Episode 2 RHS Chelsea Flower Show

The most famous flower show on Earth is back.

It's bold, it's bright and it is packed to the rafters

with the press and garden glitterati who are getting an exclusive first

Yes, we are only a hydrangea away from a celeb today.

This show is officially kicking off and buzzing with life.

Right now, these gardens and exhibits are vying for centre stage

We'll be bringing you the excitement, razzmatazz,

and of course the amazing gardens that make up this show.

Welcome to the 2016 RHS Chelsea Flower Show,

an event supported by M Investments.

After months of preparation, this is it.

In a no holds barred battle for the limelight, designers

and growers are seizing the attention of all around them.

we have former royal reporter Jennie Bond

to tell us what they love about Chelsea.

of experts is Instant Gardener Danny Clarke,

who will be seeking out that Chelsea magic

We will also be seeing how this event is preparing

But what do you make of all this plant pomp and ceremony?

Throughout this programme and across the week,

you can get in touch with us on Twitter to tell

The gardens here are looking pristine, but just last week

this show ground was a very different scene.

Sophie Raworth was on the front line

to witness the big build up to this event.

This is Main Avenue, and it's all about mud, rain and beautiful trees.

It's hard to believe that in less than two weeks' time, this place

will be transformed into spectacular show gardens. There are 17 show

gardens here in total, with some of the biggest names in garden design

working very hard to get them ready. I have got this dry climate thing

going on, which is hard to imagine in the rain. This is the stage where

it is just a big hole in the ground and I am wondering what I was

thinking. I have felt the pressure more this year than any other year.

It has been immense. I have not been liking it! The most exhausting thing

about being here is not the plants, it is the perpetual threat of death!

There are so mini vehicles, so many huge things swinging through the sky

-- so many vehicles. I am constantly thinking something is going to get

me. This is perfect Chelsea weather, pouring with rain. Every year, you

wonder why you do it, because you are in the mud and the rain. The top

just goes up. For you? I will not be doing that. It is all a bit up in

the air at the moment. But one of my favourite things is this tree. You

come to Chelsea for perfection, and you have this tree that looks like

it has been through ace dorm. We have been chain sawing a few

branches off, but that is the look. Seven days later, a lot has changed,

not least the weather. You have your first show garden here. Huge amounts

of work. Your husband Rob will be inside, where you normally are. I am

really stupid to have started to do this. Totally bonkers. With this

plan pink palette, the verdant sea is celebrated as soon as it starts

to rain, so we are doing a rain dance. And it is working, because

you have a full day of rain coming tomorrow. We have connections with

the right people. It is a smart garden. Like a smart home. So you

can water your garden whilst you are on the cheap? Get your phone out.

That's right. I can just turn it on from my phone. How is this going? We

have had tree problems, water problems. But we are nearly there.

It has been the hardest garden I have ever done. You're getting

married a month after Chelsea. What has been the most stressful?

Chelsea. First show garden. How has it been? It has been amazing,

horrendous, fantastic. I have never been so scared. It is the best

flower show in the world, and to actually have a space is just

amazing. Well, everyone at the show today

is on their best behaviour, And one lady who is all too familiar

with the Windsor family is broadcaster and journalist Jennie

Bond. Welcome to Chelsea! Does it feel

like a second home, are you a devout gardener? I do enjoy gardening. I am

not terribly good at it it, but I love coming to Chelsea. It is always

different. Keeps us on our toes. You come away with such inspiration. You

were a royal correspondent for 40 years. What do you think the show

does for the Royal Family? They love coming here. It is one big in the

annual calendar that they are not going to miss. They have more

gardens than the rest of us, but like the rest of us, they like to

pick up ideas and innovations you see here. And they genuinely seem

terribly relaxed every year. It's Harry has been in past years. --

Prince Harry. That was great. His grandpa came as well. He was not

expecting that. They had a chat about it. You are a keen gardener.

