:00:00. > :00:07.The Great Pavilion has never looked better!
:00:08. > :00:10.It is ripe with plants, bursting with blooms from all over
:00:11. > :00:19.Today we are celebrating the tens of thousands of plants displayed
:00:20. > :00:27.here this week and the growers who have worked so hard to produce them.
:00:28. > :00:30.This vast structure has always been the beating heart of the RHS
:00:31. > :00:32.Chelsea Flower Show, but in 2016, are we seeing
:00:33. > :00:36.the germination of new ideas under canvas?
:00:37. > :00:39.Is this show becoming more adventurous?
:00:40. > :01:10.We'll be lifting the lid on the Great Pavilion to find out.
:01:11. > :01:13.Welcome to the RHS Chelsea Flower Show,
:01:14. > :01:15.an event supported by M Investments.
:01:16. > :01:18.Coming up - we'll be finding out how exhibitors have been pushing
:01:19. > :01:21.the boundaries to stay ahead of the game.
:01:22. > :01:25.We're joined by Turner Prize winner Grayson Perry as he casts a crafty
:01:26. > :01:30.And we'll be exploring some of the gardens and plants
:01:31. > :01:45.An interesting point that I've been hearing today is that Andy Sturgeon,
:01:46. > :01:50.who won Best garden in the show... It is a very male garden. Men really
:01:51. > :01:55.like it and respond to it, but all the women, including the presenters
:01:56. > :02:00.on our team, are slightly less enthusiastic. They are not feeling
:02:01. > :02:05.it in the same way, and there are no female judges. I know, a couple of
:02:06. > :02:12.people have been talking about that. I think it is a point that the RHS
:02:13. > :02:17.need to address. I'm not defending them, but Juliet Sergeant, many
:02:18. > :02:23.other women who are potential judges are making gardens here, so they
:02:24. > :02:29.cannot judge. That makes the point that the pool is too small. 50-50
:02:30. > :02:34.tonight, male or female, you get a chance to say whether you agree with
:02:35. > :02:36.the judges in our BBC RHS People's Choice Awards. More details on that
:02:37. > :02:40.later on in the show. One thing that people don't realise
:02:41. > :02:43.is that the Great Pavilion is massive, covering an area
:02:44. > :02:45.of three acres. It really is packed to the rafters
:02:46. > :02:47.with the best plantsmen So Carol had quite a lot of ground
:02:48. > :03:04.to cover when she dashed around The Chelsea Flower Show is the
:03:05. > :03:09.greatest show on earth, and to win any kind of medal here is an
:03:10. > :03:15.enormous accolade, whether it is bronze, silver, silvergilt or gold,
:03:16. > :03:29.they are all an enormous honour. Come on, then! What have you done?
:03:30. > :03:42.We've got it. We are so, so happy! How did you do? We got gold! Very
:03:43. > :03:51.well done. What did you get? Fabulous! Wonderful. You've done so
:03:52. > :04:06.perfectly with everything. How many is that? 27. Goals. How could it be
:04:07. > :04:17.anything else? It is a dream. A dream to try this. I'm getting...
:04:18. > :04:25.It's just wonderful. You've done it! You've done it!
:04:26. > :04:37.So excited! You don't expect it, so it makes it even better.
:04:38. > :04:53.There you go. It's beautiful. It's fantastic. I know. Have you never
:04:54. > :05:01.got a gold at Chelsea? Know. And I never will. That you have a
:05:02. > :05:10.silvergilt. 61st gold medal. Can't be better. Way-hey!
:05:11. > :05:20.Amongst the gold medal winners was grenade. Congratulations to them.
:05:21. > :05:24.With me is Catherine John. Many congratulations. -- Granada. You
:05:25. > :05:31.have been coming here for a long time. How many years? 16 years this
:05:32. > :05:35.year. I think Granada have been coming here 18 years. Many
:05:36. > :05:41.congratulations on the gold. Does the experience become humdrum? Does
:05:42. > :05:48.winning a gold lose its appeal? Not that all. You get more excited. It
:05:49. > :05:53.is beautiful to keep winning golds. We display our try island state this
:05:54. > :06:01.year, as you can see. You feel Chelsea is changing at all? Yes, I
:06:02. > :06:06.can see some changes. 15 years ago, I thought we had a lot more exhibits
:06:07. > :06:15.than we do this year. But it's beautiful. It's so exciting. It's so
:06:16. > :06:21.exciting being at Chelsea, and to have Granada exhibiting at Chelsea
:06:22. > :06:26.is just wonderful. Looking at these displays, and that incredible orchid
:06:27. > :06:31.rising up there, I long to come to the island. I have to down on the
:06:32. > :06:40.plane but I have never set foot on dry land. So I will come. Please do.
:06:41. > :06:44.Another exhibit that comes to Chelsea year on year is hardly's
:06:45. > :06:51.cottage plants. Rob and Rose Hardy you might call the Batman and Robin
:06:52. > :06:56.of the pavilion. But this year, Rob is flying solo. We went to find out
:06:57. > :07:02.why. Is this some sort of trial separation between you and Rosy this
:07:03. > :07:08.week? Rosy obviously has a lovely garden, and she has left me manning
:07:09. > :07:14.this stand. How do you feel without her? Do you feel lost? Not really,
:07:15. > :07:18.because she normally puts up the exhibit, stays for Tuesday and then
:07:19. > :07:25.goes home. She is not normally hear from Wednesday onwards. So it feels
:07:26. > :07:32.normal. How has it been this year. You've got a gold medal. That is the
:07:33. > :07:37.21st Chelsea gold medal. Rosy does come and put the exhibit together.
:07:38. > :07:42.Did she do that this year, because she has been busy? She did both
:07:43. > :07:49.exhibits. She's the one who places the plants. She has amazing talent
:07:50. > :07:52.and artistic flair. The plant knowledge is exceptional. She's been
:07:53. > :07:56.the most relaxed ever doing a display that I've been involved with
:07:57. > :08:01.this year. I've never seen anything like it. I think it is the
:08:02. > :08:09.excitement of doing the garden on Main Avenue. This is our main
:08:10. > :08:13.business. It's the excitement and the challenge. Normally, husband and
:08:14. > :08:19.wife team, there's normally a of friction. But this year there's been
:08:20. > :08:25.none. She's just been soaking it up and enjoying the occasion. How about
:08:26. > :08:30.for you. You have to deal with the public on a daily basis. They are
:08:31. > :08:35.always asking you about the plants, your favourite combinations here. If
:08:36. > :08:38.it is a plant, it is quite straightforward. You start off the
:08:39. > :08:44.show and you think there is a certain plant they will ask about,
:08:45. > :08:47.but at the end of the first day, you realise you've got it wrong. It's
:08:48. > :08:54.something that just captures the imagination. It doesn't swap around
:08:55. > :08:59.quite a bit. Absolutely stunning. I always come to your stand and see
:09:00. > :09:05.some fantastic plant combinations. Have a lovely week, without Rosy
:09:06. > :09:09.perhaps! Rob's wife Rosy has been busy on this exhibit and her very
:09:10. > :09:14.first Show Garden here at Chelsea. We went to find out more about a
:09:15. > :09:21.subject very close to both her home and her heart.
:09:22. > :09:29.Look at this wonderful river, the River test. Beautiful. It flows
:09:30. > :09:35.through my home in Hampshire. Who wouldn't want a stream like this at
:09:36. > :09:44.the end of their garden? You've got things like this, and looks, tiny
:09:45. > :09:50.fish down there. Look at the ripples on the surface. Never the same
:09:51. > :10:01.pattern. You can sit here mesmerised for hours on end, and it will never
:10:02. > :10:07.be the same. Absolutely beautiful. This river is one of 200 chalk
:10:08. > :10:14.streams in the world. 160 happened to be in England. 70% of the water
:10:15. > :10:18.that is used in the south-east of England is drawn from the chalk
:10:19. > :10:25.download and that these streams come from. If we go and extract far too
:10:26. > :10:31.much of it, they are going to dry up, to look horrible. They are
:10:32. > :10:40.wonderful but fragile ecosystems, and we need to look after them.
