don't

think tools as having personality. No. It is so highly evolved, isn't

it? This is the world of excellence.

When I was a kid, I saved up my pocket money to buy one of these -

begonia Rex. This has everything. It is quite hard to imagine how you

could make something more intriguing. This is Chelsea. This is

as good as it gets. Lupins - they are extraordinary. For

the first time in my life, I went on a helicopter in New York. We came in

to Manhattan to land. And to see this three-dimensional landscape of

all these tours - amazing. You have to put people in the shot or it

looks unreal. The forms are just incredible. That

looks like Photoshop grafting on a computer. It is hard to believe that

that is a real plant at all. And their sculptural, you almost wince

at how confident they are. I haven't seen such prettiness. It is really

exciting. They are rude-looking as well! They are a bit. With something

like the Lupins, they are so spectacular. You come to these

stands where the colour, you have to find it a bit more. The thing this

year is the fact that we are working together, trying to give London a

new garden. I think it's wonderful to be reminded that "garden" is made

up of characters. Normally, I am looking at the distance, whereas

this year I feel much more questioning of every, of everything

that catches your eye, my eye. As to whether it has a role to play in

making somewhere that whether it has a role to play in

richness and intensity that is not just for five days, but that is for

a century. You clearly were having a nice time.

But like everything you saw? I think there's always a tremendous richness

here and there are things which you love and things which you like less.

So no, you don't like everything you see. What about you, did you like

the way it's been put together, as a Steiner? I think the Chelsea Flower

Show is an amazing phenomena and the heart of it is this amazing Avenue

through the middle. I absolutely love the specialists who are all

plugged into the side of that. But it does feel to me that this Avenue

could be even stronger. The show gardens are phenomenal in their own

right. We were talking, sometimes in exhibition exhibitions in galleries

there is a curator who gives just some first clues of a theme or a

subject that then people respond to. Just to be clear, exactly what does

a curator do? A curator makes things, an exhibition in an art

gallery, in that context coherent to be more powerful for a visitor. OK.

It feels like there's quite separate pieces of amazingness. If you added

them together and co-ordinated them even more, it could be more

powerful. On a functional level, it is very hard to experience the

gardens, because there's so many people. The act of lifting the

gardens up, thinking of the experience for someone walking down

that avenue, if you could lift those gardens and possibly angle them

slightly, a theme might be gardens on slopes. Britain does gardens on

slopes in a way that Amsterdam can't really justify. Dan, as a garden

designer, a successful Chelsea exhibitor, would you feel restricted

by that? At the moment you have relative freedom. Freedom isn't

necessarily a good thing. It is good to give people a sense of direction.

I think people would contribute to each other. There's always a

zeitgeist that comes through somehow, but to have that zeitgeist

steered in some way is good. The job of a curator can be from provoke

something, that everyone give gives them intellectually something to do,

the subject is what? Water, fire or something. In a way that's in a way

to draw out the condemnry zeitgeist. For me Chelsea is about the

zeitgeist and other contemporary thinking in nature. Thank you both

for coming and for sharing this with us. It is a fascinating idea,

curating cheap. There's a lot of food for thought

there. As we've said throughout today, there are changes afoot and

it remains to see how they develop. I guess all of us are watching with

a huge amount of interest. Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen is a regular

to Chelsea. This year as he prepares to move into a new house will is an

extra incentive for his visit, as he looks for fresh inspiration.

One of the things that Chelsea does so well is that it becomes a kind of

a horticultural speed date. It gives you an opportunity to see as many

different gardens as possible with the theory that one of them is going

to be the garden of your dreams. And my quest to find a garden design

that's more about, well, more about the catwalk than the compost heap

looks like it is going to be easy this year, because Chelsea this year

is extremely chic. I'm feeling at home with all of this. This is less

about Mother Nature and much more about making a room look lovely. It

is part of a much longer tradition that goes back to the 18th century,

taking inspiration from the interior and taking it outside. Weirdly, it

is very like a design that I've done for the Royal Horticultural Society,

which is all about exploring furniture styles and see how they

can be converted into a garden situation. Of course, a cunning

option is to take sculpture and furniture and combine them so you

are sitting is on fine art. These fabulously sculpted boulders are

heated, so you get the option of hot rocks for a cold winter evening.

What's really caught my eye is that sculpture there, that's me and the

Mrs In our new garden having a clothes optional moment. Because I'm

travelling so much, I don't want a garden that's even more high

maintenance than I am, so I'm very excited about anything that's not

organic. My vision is for a kind of a classical courtyard that would be

the perfect background to sculpture. This one with a little fountain

trickle would be perfect. Who knows? Maybe it is called the Damp Toga.

So, what is the alternative? A stylish garden that is for someone

like me who is so over flowers? This is so ex-whizz Italy elegant. I love

the fact that nature is incredibly well behaved. There's a rug of

grass. Those borders are in this season's must-have shades of cobalt

and lime. Chintzy. And scatter bushes. I love these because they

are trees turned into a screen of neoclassical columns. Alright, I

hold my hands up, I am going to have to have at least one new plant in my

garden, but that plant is going to have to be beautiful and very

useful. In fact essential. Nice. Perfect for a gin and tonic.

Speaking of which I'm sure I can hear clinking. Is that the drinks

tray? I've got some lemons here which are

destined only for a glass, all of them. I'm waiting for the invitation

Monty. Well... It is too far away. A Laurence has been inspired by his

visit to Chelsea and there's a huge amount to take in this an event like

this. Here's a snapshot of the fresh and new ideas that we've tracked

down at this year's show. Everybody I've spoken to on and off

the record has said it's been a lovely Chelsea. But quite a few

people have also said they are bemused by the fact that the

planting in the show gardens seem to be cut from the same cloth. It is

almost as if it flows from garden to garden. There's nothing particularly

challenging in the planting, nothing exotic or graphic. It does have this

soft feeling. Sometimes one of the nurseries might say I've got 300

irises, they are going to be perfect for Chelsea and two or three gardens

might buy from the same nursery and at gives that similarity throughout.

In the Great Pavilion they are looking for perfection for Chelsea,

so there is always going be similarities. But I think people

find it comforting. It is a beautiful show. And everyone is

enjoying themselves, that's the main thing. That's all from us today at

the RHS Chelsea Flower Show supported by M Investments. We'll

be back here on BBC Two tomorrow at 8.00pm. But before then you can join

Nicki Chapman and Andy Sturgeon tomorrow afternoon over on BBC One

at 3.00pm. And don't forget there's still time to take part in our

People's Choice Award. You can view profiles of all 16 gardens in the

running over on the Red Button or on our website, bbc.co.uk/chelsea. You

can vote from between noon and midnight tomorrow. But from us,

until tomorrow, goodbye. ..then...

..he landed...