What is your garden like? It is like wrestling with nature, because it is

five acres of Devon hillside, and it is a perpetual battle of how much we

should leave wild and how much I should try to conquer. It is hard

work. Are you out there every day, or do you like to relax and enjoy

it? I sit back and relax, but I do like colour. Last year, my main

flowerbed looked like a plane had passed over and dropped a cargo load

of paint onto my flowerbed, it was ridiculous. I am trying to be more

disciplined. I would just like some order to it. There is a loss of

colour this year. And a lot of wilderness and wild flowers and

grasses, which I now realise I have been willing up. I am interested to

find out what your knowledge is like. I have organised a little bit

of fun for my VIP guests, a quiz. We have six plants here. There are the

Latin names. I am going to test your ability. Do you know Latin? I did

Latin at a level but that was a long time ago. Didn't do Latin at my

comprehensive. Who do we think this is? That is timeless.

OK. What about this? Well done. There ends my knowledge. I thought

that was a hostile. I don't know. Plenty of those on the show garden

this year. Keep going. What about this beauty next to me? That one, no

idea. That is obviously wrong. And something very weird. Better known

as sweet potato. And the last one? Not bad, you got for my car out of

six. I am impressed, I think you were listening in Latin lessons. Not

really, but I am glad I have learned something. Enjoy your time at the

show. That will not be hard. Well, if you need to know

more about your plants, there is no better

place to go than the Great Pavilion. Toby Buckland headed there in search

of some VIPs of the plant world. Here at Chelsea, flowers are

obviously the star of the show and the bigger and brighter and more

blowsy the bloom, the higher its billing. But just because a flower

looks exotic or sumptuous, doesn't necessarily follow that it is hard

to grow. A classic VIP plant here at Chelsea is of course the bearded

iris. They are always here in force, and they are magnificent plans and

relatively easy to grow, despite their exuberance. They like alkaline

soil. Never mulch and don't allow neighbouring plans to crash over the

stems. And this is a hybrid that has caught my eye. It is called

Badlands, and the flowers open from jet black buds to this beautiful,

ruffled, Cardinal purple. The rustling makes the flowers more

weather resistant. Dahlias are flowers with obvious star quality.

They have a reputation for being prima donnas because the

recommendation used to be that you would big them up every autumn to

protect them from the frost and then grow them in the spring. But

actually, you can leave them in the ground, covered by a mulch, Dickie

Lily if you live in a mild area, and they will bounce back year-on-year.

But the main lesson is how to grow them. These are plants that like

company. They enjoyed unity. And they benefit from the support,

either from neighbouring silver foliage to hide the green down

below, or, as in the case of this beautiful magenta style, a steady

bench to keep the blooms are bright. Dahlias have moved from the

allotment plots to the garden, and are all the more glamorous for it.

Another very important plant, Gladio live. Here at the Chelsea Flower

Show, they look like feathers of the bird of paradise. They are sumptuous

and so gorgeous. Where they come into their own is planted in your

average garden. You can grow them from tiny bulbs. You plant them into

the soil 15 centimetres deep, and up they come 90 days later. If you are

planning a summer soiree, they are just the thing to grow, because you

know when they will be in bloom. Dead easy, but show stopping. If we

are talking about flowers with a reputation for being important and

rare, all kids should perhaps get top billing. Recently, we visited a

nursery just outside Paris, because they are putting on a special

display at this year's Chelsea. They always have quite a lot of charm.

The diversity and colours are fantastic. This is one of the

reasons why I like orchids. If you look at an orchid, it is something

that is peaceful and very nice to look at. Here, we have been growing

orchids since 1886. That is an exhibition my great-grandfather did

in 1897. That is an exhibition from 1937 in Paris. That is the

greenhouses in 1900. And the chimney still exists. I think that for

people who don't know orchid greenhouses, to come in an orchid

greenhouse is a good feeling. It is a feeling of peace. This year is

very particular, because it is our 130th anniversary, and we are still

going. Now we are almost the oldest firm in the world. This is the pansy

orchid. It is very sensitive to water. If you have water that stays

on the flower, then it stains it. You will find orchids anywhere where

there is green. You will find orchids in the woods, in the trees,

on the ground. There are 30,000 species, which is enormous. It is

the largest flower family in the world. What is interesting about

orchids is that a moth orchid will last anywhere from three days to 20

years. Other types of orchids will last anywhere from two years to 100

years. This is one of our first hybrids, which was done in 1926. So

you can count, it is about 90 years old, a few years older than me!