:10:41. > :10:45.Looking after these beautiful chalk streams is such an important thing,
:10:46. > :10:46.and it really stimulated me into the idea for my first ever Show Garden
:10:47. > :10:59.at Chelsea. The idea for the garden is based
:11:00. > :11:05.around everything that happens here at free folk. It has a long history
:11:06. > :11:15.of papermaking, banknote making, and it is key to our design. The River
:11:16. > :11:20.Test is used for making watermarks. They also introduced silver thread
:11:21. > :11:25.into our banknotes, making sure that they cannot be forged. So the idea
:11:26. > :11:29.is that we use the silver thread by the path, and the water is there as
:11:30. > :11:38.the key and and for making everything work. -- the key element.
:11:39. > :11:47.I'm growing all of the plant material myself. We are growing 6000
:11:48. > :11:53.plants, which is a huge number of plants to get ready for Chelsea.
:11:54. > :11:58.It's very unusual for somebody who's a Main Avenue garden to actually
:11:59. > :12:02.grow all of the plant material themselves. Most of the landscape
:12:03. > :12:11.designers and architects get contract is in to grow everything
:12:12. > :12:22.for them. Alongside native species, we are also going to be introducing
:12:23. > :12:29.brand-new garden varieties. This is hebe celebration. Beautiful purple -
:12:30. > :12:34.pink flowers. It is a beautiful big push. Foliage is a variegated on the
:12:35. > :12:38.tips, which gives a good contrast to the flour, and the bees love it.
:12:39. > :12:40.This plant will grow and looks superb in flower for such a long
:12:41. > :12:55.time in the garden. This is going to be my 25th year
:12:56. > :13:01.exhibiting at Chelsea. This is the first time I've ended up moving from
:13:02. > :13:08.the marquee, the Floral Pavilions, outside to do an main avenue garden,
:13:09. > :13:13.and that really has put my head into garden mode, and thinking about
:13:14. > :13:19.Chelsea far earlier than I would ever have thought about it before.
:13:20. > :13:25.Everyone says I looks very calm. Inside, I'm an absolute wreck! But I
:13:26. > :13:30.will keep the facade up and look really, really calm, and if anybody
:13:31. > :13:34.finds me curled up in a corner by the end of Sunday or Monday, when
:13:35. > :13:36.everything is over and the judging has been done, just leave me alone!
:13:37. > :13:50.I don't want to be disturbed! Rosy, here we are, outside an
:13:51. > :13:55.unprotected in your first Show Garden. What has it been like? I
:13:56. > :13:59.have thoroughly enjoyed it. It is different. We are exposed. The
:14:00. > :14:03.elements are here, completely different from inside the pavilion,
:14:04. > :14:09.where we don't have to worry about the rain and cold. The plants have
:14:10. > :14:13.loved it. They have settled in and done incredibly well. We just had to
:14:14. > :14:18.grow them a bit harder than we would for inside so that they flower on
:14:19. > :14:22.time. They are the stars of the garden. These plants are very
:14:23. > :14:30.particular to this chalk stream environment that your garden is all
:14:31. > :14:34.about. Exactly. Chalk streams, our environment, is all alkaline. All of
:14:35. > :14:39.the plant material loves alkaline soils. People could look at certain
:14:40. > :14:46.areas in the garden, and if they are on alkaline soil, it it will be
:14:47. > :14:52.perfect plant. But you make it clear that you really cannot grow any
:14:53. > :14:57.ericaceous plants here. No. I tried very early on. I love the blue
:14:58. > :15:02.poppy. We would grow it with my mother up in Yorkshire on acid soil,
:15:03. > :15:08.in containers, and then bring it back down to us. As soon as our
:15:09. > :15:14.chalky water went on to them, they'd don't like it. There is nothing
:15:15. > :15:17.worse than a sad plant. The key thing is to choose the right plants
:15:18. > :15:39.of the situation. Absolutely. What are the key plants. One of my
:15:40. > :15:50.key plants are the geraniums. They are great fun. And I love that. Yes,
:15:51. > :15:55.it is brilliant, isn't it? It is such a contrast to its cousin, the
:15:56. > :16:00.red one. It will love your heavy soil. The first show garden, the
:16:01. > :16:06.judges gave you a silver medal, how do you feel about that? I am very
:16:07. > :16:13.happy. Coming here, completely out of my depth, I am very happy. I look
:16:14. > :16:13.forward to seeing your next show garden.
:16:14. > :16:19.I don't think so! Rosy's not the only woman
:16:20. > :16:21.to leave the Great Pavilion Another woman who has made the move
:16:22. > :16:25.from under canvas to the show She's no stranger here with 14
:16:26. > :16:29.Chelsea Gold medals for exhibiting, but this is her first year
:16:30. > :16:43.here as a designer Lovely to see you. Lovely to see
:16:44. > :16:48.you. How has it been, the transition? It is very interesting.
:16:49. > :16:53.As you know, I have been a judge in there but the attention to detail in
:16:54. > :16:56.a garden is very different to the attention to detail in the Great
:16:57. > :17:03.Pavilion. Is it just about bailing it? Not at all, it is about the
:17:04. > :17:07.scale of the paving, how things are built, the scale of the plants. It
:17:08. > :17:12.is the hard landscaping. The balance, the size of the trees,
:17:13. > :17:19.versus the props you use, the size of the chairs and everything else.
:17:20. > :17:27.It is all the other detail you have to take into account? You have to
:17:28. > :17:33.put everything in 3-D? Exactly. And it is the balance of the sculpture.
:17:34. > :17:38.You are all about plants and the medicinal uses and herbs. What have
:17:39. > :17:42.you got here? This is what I am really excited about, it is
:17:43. > :17:47.Hawthorne. I am from the West Country. In the West Country it is
:17:48. > :17:52.known as bread and cheese. I was brought up to eat the leaf in spring
:17:53. > :17:59.and it is really good for the heart. Does it taste like bread and cheese?
:18:00. > :18:05.No, it tastes like bitter! But it has been scientifically proven to be
:18:06. > :18:09.good for the heart, both in strength and circulation. That is exciting.
:18:10. > :18:15.Behind the chairs, this is Willow and that is the origin of aspirin.
:18:16. > :18:20.And then you see that beautiful blue flower, that is linseed. In the
:18:21. > :18:25.research for this garden, I was talking to a GP and he said we
:18:26. > :18:30.really should have flax and linseed with our cereal in the morning and
:18:31. > :18:34.our digestive system would be really healthy. And you have got Sage. That
:18:35. > :18:40.is very good to gargle with if you have a sore throat and rosemary. It
:18:41. > :18:57.is not bad for cooking with either! You have got a Silver-Gilt. To get a
:18:58. > :19:02.Silver-Gilt, I am so chuffed. When you look up there, it looks
:19:03. > :19:06.absolutely stunning, Jekka. Thank you very much.
:19:07. > :19:09.Coming up, Zephaniah Lindo will be catching up with some
:19:10. > :19:10.of the personalities behind the artisan gardens
:19:11. > :19:14.Well, yesterday we found out what the judges made
:19:15. > :19:16.of the large show gardens here at the Chelsea Flower Show.
:19:17. > :19:21.Once again we are running the BBC RHS People's Choice Award
:19:22. > :19:23.where you get to vote for your favourite large show garden.
:19:24. > :19:25.Simply go to our website, bbc.co.uk/chelsea,
:19:26. > :19:29.and you will see all of the 17 gardens up for the award and all
:19:30. > :19:31.of the information you need on how to vote.
:19:32. > :19:34.Voting opens after tonight's show at 9 o'clock.
:19:35. > :19:37.To help you decide, Toby Buckland and Rachel de Thame
:19:38. > :19:40.will be guiding you through each of the 17 gardens involved.
:19:41. > :19:52.Here they are with the first selection.
:19:53. > :19:57.At first glance, this looks like the kind of property and upstanding
:19:58. > :20:02.member of the banking community might own, but you don't have to
:20:03. > :20:08.scratch below the surface very hard, to discover that this garden is very
:20:09. > :20:14.quirky indeed. You see, it is mechanical. Inspired by the cartoons
:20:15. > :20:18.of Heath Robinson, the box and be trees and Borders dance the
:20:19. > :20:22.fandango. The window boxes are dynamic, not simply because they
:20:23. > :20:28.change with the seasons but because they move. EBorders around on
:20:29. > :20:33.tracks. It is a garden designed to make you happy and bring joy, and
:20:34. > :20:41.even the bits which don't move do that. The borders are mix of sweet
:20:42. > :20:46.colours with fox tail lilies, south vias and ballerina roses. It just
:20:47. > :20:51.goes to show when it comes to Gardens, you should never be taken
:20:52. > :20:55.in by first impressions. The Hartley but panic garden
:20:56. > :21:08.designed by Catherine MacDonald is a place for relaxation for a keen
:21:09. > :21:13.gardener -- Hartley botanic. That flows under a glass floor to the
:21:14. > :21:19.actual structure and you can see the coy carp swimming around. Towards
:21:20. > :21:23.the back is a kitchen garden. On the one side there are vegetables,
:21:24. > :21:29.runner beans and artichokes, on the other side, and medley in full
:21:30. > :21:33.flower. Around the glasshouse is very naturalistic planting. Silver
:21:34. > :21:37.Birch is to give the height and then there is fox gloves and cow parsley.
:21:38. > :21:46.This brings more intensity of colour. This is very much the theme
:21:47. > :21:55.of the hedgerow but definitely in a garden space.
:21:56. > :21:58.The LG Smart Garden by Hay Joung Hwang marries cutting-edge
:21:59. > :22:03.technology with nature. It even comes with a phone at which enables
:22:04. > :22:07.you to change the lighting and volume on the TV by tapping your
:22:08. > :22:11.phone. There are sensors in the border which lets you know when your
:22:12. > :22:16.plants are hungry or thirsty at the root. But what sets this garden
:22:17. > :22:21.apart from other high-tech contemporary designs is it is not
:22:22. > :22:28.very low-key, it is not dark concrete and steel -- it is not very
:22:29. > :22:35.bloke like. It is fit for contemporary living. The planting is
:22:36. > :22:45.a florist shop window of colour with bearded iris, geraniums and
:22:46. > :23:05.foxgloves. This is a very flowery glimpse of the future.
:23:06. > :23:09.The L'Occitane garden by James Basson has been inspired by France
:23:10. > :23:14.and uses materials brought from France. At the back is a circular
:23:15. > :23:23.stone shelter for a Shepherd or a farmer to use. There is ace dream
:23:24. > :23:25.just bubbling up through the ground. There are rather stunted looking Oak
:23:26. > :23:33.trees back there on the hillside, and these lovely pines coming
:23:34. > :23:40.through. -- there is a stream bubbling up through the ground. This
:23:41. > :23:45.is studied with poppies and flax. These trees are stunted, they have
:23:46. > :23:47.been pruned hard. They are working trees and they bring a real sense of
:23:48. > :23:51.the place. Don't forget, you can't vote yet
:23:52. > :23:54.until you've seen the remaining gardens which we'll be showing
:23:55. > :23:56.you throughout the rest of the show. Awards can divide opinion and one
:23:57. > :23:59.man who is all too familiar with such accolades is artist
:24:00. > :24:14.and former Turner Prize winner Grayson, thank you for coming to
:24:15. > :24:22.Chelsea. Had you been here often? Never. I am a virgin. Your first
:24:23. > :24:26.visit. What were you expecting? I was expecting amazing craftsmanship
:24:27. > :24:31.really, and that is what I am seeing. The love of it, the detail,
:24:32. > :24:38.the precision and the perfection. I am seeing that time and time again.
:24:39. > :24:43.What about the whole social event? Chelsea has become a huge
:24:44. > :25:06.ritualistic event. It is part of a mega fate of Britain.
:25:07. > :25:09.You have Wimbledon, the Royal Academy summer show, the Proms. It
:25:10. > :25:13.is a celebration of British culture which goes on over the summer and
:25:14. > :25:16.this is a big part of it. It is the produce show on steroids really. Do
:25:17. > :25:18.you garden at home? No, I was slave Labour to my parents when I was
:25:19. > :25:21.young and it put me off completely. I love looking at Gardens, I love
:25:22. > :25:24.sitting in the garden and I love the whole philosophy of what they mean.
:25:25. > :25:29.What do you think they mean? I think they are a meditation on mortality.
:25:30. > :25:33.As I age, every spring, I find myself sighing and thinking I have
:25:34. > :25:38.made it another year. There is something very touching about that.
:25:39. > :25:42.When you see the flowers come out and the birds nesting I think, we
:25:43. > :25:47.have made it through the winter. I find that very moving, more moving
:25:48. > :25:54.as I age. Maybe you will become a part of that and doing some hands-on
:25:55. > :26:06.gardening, who knows? I said to my wife, if you ever catch me
:26:07. > :26:10.with a golf club in my hand, shoot me! But a spade, I think I could
:26:11. > :26:13.live with that! Go around the show, have a look, choose some things you
:26:14. > :26:23.like and then we will come back and have a chat later. OK.
:26:24. > :26:30.This has been put together by a group of people who love plants, the
:26:31. > :26:35.Alpine Garden Society. There is a water feature in the middle and lots
:26:36. > :26:49.of plants around the edges. I love these. What has particularly caught
:26:50. > :26:53.my eye is this one. It is un-American woodland plant and it is
:26:54. > :27:02.called shooting stars. You can see why. -- it is an American woodland
:27:03. > :27:10.plant. Apparently it is pretty EEC to grow as well. Nice easy to drain
:27:11. > :27:14.soil and it will combine beautifully with Hostas like that.
:27:15. > :27:17.Not all alpines are easy, and plantsman John Massey has taken
:27:18. > :27:19.on a notoriously difficult plant to display at the show.
:27:20. > :27:23.Rachel De Thame went to find out about the delicate little flower
:27:24. > :27:36.Hepaticas are dainty little plants which thrive in woodland found on
:27:37. > :28:03.mountain slopes in Asia and Europe. If you get up close to them, you can
:28:04. > :28:13.see them. You feel incredibly greedy. At his nursery in South
:28:14. > :28:19.Staffordshire, John Massey is so passionate about Hepaticas, he has
:28:20. > :28:30.built this Alpine house for his ever-growing collection.
:28:31. > :28:39.It is like being a kid in a sweet shop. How many plants have you got
:28:40. > :28:49.any? I don't know! I am terrible about that! A lot! I know these are
:28:50. > :28:53.pretty much global. They are right through the temperate zones of Asia
:28:54. > :28:57.and Europe and Canada. They are small perennial woodland plants
:28:58. > :29:01.growing on sunny slopes. It is strange because most people think of
:29:02. > :29:07.them as needing shade but they like to flower in the sun. As soon as
:29:08. > :29:11.they finish flowering, they are under deciduous trees. They are
:29:12. > :29:18.opportunists so they take that early spring sun and then they have the
:29:19. > :29:24.leaf canopy in summer. Yes, and they take it much drier than. John has
:29:25. > :29:31.travelled the world in search of rare varieties of Hepatica. He will
:29:32. > :29:38.breed more remarkable variations of this gorgeous plant. These are from
:29:39. > :29:44.America. They are really hairy. All the leaves you see on Hepaticas are
:29:45. > :29:50.covered with fine hairs. There are two species in America. We are off,
:29:51. > :29:58.hang on! This is the other one which is Americana. It is much, much
:29:59. > :30:03.smaller. This is stunning. I love it when a plant draws you in. You have
:30:04. > :30:09.to look at this close-up to appreciate it. This is the beauty of
:30:10. > :30:10.them and in my mind, part of the charm of Hepaticas, the simple
:30:11. > :30:22.beauty. The more tender Asian varieties can
:30:23. > :30:27.be more of a challenge to grow, and are best grown in pots under glass,
:30:28. > :30:34.whether temperature doesn't fall minus five Celsius. The Japanese are
:30:35. > :30:40.far more complex. You have far more variations. The stamen, the petal
:30:41. > :30:45.fall, and hundreds of different doubles. It is a bit of a love hate
:30:46. > :30:50.relationship with the Japanese, because I cannot resist them, but I
:30:51. > :30:55.know they are no good outside. I always tell myself, we don't need
:30:56. > :31:00.any more! But as soon as you see a different one, it's like, I must
:31:01. > :31:04.have it. If you want to have a go at growing hepaticas at home and you
:31:05. > :31:10.don't have a house like this one, you could put them in a pot in the
:31:11. > :31:13.garden, choose one of the European forms, and put it somewhere where
:31:14. > :31:18.the pot can get lots of right sunshine in the spring when it is
:31:19. > :31:22.flowering, and as the weather warms up in the summer, put it in the
:31:23. > :31:26.shade in a quiet part of the garden where it won't be noticed. And
:31:27. > :31:35.hopefully you will have this for many years to come. A talking point,
:31:36. > :31:41.something to show off, a little bit challenging, but 100% worth it.