This is four generations. My daughter will be the fifth. If I can

help are for a few years I will be very happy. For our 130th

anniversary I decided to do the Chelsea Flower Show, which I don't

do very often. When I sought plants out to come to a show, it is like if

I did a painting because I choose the plants according to what I am

going to want to do. This is probably a plant that I am going to

take to Chelsea. It is the spider orchid. The stand is going to be

very spidery! This is the boat I will use for the Chelsea Flower

Show. I think it would not float because it is full of holes, but it

is a very nice boat. I will do a display with this canoe and some

ivy, which will be mounted in height so I can present the orchids high

and in a boat. Chelsea we have done four times, this time I hope to get

my gold medal. Silver gilt is bad taste! He will be here all week and

we will catch up with him on Friday. In the meantime, you cannot go to a

supermarket without seeing orchids in every colour of the rainbow, but

how do you keep them alive? Even the most exotic and delicate orchid can

come back for you year after year. I like to think I know how to Grow

orchids because I have ten on my windowsill. How many do you look

after? 1.5 million. I think you know a little bit more than me. I have

had a few years to practise, ten years I have grown up. How do you

grow them to this incredible standard, almost Photoshop perfect.

You can buy them like this that they do not often last like that. The

most likely think you are doing to kill them is to over water, which is

the killer. They grow in the wild, up in the trees, the air is around

the roots and standing them in water, they die. You are killing

them with kindness. People think they are doing them goodbye

watering. You only have to water this once a week if that. Drop the

plant into a bowl of water for a few minutes, drain out and put it back

into the bowl. It is looking beautiful but it does not last for

ever. You have healthy leaves and green stems, but the flowers are

beginning to fall off, what you do? To make it flower, very easy, look

at the stem, there are scales. That is the top scale. We can cut them

off and take it off. Each one is an embryonic bunch of flowers? That

will grow a new spike and probably that second one down as well. A

plant bought in the store has the potential to do a few months here

and another few months here on three spikes, a whole year of flowers. The

only thing you could possibly need to do is to repot it. This one, I

would repot, with a lot of roots out the top. Is that your signal? Yes.

Do not worry if this drops out. Go into a slightly bigger pot and put

the roots in. It is important to use specialist bark? Compost itself, no

air spaces, holds the water and kills the roots. The bark is

something essentially to prop it up. It is Anchorage more than anything

else. That is all there is to it. I could do that. This is possibly the

easiest plant I can think of to take care of in general, simpler than a

geranium and more exotic. Long-lasting plants and flowers. It

thrives on neglect. Treat it mean, keep it clean, is my kind of

gardening! This week, we've got a new talent

to add to our line-up. Danny Clarke will be known

to many of you as the Instant Gardener, swooping

in to transform people's gardens. Well, all week, he will be

at this show, looking a bit of Chelsea sparkle

to your own backyards. Today, Danny looks at the different

ways you know, things that

give your garden a bit of privacy, Boundaries and borders are about

framing garden space. And this is very interesting, he has made a

boundary out of oak. Many of us consider fences to be boring, but

why not make the fence a feature of the garden like he has here? The

council would take a dim view if you put up a fence this high, but I

think gardening is about inclusion, so why not have a lower bit along

the garden, because really it is all about getting on with the

neighbours, isn't it? We are on Joe Thompson's garden. I

love the way she has mixed her materials. She has yew hedging which

looks fantastic. It is loosely clipped. She has this bass -- basalt

wall with steel frames. She has replicated the basalt wall in the

garden, which is clever, with the matching grave. It is not too fussy.

You can do this at home. All you have to do is use cheaper materials.