:31:42. > :31:46.John, I'm so happy to see you here at Chelsea. And better than that -
:31:47. > :31:54.you've won a gold medal! Fantastic. You dream of doing it, but you never
:31:55. > :31:58.know if it would happen. Up until five days ago, we didn't know if we
:31:59. > :32:02.would be able to put on this display. Hepaticas flower in
:32:03. > :32:08.February, so to see them here at the end of May is such an achievement!
:32:09. > :32:13.We bought a trailer, we put them in at the end of December, and they had
:32:14. > :32:19.been in the freezer trailer between 0 degrees and 0.5. I brought the
:32:20. > :32:24.flowering ones out seven days ago. If I brought them out too soon, the
:32:25. > :32:28.flower was would have gone over. When you were going through the
:32:29. > :32:34.process of warming them up again, do you do it gradually? No, I brought
:32:35. > :32:38.them out about a fortnight ago to cut foliage out and put them
:32:39. > :32:42.straight in the fridge. They stayed in their seven days. Then I put some
:32:43. > :32:49.benches outside the greenhouse and put them out in full sun. So to get
:32:50. > :32:54.that quality, just talk me around some of the details here. There's 12
:32:55. > :32:58.species through the northern temperate zone, and they all seem to
:32:59. > :33:07.love to cross with each other. This one comes from China. These are some
:33:08. > :33:15.crosses we have done between these two. You can bring the marbling in.
:33:16. > :33:20.This one over here, it's wonderful. It's just absolutely incredible.
:33:21. > :33:25.That's stained glass. The day got better for you because on top of the
:33:26. > :33:29.gold medal, you were also awarded the Diamond Jubilee award for the
:33:30. > :33:35.best exhibit in the Great Pavilion. Because you were out having lunch,
:33:36. > :33:39.Sir Nicholas Bacon, the president of the RHS, gave you the award as you
:33:40. > :33:46.were sitting eating your pudding. I made a real fool of myself. I cried!
:33:47. > :33:51.But it was wonderful. What about visitors. How are they responding to
:33:52. > :33:58.the display? Do they understand the level of it? We had several people
:33:59. > :34:02.in tears. I always feel that if a stand can touch you in motion Lee,
:34:03. > :34:09.that's the most important thing of all. The have been fabulous. Given
:34:10. > :34:15.your success here, will we see hepaticas again at Chelsea? I doubt
:34:16. > :34:21.it. I wouldn't like to put the plants through it again. I don't
:34:22. > :34:25.know whether... I would probably be totally... It is quite stressful.
:34:26. > :34:32.You put your life on hold for basically a year. That makes me
:34:33. > :34:37.feel... This is the moment, this is the chance to see this, and it may
:34:38. > :34:41.never happen again. It is like listening to live music. You go to a
:34:42. > :34:48.concert and you never actually get the same thing again. That's what
:34:49. > :34:51.makes it so special. You have made beautiful music here at Chelsea.
:34:52. > :34:57.It's fantastic. Congratulations. Hepaticas are just one of the many
:34:58. > :35:01.plants that were discovered in an era when European plant
:35:02. > :35:04.hunters were scouring the world Much of what we grow in our gardens
:35:05. > :35:27.today can be traced back to plants In the furthest flung corners of the
:35:28. > :35:33.globe. I have a personal connection to this, because a couple of my
:35:34. > :35:37.forebears were plant hunters. One of them, David on, was one of the first
:35:38. > :35:43.professional plant hunters employed by the RHS at the beginning of the
:35:44. > :35:49.19th-century. And it was some quite ordinary plants. Plants that we
:35:50. > :35:55.think will grow normally come from exotic places. Right here, I have a
:35:56. > :36:01.bamboo. It doesn't need special conditions, it is very robust, but
:36:02. > :36:06.it comes from China and Japan. Back 100 years ago, that was as weird and
:36:07. > :36:12.exotic as the moon. Here in the pavilion you can see plants from all
:36:13. > :36:16.over the world. In the Show Gardens you will find plants use to gain the
:36:17. > :36:20.full effect coming from all over the planet.
:36:21. > :36:23.Out in the show gardens, James Wong has been exploring some
:36:24. > :36:37.For the last 100 years, Western design principles have dominated
:36:38. > :36:42.horticulture across the world. You could be on one side of the planet
:36:43. > :36:47.or the other, and find it if a call to picture a garden that isn't
:36:48. > :36:51.immaculate lawn, maybe some roses round the edge, and somewhere over
:36:52. > :36:55.and Willow. I think that is a shame, because in Asia there is a
:36:56. > :36:59.completely different style of gardening that evolved
:37:00. > :37:02.independently. It uses different plants, different principles and a
:37:03. > :37:10.whole different language of how we even talk about gardens.
:37:11. > :37:17.That is perfectly displayed here. You start out in Tokyo in the east.
:37:18. > :37:23.You have a colour palette dominated by green. The interest is provided
:37:24. > :37:27.by texture and structure, this beautiful bamboo. You have to look
:37:28. > :37:34.for the beauty. The beauty is in the detail. Out here at the front, you
:37:35. > :37:39.have a blaze of colour. It is about thing dazzled from a distance. This
:37:40. > :37:43.garden highlights how so many of the things we think of as classic
:37:44. > :37:50.English plants actually come from the East. The perfect English Rose
:37:51. > :37:56.is a hybrid between Iranians and Chinese species. He is a wisteria. I
:37:57. > :38:01.think of this as from a cottage garden, but it is from the
:38:02. > :38:04.rainforests of Southeast Ainger. Around the Mekong Garden,
:38:05. > :38:09.traditional designers would have been coming from the Middle East and
:38:10. > :38:16.further north in China. You would only see that garden design style in
:38:17. > :38:21.temples or palaces. The majority of people would never have witnessed
:38:22. > :38:27.that. In my grandparents' garden, you will see a layer of fruit and
:38:28. > :38:33.veg underneath a canopy of fruiting trees. All of the planting here is
:38:34. > :38:41.in floating rafts on the body of water. I love being able to look at
:38:42. > :38:46.this, because I find it so familiar. Asian gardens are not just about
:38:47. > :38:51.particular structures, colours or forms. They are about more
:38:52. > :38:55.fundamental questions, like, what is a garden ready for? This is almost
:38:56. > :39:03.like a Japanese tea house where the garden is a work of art that wraps
:39:04. > :39:12.around you in 360 degrees. There's no painted Redbridge, no bamboo, no
:39:13. > :39:19.pagoda. Yet to me, this is an utterly Asian gardens.
:39:20. > :39:22.Now tonight, we've launched our BBC RHS People's Choice Award
:39:23. > :39:26.across tonight's show. we're showing you all the gardens
:39:27. > :39:34.Here are Toby and Rachel with the next four.
:39:35. > :39:46.The M Garden designed by Cleve West was inspired by a childhood on
:39:47. > :39:57.Exmoor. You enter the garden via a cobbled Combe. Flanked by dog rose,
:39:58. > :40:03.honesty, Driss of quaking grass. It gives a nod to nature, but the heart
:40:04. > :40:10.of the garden is quite contemporary. There is a pools fed by a babbling
:40:11. > :40:16.mountain stream. If you have ever been to Exmoor, you will know it is
:40:17. > :40:22.a rocky place, and there are quite a few boulders here. There's also
:40:23. > :40:27.scree, outcrops, and warning made of stacked stone, as you would expect
:40:28. > :40:33.to see pending in the sheep. This is a trip down memory lane for the
:40:34. > :40:39.designer, packaged up for Chelsea. Most gardens have at least one
:40:40. > :40:41.gloomy corner, but the Morgan Stanley Garden for Great Ormond
:40:42. > :40:48.Street Hospital is designed for complete shade. It is the work of
:40:49. > :40:53.Chris Beardshaw, and the Borders are a tapestry of chunky foliage plants,
:40:54. > :41:03.with blue hostas rubbing shoulders with sparkling silver. Above them,
:41:04. > :41:08.Acer 's form umbrellas. In summer, these are like a moving sculpture,
:41:09. > :41:14.moving in the breeze. In the autumn, it is a splash of colour in the
:41:15. > :41:21.centre. And of course, of reflections of the sky. The garden
:41:22. > :41:26.has a very Japanese feel to it. That is thanks to the Acers, but also the
:41:27. > :41:33.chunky timbers of the pavilion. They are designed to be the place to take
:41:34. > :41:41.in and contemplate the world. The Royal Bank of Canada garden designed
:41:42. > :41:44.by Hugo Bugg takes as its inspiration the Jordanian landscape,
:41:45. > :41:51.and celebrates the preciousness of water as a resource. There is a
:41:52. > :41:54.strong structural element to the landscaping. Lots of geometric
:41:55. > :42:03.straight -- shapes, and acute angles. The designer wanted to
:42:04. > :42:09.emphasise the preciousness of water by keeping the water feature itself
:42:10. > :42:15.very small. The plants are either natives of Jordan or hybrids of
:42:16. > :42:21.natives. The Aleppo pine with a very vertical shape. Many of the plants
:42:22. > :42:26.have strong colours, scarlet, blue and yellow. And there are sparkles
:42:27. > :42:31.of creamy white. The garden very much illustrates what a broad
:42:32. > :42:38.spectrum of plants one can use in this sort of arid landscape. This is
:42:39. > :42:42.a garden that is designed to be both useful and beautiful. It is the St
:42:43. > :42:49.John's modern apothecary by Jekka McVicar. There's lots of herbs that
:42:50. > :42:55.you will recognise here, such as Time, lavender, with the flowers
:42:56. > :43:02.that are good for oil and attract bees. And a few blasts from the
:43:03. > :43:07.past. Whoa dude is loved by Dyers of wool and Celts wanting to paint
:43:08. > :43:15.their face blue before war. This is probably the garden with the highest
:43:16. > :43:20.plant to hard landscape ratio. But the hard landscaping is useful, like
:43:21. > :43:27.the rest of the garden. A circular path is designed to make it easy to
:43:28. > :43:30.pick and tend herbs. Jekka has designed this garden for health,
:43:31. > :43:32.well-being and to be good enough to eat.
:43:33. > :43:36.You've had the first eight gardens, and we'll show you the other nine
:43:37. > :43:46.It's a veritable carpet of fragrant flora in the Great Pavilion
:43:47. > :43:48.here at Chelsea, an event supported by M Investments.
:43:49. > :43:51.There are plants and flowers for as far as the eye can see.
:43:52. > :43:53.But amongst these plants, there are individuals that really do
:43:54. > :44:08.Here's Carol Klein with some of those knock-out blooms.
:44:09. > :44:23.# Give them the old razzle-dazzle # Razzle-dazzle #. All of the stars
:44:24. > :44:26.of the show are here. The Great Pavilion is packed with all the
:44:27. > :44:37.classic stars, and everyone of them is trying to the limelight. Almost
:44:38. > :44:41.all lilies have a most beautiful perfused, and almost all of them are
:44:42. > :44:47.really easy to grow. You can grow them in the sun or dappled shade, in
:44:48. > :44:52.pots or in the ground. Just make sure they have excellent drainage,
:44:53. > :45:05.because everybody knows that no show stopper likes a soggy bottom.
:45:06. > :45:14.PNE is surely must be the most voluptuous, the most sumptuous of
:45:15. > :45:22.flowers, especially the gorgeous doubles with their platter of petals
:45:23. > :45:26.and they are truly queens of the catwalk -- Peonies. A lot of people
:45:27. > :45:30.think they don't last long, why should I put them in my garden, but
:45:31. > :45:37.how could you resist a flower like this? They may be shooting stars,
:45:38. > :45:41.their performance is over quickly, but while they are there, there is
:45:42. > :45:51.nothing that can hold a candle to them.
:45:52. > :46:00.But how do you guarantee this breathtaking show? Some gardeners
:46:01. > :46:04.complained that there Peonies dead flower properly, but the main cause
:46:05. > :46:08.of that is planting them too deep. As long as you ensure that the
:46:09. > :46:15.tubers are under the surface of the soil, and you give them good, rich
:46:16. > :46:18.compost to start with, like most eves, Peonies respond to a bit of
:46:19. > :46:31.pampering. Treat them well. # blue moon, used all me standing
:46:32. > :46:36.alone... The deep infinite blue of Delfin
:46:37. > :46:46.aims, they are like no other colour in the garden -- delphiniums. If you
:46:47. > :46:49.want the show to go on, once the top spire has finished flowering, take
:46:50. > :46:53.them out with some sharp secateurs and that will allow the
:46:54. > :47:09.understudies, the side shoots, their moment of glory. If you want a truly
:47:10. > :47:17.Coptic display, if you want it to be sexy, sultry, dissimilar, then why
:47:18. > :47:22.not go for dahlias. They are from Mexico and you can feel that heat
:47:23. > :47:26.when you look at the beautiful blooms. They are really
:47:27. > :47:32.straightforward to grow but they are tender. You must protect them during
:47:33. > :47:37.the winter. You can easily dig up their tubers, put them in a box in
:47:38. > :47:42.some dry compost and they will sit there are happily all winter. Then
:47:43. > :47:48.in the spring, pop them, water them and they will spring into growth. In
:47:49. > :47:57.a matter of months, you will have this superb displays seething with
:47:58. > :48:05.hot colours. # razzle-dazzle them and they will
:48:06. > :48:10.make you a star... Absolute perfection.
:48:11. > :48:12.Clematis have been exhibited at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show
:48:13. > :48:23.Lovely to see you. How did you do? have been produced on this
:48:24. > :48:32.Lovely to see you. How did you do? We won a gold medal. How many is
:48:33. > :48:39.that now? That is number 28. Well done. I did not want to assume that
:48:40. > :48:45.you won. You have a revolving exhibit. Yes, we have some funny
:48:46. > :48:54.things outside. I told Dermot he copied me. His whiz around. His are
:48:55. > :49:01.more sophisticated. What do you think of this lovely new one which
:49:02. > :49:07.is called Volunteer. There are masses of flowers. As they fade and
:49:08. > :49:20.drop away, more new buds appear. And they grow well in a container? Very
:49:21. > :49:22.well in a container. Congratulations on another gold.
:49:23. > :49:24.These plants have been hugely popular over the years,
:49:25. > :49:27.pulling in the crowds, but amongst the masses drawn
:49:28. > :49:29.to these exhibits in the 1980s was 18-year-old Marcel Floyd.
:49:30. > :49:32.This was a visit that was to transform his life and lead him
:49:33. > :50:01.My name is Marcel Floyd, I am a clematis grower and I love them.