I use a ruler three. You can use scaffolding planks, pallets, a

cheaper form of hedging, to make it work in your own garden. I have come

across Rosie Hardy's show garden, which I think is fantastic. What I

like about it is the loose form of hedging. What she cleverly did is

bring the countryside behind their into her garden, by using that loose

clipped hedging. This loose form of hedge planting is a great way to

hide the boundary. We cannot see the fence beyond. What we can see is

what is beyond that. Which is great. Bringing back into the garden will

stop this is Hawthorne. It is something anyone can grow and it is

as cheap as chips. One of the ways you can get a Chelsea look.

Danny will be back tomorrow, looking at inspiring paths and walkways

As you know, Monday at Chelsea is a right Royal affair.

But all week there are exhibits here celebrating the 90th birthday

I'm joined by Shane Conley, a florist by Royal Appointment.

-- command. It is incredible, how long did it take to create? The

actual creation was a period of weeks. The actual installation we

could only work when there were no vehicles going through the gates, so

it meant working through the night. Last night the same, 10:30pm until

2am. 25 hours it adds up on cherry pickers making it work. How big was

the team you used? Early I thought it would be nice if we had students

of Florence -- Floris Street involved. We had a team of 30 for

the two nights and 20 people working two days before that. Quite a lot.

Tell us about the flowers you have used. Are they British? Everything

is British, either growing or grown in Britain or cut from growers in

Britain. That was an important message. They have all been given.

The students worked for free and the growers gave the ingredients and so

it is a real gift for Her Majesty. Has there been an arch like this

before in the grounds? Know and there might not be one again! The

RHS asked me to get the students involved. And the plants will be

donated afterwards to charity. It looks divine and makes an impact and

I'm sure when Her Majesty walks through, it is not too long from

now, she will look up and marvel actual work. Thanks.

Well, we'll be looking at many more exhibits bearing a Royal stamp

on our programme on BBC One at 7:30 tonight.

Walking into the Floral Pavilion, it is almost impossible not to be

struck by the ornamental appeal, but plants provide us with more than

simple aesthetic use and so Carol Klein this week will be looking at

the surprising stories of plants that make the world go around. On a

day packed with celebrities she has that bit more sparkle for you.

It is Monday, it is Chelsea. Everything is at attic pristine

best. There is a hint of gold in the air and the possibility of

celebrations. But there is one plant that keeps the world celebrating.

Can you guess where it is from? It is France. Of course the plant in

question is the grapevine, and the wonderful bubbly stuff they make

from it, champagne. When we think of champagne and

winemaking in general, our thoughts go immediately to France, but people

have been making wine all over the world for thousands of years. There

are records of winemaking going back to Armenia, more than 6000 years

ago. There are vines growing behind the

glass of this delightful 1860s greenhouse. A full of flowers with

the promise of an abundant harvest, because of course, in the case of

the grapevine, it is the grapes we are interested in. Great fines were

either male or female and then we stepped and bread them that all

produce grapes. Wine is just alcoholic grape juice. It is easy to

see where it comes from, but what about the alcohol? If you crush the

grape, the juice comes into contact with the outside skin. On that skin

are thousands of tiny funghi, yeast, which appears as a bloom on the

surface and they change the sugar into alcohol. It is a process called

fermentation. In the Champagne region in the north of France, the

climate is quite cool and sometimes fermentation would stop and start

again in the spring. Secondary fermentation. That resulted in a lot

of waffle is full of bubbles, bursting asunder. It was the birth

of champagne. One plant that caused quite a stir

at the turn of the last century was the rhododendron

and here at Chelsea, they're The rhododendron returned

in the luggage of plant hunters and explorers that had braved

the far flung corners of the world Such was its popularity that

a special society was set up that is celebrating

its centenary today. We met the great nephew of one of

its original founders. My name is Charles Williams from this castle in

the depths of Cornwall. I was trained by the head gardener

here as a child, and it has always been in my blood and in the family

genes. Look at that! Show me a rhododendron that is this yellow and

with this big a flower. There isn't one. This is as good as it gets.

Every year, people ask me the same question, what is my favourite plant

in the garden? Today, it is this rhododendron. By the middle of next

week, it will be something else. That is the excitement. That is what

we go gardening for, and that is the beauty and surprised that can emerge

from a garden like this. We have three great advantages in terms of

climate. Firstly, we have acid soil, which is what rhododendrons must

have. Secondly, our rainfall is about 55 inches in average, much

higher than the majority of the country. Thirdly, and most

importantly, we seldom get much frost. Therefore, plants grow for

longer because they don't get held back by Winters. My

great-grandfather, JC Williams, was the first member of the family to

have a passion for rhododendrons. He was at the forefront of

commissioning George Forrest to go on expeditions to China to bring

back new varieties of rhododendron. George Forrest was keen to be sent

to China to earn his fame and fortune, and he certainly achieved

that by the time he died in China in 1932. I think people imagine the

travelling to China was something of a rather jolly holiday, but

actually, George Forrest had to escape wars between feudal warlords

by dressing in native dress and hiding in the woods to escape

detection. Can you imagine the excitement? Here is a packet of

seeds. We had a letter from George Forrest which says, this is

something fantastic in the world that grows up to 30 or 40 feet. You

have to see it in flower. It is amazing. So you wanted to form a

club of like-minded people to compare notes. The Rhododendron

Society was formed in 1960 by four founding members, my great uncle, PD

Williams, JC Williams, my great-grandfather, Charles Ely and

John Millais. They were there to write about them, to promote them,

to cross them and to give people cuttings and establish a wider base.

The society today is a mixture of professionals in horticulture and

rank amateurs, but that is ultimately what a passion for a

particular genius of flowers is about. It is about enjoying them

with people who also enjoy swapping them, growing them, hybridising them

and telling your friends about them. The theme of our stand at Chelsea

this year is very much in keeping with the centenary of the group.

Therefore, our stand will predominantly contain rhododendrons,

hopefully some of which will survive for 100 years and are still with us

today, having been found in China all that time ago. This is the

largest leafed rhododendron of all. We have dug around a large root

ball, and we are going to gently lift it onto a wire netting

platform. After we have the wire netting in place, we will put

Hessian around it to keep the moisture in. Whether it will flower

or not remains to be seen, but the next time you see this plant again,

we will all hopefully be at Chelsea. We will be catching up with the

Rhododendron Society on Wednesday. Rhododendrons are classic acid

loving plants, and if you are lucky enough to have acid soil, here are

some beautiful blooms that like exactly those conditions. Whenever I

come to Chelsea, I always fall hook, line and sinker for that show

stopper. It is the Himalayan poppy. But I can't grow it because I have

the wrong type of soil. It is all about the pH level. Seven is

considered neutral and anything above that would be haka line, and

below is acidic. -- anything above that would be alkaline. A great way

to test your soil is to buy a couple of kits from the local centre.

Always do a few, because it may be different in different parts of the

garden. If blue is the colour you are craving, a hydrangea could be

the perfect choice. Hydrangeas are also good barometers of the level of

pH in your soil. So if it is really acidic, you are going to get real

blue intensity in them. Otherwise, if they are more alkaline, you will

get more rosy shades which are also attractive. I love this. This is a

new introduction called fireworks bloom. When they have just emerged,

they are this sort of creamy green colour, and as each flower matures,

it takes on more of the blue until you get this lovely, soft cornflower

blue. It is a really attractive plant. Not all acid loving plants

are bright and colourful. Some of them are very subtle, like this one,

where all the flower parts come in threes, the petals and the leaves.

They range in colour from purest white to one with a hint of yellowy

green, and then down to these really dark shades. Isn't that a beautiful

plant? From a beautiful plant to the

beautiful game. Today at Chelsea, the press

and photographers have been tripping over themselves to get

an exclusive shot of the gardens and the celebrities

who are out in force. a football superstar who,

it may surprise you, Welcome to Chelsea, Sol Campbell.