:50:02. > :50:07.Back in the early 1980s, I had no other work on at all and someone
:50:08. > :50:12.said, would you like to work in the garden centre and I thought I would
:50:13. > :50:16.give it a whirl. I was playing football, going to bands, that was
:50:17. > :50:22.my life. I was not fussed about anything to do with gardens at the
:50:23. > :50:27.time. In 1984, I decided Chelsea Flower Show is on, let's go and see
:50:28. > :50:32.what it is all about. As I was wandering around the stands, nothing
:50:33. > :50:40.really took my eye that much until I saw Raymond Evison and I loved the
:50:41. > :50:46.clematis. I bought 30 or 40 and planted them in my parents' garden.
:50:47. > :50:52.They thought I was going through an addictive phase but they had to put
:50:53. > :50:56.up with 90 of them in their garden. A bit addicted was an
:50:57. > :51:02.understatement. Obsession? Yes, to a certain extent. My first daughter is
:51:03. > :51:13.called Albani named after the Duchess of alchemy. My second
:51:14. > :51:20.daughter is named Jasmine. -- Albany. We did think we would call
:51:21. > :51:24.my son Jake the potato vine but we thought that would be a bit cruel so
:51:25. > :51:31.he is named Jake after the Jolly Jake. I love clematis because they
:51:32. > :51:36.give you say much. December, it can be snowing and you will have the
:51:37. > :51:44.clematis Winter Beauty out in flower. Then there are masses of
:51:45. > :51:53.plants and when we come into April, there is this one. I love them, they
:51:54. > :51:58.thrive on neglect. They will flower in April, May and again in August,
:51:59. > :52:02.September. They are native to Siberia, North Korea and South
:52:03. > :52:07.Korea, so they are tough. Then you come onto the lovely big flowers,
:52:08. > :52:13.the show stoppers. The one where you think, how the hell is it flowering
:52:14. > :52:17.that big? It is a dinner plate. You cannot eat off it but you can
:52:18. > :52:24.appreciate it. It is brilliant. All year round they will give you
:52:25. > :52:30.flowers and they are beautiful. Chelsea is the biggest show on Earth
:52:31. > :52:37.in the horticultural calendar. There is nowhere else that comes close to
:52:38. > :52:41.it. We are very chuffed, proud is an understatement to be in. Our theme
:52:42. > :52:46.at Chelsea is Japanese. We are doing a Japanese tea house because many of
:52:47. > :52:50.our big flowering varieties in our garden today originated in Japan.
:52:51. > :52:56.Here we have the roof of our Japanese tea house. This is the
:52:57. > :53:01.first part. A lot of curves and a lot of work has gone into this. This
:53:02. > :53:05.will be covered in lovely wooden shingles. On each of the four
:53:06. > :53:10.corners it will be held up on posts 8-foot high and there will be panels
:53:11. > :53:19.where you can look through to the lovely polished floor. The chap who
:53:20. > :53:23.is working with me, he decides, the builders are going on holiday for
:53:24. > :53:31.three weeks, less in! We will get it done and it will look great on the
:53:32. > :53:36.day! Gold would be lovely if we got it at Chelsea. It would be the icing
:53:37. > :53:38.on top of the cake, to be honest. Us being there is what it is about for
:53:39. > :53:52.us. Marcel, it is like completing the
:53:53. > :53:57.circle. You first saw clematis here at Chelsea and here you are with
:53:58. > :54:03.your own exhibit. How does it feel? It is strange. In 1984I was into
:54:04. > :54:09.music, not flowers but once I went to Chelsea, bank, a beautiful
:54:10. > :54:16.flowering clematis and 32 years later, here I am and not a day over
:54:17. > :54:20.25 of course! Not a day! You have been to Hampton Court but does
:54:21. > :54:28.Chelsea feel different? Do you feel the pressure is on? You have to step
:54:29. > :54:36.up a level. A ten three here would be like gold anywhere else. We were
:54:37. > :54:45.chuffed when we saw what we had. You got a ten three or? We did. Your
:54:46. > :54:54.teahouse came good -- eight Silver-Gilt. Your mate went on
:54:55. > :55:03.holiday. He needed a holiday but he came back and we got it done.
:55:04. > :55:10.Clematis mainly come from Japan, is that right? They come through China
:55:11. > :55:17.from Japan. In 1867 is when they started coming over all stop without
:55:18. > :55:23.those ones we would not have the beautiful big flowering clematis
:55:24. > :55:28.today. This one is stunning in bud and it opens up into a big flower?
:55:29. > :55:33.It is absolutely lovely comet flowers from June to September. It
:55:34. > :55:39.needs a bit of shelter, it can be a bit fickle but if you look after it
:55:40. > :55:43.you will be well rewarded. Well rewarded in deed. Marcel, lovely to
:55:44. > :55:46.meet you. It's wonderful to see
:55:47. > :55:48.new generations of nurserymen But what has inspired
:55:49. > :55:51.you this week at Chelsea? Which of our large show gardens
:55:52. > :55:54.has struck a cord with you? In the BBC RHS People's Choice vote,
:55:55. > :56:07.you get to have your say. Support Husqvana is a garden which
:56:08. > :56:26.comes from Australia. This is a design which Charlie says
:56:27. > :56:30.he would like for himself. A counterbalance to a hectic lifestyle
:56:31. > :56:37.and this Greenaway sizzled lawn in the centre is so calming and
:56:38. > :56:40.grounded. At the same time, the design has never tea thanks to these
:56:41. > :56:47.fabulous hedges which are fantastic trip in a city if you are overlooked
:56:48. > :56:54.by your neighbours. This is an exotic which we cannot grow in our
:56:55. > :57:04.borders but plenty which we can. In summary, this is a global garden
:57:05. > :57:10.created by a classy global gardener. The Telegraph garden designed by
:57:11. > :57:15.Andy Spurgeon is a captured landscape very much inspired by the
:57:16. > :57:20.designer's travels. You immediately notice the hard landscaping. There
:57:21. > :57:24.is a lot of limestone in the garden. It is very fractured. Boulders and
:57:25. > :57:30.smaller stones tumbling into the water. And here on this walkway,
:57:31. > :57:40.very geometric sharp edges. The other structures are these things
:57:41. > :57:44.made of steel, with a bronze finish. They are a backdrop to some of the
:57:45. > :57:50.planting. And coming forward, low growing Mediterranean style plants
:57:51. > :57:56.which like and arid landscape. And it'll think poppies there. It is a
:57:57. > :58:01.very powerful design which encourages you to reflect on the
:58:02. > :58:13.ever-changing aspects of our landscape. Vestra Wealth's garden is
:58:14. > :58:18.by Paul Martin and inspired by his yoga workshop in a Scot. Everything
:58:19. > :58:22.about this garden says be calm, relaxed, and that is despite the
:58:23. > :58:27.fact that some of the hard landscaping is monolithic. It gets
:58:28. > :58:34.its lightness because the garden is a series of terraces which go up to
:58:35. > :58:38.the pavilion at the top. The planting palette is quite
:58:39. > :58:50.restrictive. It is mainly green. Where there is colour it chimes in
:58:51. > :58:56.with the hard escaping. It matches the paving. This garden is very open
:58:57. > :59:09.to the sky and it strikes me that it is Martin's own salutation to the
:59:10. > :59:16.sun. This garden reflects the different ways in which we approach
:59:17. > :59:20.gardens in the east, specifically Japan, and the West, British
:59:21. > :59:25.gardens. The designers have done that by quite literally dividing the
:59:26. > :59:30.garden into two sections so the east is much darker and coming forward it
:59:31. > :59:37.becomes brilliant white and this is the western section. In the eastern
:59:38. > :59:41.section there are typically Japanese plants like bamboo which casts
:59:42. > :59:46.shadows and in the middle of the pool is a traditional tea ceremony
:59:47. > :59:53.space. Towards the front section, it is all very English country garden,
:59:54. > :59:58.lots of perennials giving a nice vertical accent, and it does not get
:59:59. > :00:00.much more English than having a climbing rose winding its way up
:00:01. > :00:12.through the pergola. The Winton Beauty of Mathematics
:00:13. > :00:17.Garden was designed by Nick Bailey. Up on the terrace you can see the
:00:18. > :00:22.overall design idea. It is based by the figure of eight motive that is
:00:23. > :00:29.used to describe infinitely. It tells the story of a seed,
:00:30. > :00:34.represented by a copper water feature, as it sprouts and grows to
:00:35. > :00:39.fruition, represented by the lush planting by the pavilion. Along the
:00:40. > :00:46.way, the mathematical equations used to describe the growth are on all
:00:47. > :00:50.the seat backs and surfaces. It is filled with Mediterranean and
:00:51. > :00:59.Austral Asian plants. The coppery tones in the benches are there. It
:01:00. > :01:02.all adds up to a pretty innovative garden.