Are you a massive gardener? Is this inspiration for you? It is a massive

inspiration for you. I am a local lad. I was not born in Chelsea, but

I live here now. I think having a fantastic garden is something

amazing and nourishing for a human being. What is it about having a

wonderful garden that means so much? What is your garden like? I have too

Gardens, one in Northumberland, and an urban garden. What is that one

like? It is under construction. But I am looking for a balance between

something for the kids to use and secondly, for us to have barbecues

and entertain. It is about the same size as this. This is Jo Thompson's

garden. Do you want a tranquil atmosphere like this? Yeah. London

is so busy, so you need to have some kind of refuge. If you can have part

of it for the kids to do whatever they want, and a bit of a tranquil

bit at the back for me or my wife or friends, that is key. For me, it is

the difference between having grass or fake grass, Astro, so to speak.

Which do you think you will go with? I am a natural colour person. I

prefer grass, but then there is a lot of maintenance. They both have

great qualities. So for the urban garden, you want somewhere for the

family. What about your country garden, what is that like? Well,

Northumberland is a beautiful place. The landscape is fantastic. You have

to be careful what you plant. I have a walled garden, which has been

renovated and brought back to life. We have veg in there and a few

plants outside. We had to be careful what we picked. I have also planted

a few trees, Oakes by the stream. For some reason, there were no oak

trees or willows, so we planted some saplings. I will not see the

benefit! But your children will! Or someone in 50 years' time. That is

the lovely thing about Gardens, you can invest in the future so that

your family can enjoy it. What about vegetables and fruit trees? Yes,

inside our greenhouse, we have got some peaches. Outside, we have some

pairs and veg, cabbages in the raised beds. We have potatoes,

onions, asparagus. It is nice. We have lavender around aside for that

fantastic scent. I think I am going to be inviting myself round for

dinner! I have to ask you, what do you make of this lawn? Beautiful,

reminds me of Arsenal's playing surface. Perfection personified? Top

notch. Sol, thank you so much. Enjoy your time here at the show. James

has also been to investigate some very luscious lawns.

The one indisputable contribution the Brits have given gardening is

the lawn. It is a stylised vision of our past or past. And used to

perfection here. You have got these beautifully crisp sections of box

here that are perfectly cut, almost reflecting hard landscaping, but in

a soft way. And then your final lair is beautiful, pristine lawn. There

is no other material that would work in this same space to give you this

study of the calming effect of green. But there is so much more to

lawns than lush green carpet. I have had to sneak under the rope here to

show you this level of detail. We have a really quirky lawn here. This

isn't generic green backdrop, it is actually packed with all sorts of

tasty treats. There are at least four edible herbs I have seen

studied through this lawn, everything from cucumber flavoured

salad Burnett threw to lemon flavoured sorrel. The best thing is

that you do not have to mow it. It is loose, rustic and free looking.

It shows that lawns are not just about being perfectly manicured. You

can have your lawn and eat it. I know talking about plastic plants

might make me a bit of a horticultural pariah, but it is

worth mentioning that artificial grass has come on leaps and bounds

in the last few decades. It has started to look relatively natural

and even feel it. There are multiple layers of lots of different colours

at different lengths, even a thick thatch. If you have a tiny postage

stamp garden that is in deep shade, maybe a couple of dogs and some

football mad kids, there is no way you will ever have the perfect lawn,

so you might as well consider something like this. Lawns can be

pristine cricket, they can be scented and edible. Lawns can be

anything you want them to be. Lovely to see that some lawns have

returned to Chelsea. Tomorrow, Kate Adie's here to tell

us why she talks to plants. is all about the medals

on Main Avenue, and the designers here will be waiting with bated

breath to see if they scoop gold. We'll be right there

with the RHS as they reveal all. And we'll be first to get

the reactions of those There is plenty more to come on this

opening day of Chelsea. Later on BBC One at 7:30, Sophie,

Joe and the team will be covering all of the celebrity gossip

and dazzling designs We'll be back

at the same time tomorrow.