:01:03. > :01:06.at the end of the show. and you'll be able to vote
:01:07. > :01:09.Still to come on the programme, we will also be bringing you
:01:10. > :01:12.the results of the Diamond Jubilee award, which will be given
:01:13. > :01:14.to the best exhibit within the Great Pavilion.
:01:15. > :01:17.Whichever kind of garden or plant you are drawn to at Chelsea,
:01:18. > :01:19.the variety here means that there is something
:01:20. > :01:26.Earlier on today, we spoke to the creative force
:01:27. > :01:29.that is Grayson Perry to find out his initial thoughts
:01:30. > :01:55.I like the idea of this garden very much, because it is about dyes and
:01:56. > :02:01.natural colours. As a potter, I often use natural colours, like
:02:02. > :02:07.cobalt and copper. So I can have a sympathy for these sorts of shades.
:02:08. > :02:12.I would like to see these gardens in about five years' time, what they
:02:13. > :02:17.look like when they are a bit mossy, Rusty, dirty and overgrown. I'm not
:02:18. > :02:23.keen on the shape of the garden. I think the stinging nettles on the
:02:24. > :02:28.corners is a wise tactical plant, because the wear and tear on this
:02:29. > :02:34.garden is a problem, so that will keep people away. This amazing stand
:02:35. > :02:41.of chrysanthemums is a weird kind of alien nest that I find attractive
:02:42. > :02:46.but spooky. As a creative person, I often think that my job is to have
:02:47. > :02:52.my own series of mistakes. There's no perfect art. It is marvellous to
:02:53. > :02:56.see the perfection of nature, because flowers are so transitory.
:02:57. > :03:01.What these things are screaming at us in many ways is a kind of
:03:02. > :03:10.beautiful, psychedelic vision of mortality. The joy of a garden, for
:03:11. > :03:16.me, is it is my private space, where I can have a beer and watch the
:03:17. > :03:24.birds, and watch the sun go down. For other people, it's like an art
:03:25. > :03:28.gallery. These headdresses that are made out of flowers... Firstly, they
:03:29. > :03:32.are amazingly well crafted and the colour schemes are beautifully put
:03:33. > :03:38.together. But what screamed out at me is that they are on male torsos.
:03:39. > :03:43.That made me think about the whole nature of flowers, which are the
:03:44. > :03:48.symbol of femininity in many ways. Looking at the crowd here at
:03:49. > :03:54.Chelsea, I'm interested in the gender balance. It's about 70%
:03:55. > :03:58.female here today. You think about the traditional horny handed son of
:03:59. > :04:04.the soil being a man. But I suspect that most gardeners are now female.
:04:05. > :04:09.Men do like convenience, and maybe gardening is too much like hard
:04:10. > :04:15.work. I love this garden, and I think it is my favourite one so far.
:04:16. > :04:19.I spent some time in Japan, and for me, Japanese gardening, with the
:04:20. > :04:23.attention to detail and the overwrought aesthetic of it... What
:04:24. > :04:32.I love about Japanese Gardening is this kind of implicit ageing about
:04:33. > :04:41.it. They do like a bit of moss, and every single detail has been made to
:04:42. > :04:47.look artificially natural. I am kind of drawn into this one, because I
:04:48. > :04:53.kind of match. That immediately sets of sorts in my head about taste.
:04:54. > :04:59.Taste is something I've been fascinated with all my life. When
:05:00. > :05:04.people say, I like something, that is a huge, complex thought. What
:05:05. > :05:10.makes us like something? Our whole lives are leading up to that moment
:05:11. > :05:16.when you say you like something. Your class, education, job, age,
:05:17. > :05:22.gender... Everything comes to bear on why you like this thing. One
:05:23. > :05:27.person's horrific vulgar naffness is another person's sublime beauty.
:05:28. > :05:31.Taste is just another way of signalling to people in your tribe
:05:32. > :05:43.that you belong. There's no such thing as bad taste. Maybe... What
:05:44. > :05:47.was that like? Did you enjoy it? I am always fascinated by new social
:05:48. > :05:53.experiences. Just wondering about and seeing the sort of people who
:05:54. > :05:57.are here... I am always looking for the cultural patterns in any event.
:05:58. > :06:05.What drives this culture, what is their taste like? What are the
:06:06. > :06:12.dynamics of the relationships between the audiences and the people
:06:13. > :06:21.presenting? To me, it reminds me a bit of the Venice, the showcase for
:06:22. > :06:26.the avant-garde. I wonder if people take away ideas from this place. One
:06:27. > :06:30.doesn't normally think of Chelsea being to do with any kind of
:06:31. > :06:39.avant-garde. But there must be an avant-garde. Varies, and some of it
:06:40. > :06:44.is encouraged. There is no suppression of that, but I wonder if
:06:45. > :06:47.the culture of Gardening encourages avant-garde, or whether it is trying
:06:48. > :06:56.to go back, dig town and discover things? In many things, what we are
:06:57. > :07:05.seeking in gardens is beauty. And an element of beauty is freshness and
:07:06. > :07:13.surprise. So I think there is an expression called maya which is most
:07:14. > :07:21.advanced but acceptable. Somewhere like Chelsea, they are pushing to
:07:22. > :07:27.the limits of that. What did you particularly like the look of? What
:07:28. > :07:33.would you really take away? I am a sucker for anything Japanese when it
:07:34. > :07:38.comes to gardens. I love the detail, and the kind of incredibly tightly
:07:39. > :07:44.choreographed nature of it. As an artist, are you tempted to make a
:07:45. > :07:50.Show Garden? Yes, I am. Having been here, I think it is a really
:07:51. > :07:56.interesting exhibition space. I always liked the look of things like
:07:57. > :08:03.moths and things growing, changing, rusting and grading. I have always
:08:04. > :08:08.been a of that. They are visual symbols of things like age, solidity
:08:09. > :08:14.and time passing. A garden would be a perfect place to express things
:08:15. > :08:20.like the look of the love it age, which I am a great fan of. I am sure
:08:21. > :08:27.there are garden makers who would love to work with you. I would be
:08:28. > :08:32.excited by that. Do you think that it matters if one doesn't know
:08:33. > :08:37.delaying which? A lot of people are inhibited by this. If you don't know
:08:38. > :08:43.the vernacular, the Latin names... Is it inhibiting? My tool as an
:08:44. > :08:47.artist is myself, so I have to be responding to the world all the
:08:48. > :08:52.time. I can do that to gardeners as I would do to anything. I listen to
:08:53. > :08:57.the vibrations of a space which I have from listening and experiencing
:08:58. > :09:03.the things. I have an opinion, but it is just my opinion. Thank you for
:09:04. > :09:07.coming. I will hold you to that. I am looking forward to seeing Grayson
:09:08. > :09:10.Perry's Show Garden here at Chelsea in the not too distant future. I
:09:11. > :09:14.hope so! It's no secret that the natural
:09:15. > :09:17.growth of many of the plants here at Chelsea is teased or tamed
:09:18. > :09:30.so that they look To get these in flower for Chelsea
:09:31. > :09:34.week, the process started in August last year, when they were planted
:09:35. > :09:37.exactly three weeks before the show opens to get them exactly right.
:09:38. > :09:40.However, there is one man who takes a very different approach
:09:41. > :09:43.No frills nurseryman, Graham Blunt, applies some tough love
:09:44. > :10:01.We are in the south-east of England, on the Kent- Sussex border. We'd
:10:02. > :10:04.been looking for years for a plot of land to develop into a nursery, and
:10:05. > :10:12.we found this one in 95. It was a field full of looks. Since then,
:10:13. > :10:20.we've built the nursery, house and office, and created this out of
:10:21. > :10:26.nothing. We are totally off grid. All our power, we create ourselves.
:10:27. > :10:29.We put in solar panels, which is how we survived. We are sometimes a bit
:10:30. > :10:34.short in winter, that we never have power cuts. The only things we are
:10:35. > :10:40.missing is a fridge and freezer, because they use lots of power. I
:10:41. > :10:44.don't miss a fridge, because we eat fresh all the time, but I do miss a
:10:45. > :10:52.freezer, because when we have a glut of vegetables, it would be nice to
:10:53. > :10:55.freeze some. Hopefully, we can bypass that problem. For the
:10:56. > :10:59.nursery, we don't have cooling or heating units. As I went to
:11:00. > :11:08.agricultural College, I wouldn't know how these things work. I just
:11:09. > :11:13.know how to grow things. The way we grow our plants, we want to grow
:11:14. > :11:18.them tough. It's not about the beauty of the plant. My plants might
:11:19. > :11:24.look a bit brutish and rugged, that they will grow. Dig a hole, stamp it
:11:25. > :11:31.in, and don't the watering them if rain is forecast. They just grow.
:11:32. > :11:38.This little beast comes all the way from Madagascar. It is a lovely
:11:39. > :11:44.little plant, lovely flowers, flowering until the end of November.
:11:45. > :11:49.Easy to grow. Shove it in a pot. It isn't hardy, but it is easy to
:11:50. > :11:56.overwinter. Ring it into a garage or shed, don't water it throughout the
:11:57. > :12:01.winter, but in spring, bring it out and it re-shoots. But don't eat it!
:12:02. > :12:10.It is poisonous. Another call plant is this. Not because of the spines,
:12:11. > :12:15.but because it is as hard as nails. It comes from North America, the
:12:16. > :12:21.Rocky Mountains, as tough as old boots. It can snow on it, rained on
:12:22. > :12:27.it, it doesn't care. Really beautiful cacti. Like everything in
:12:28. > :12:32.our nursery, we grew this plant other cells. It was born here from
:12:33. > :12:39.seed seven or eight years ago. Nothing is brought in. We grow
:12:40. > :12:45.practically everything ourselves. My medal record isn't brilliant. I
:12:46. > :12:51.would own up to that! I would love to have loads of golds, but I stick
:12:52. > :12:57.to my principles. I would like to show how, if you grew the plant, how
:12:58. > :13:02.it would look. They'll not perfect, they are not unblemished, so when I
:13:03. > :13:09.come to judging, I do get critique. And the judges would be the first to
:13:10. > :13:14.admit it. It has been a hard struggle getting here. Myself and my
:13:15. > :13:21.wife lived in a mobile home for five or six years. I don't know how she
:13:22. > :13:25.put up with it! But how we got him makes every little morsel so much
:13:26. > :13:34.tastier. I love it, and I wouldn't swap it for the world. They look
:13:35. > :13:35.yummy. This is the life! Growing plants we love, showing the plants
:13:36. > :13:50.we love, with the person I love. Exhibitors here will use every
:13:51. > :13:56.possible trip, resource and high-tech gizmo to make sure their
:13:57. > :14:03.plants arrive absolutely at the peak of perfection. But Graham, with real
:14:04. > :14:09.due respect, that isn't you, Graham. It isn't. I do grow plants outside
:14:10. > :14:13.if they are hardy. I believe plants should be hardy and make it easy for
:14:14. > :14:19.people to grow them in the garden. I know it's Chelsea, but I am pretty
:14:20. > :14:23.brutal with them. You got into some trouble, didn't you? Yes. There were
:14:24. > :14:30.certain things I didn't want to bring along. They didn't quite open
:14:31. > :14:36.in time. Some of the flowers I wanted didn't flower in time. But I
:14:37. > :14:43.had lots of different options. I heard you were a good six weeks
:14:44. > :14:49.behind. Yes, it was a cold spring. But you arrived here. You have a
:14:50. > :14:53.basic story. What is that story? It is to get the message over that
:14:54. > :14:59.gardening is good for you and gardening is fun. It is to be
:15:00. > :15:04.enjoyed, but it has to be done. Not everybody grows plants like these.
:15:05. > :15:11.Tell me about them. I love these plants. Behind me, the plant from
:15:12. > :15:18.South Africa. Their re-easy to grow, fast-growing. You have a lavender
:15:19. > :15:21.and put it in the middle of the forest, and it would never survive
:15:22. > :15:28.in winter. Reasonably route hardy means that the top will die down but
:15:29. > :15:33.it will re-shoots from the base. It becomes fleshy, and the leaves will
:15:34. > :15:40.get bigger. It builds up a big root system. It can lead to big leaves as
:15:41. > :15:48.well. Have you tried it? I haven't tried that. Then you have a shrub at
:15:49. > :15:58.the back of this pregnant lady. What is it? It is like a 50 foot melting
:15:59. > :16:05.Carreno. It is quite amazing. It is it flower -- it is in flower now.
:16:06. > :16:13.Fascinating plants that most people will not know about. At anybody can,
:16:14. > :16:19.should garden? Absolutely. I make the plant is tough and Hardy. Dig a
:16:20. > :16:23.hole, put them in, walk away, done. Thank you.
:16:24. > :16:26.After this programme, at 9.00, voting will open for the BBC RHS
:16:27. > :16:29.There are 17 large show gardens to choose from.
:16:30. > :16:38.Here is a look at the final four gardens that you can vote for.
:16:39. > :16:52.The brewing -- Brewin Dolphin garden designed by Rosy Hardy takes
:16:53. > :16:58.inspiration from the chalk streams. There is a wide stream running
:16:59. > :17:06.through the heart of the garden. A sinuous path flows around the river.
:17:07. > :17:09.It is like colour flowing through. These extraordinary sculptures are
:17:10. > :17:15.based on the remains of the tiny creatures which make up the chalk
:17:16. > :17:20.itself. On the one side the planting is very naturalistic, there are wild
:17:21. > :17:24.flowers here and a backdrop of Hawthorne. On the other side, plants
:17:25. > :17:38.where Rosy" is her love of colour and perennials. -- indulges her love
:17:39. > :17:43.of perennials. The Chelsea Barracks garden by Jo
:17:44. > :17:48.Thompson is quite an usual for a Chelsea design because it is scented
:17:49. > :17:57.with the huge lawn. If you are gardener who likes to be busy
:17:58. > :18:02.pruning and weeding, grass is a good surface. This makes this garden is
:18:03. > :18:06.very practical space. But the primary purpose is for people to
:18:07. > :18:10.come together and spend time, and there are three bespoke benches
:18:11. > :18:18.which tie and lock the whole garden together, and a huge wall of water
:18:19. > :18:29.which turns into a Serpentine stream which runs through the garden. There
:18:30. > :18:31.are plants for summer and autumn colour and even evergreens which
:18:32. > :18:35.provide interest in winter. No matter what time of year you spend
:18:36. > :18:41.in this garden, there will be something to look at.
:18:42. > :18:46.This is the Cloudy Bay garden designed by Sam Ovens. It is a very
:18:47. > :18:51.gentle soft space where it is all about reconnecting with nature and
:18:52. > :18:58.being contemplated. The garden evokes a heat and setting like might
:18:59. > :19:09.find in Cornwall or the Isles of Scilly. There is a broad boardwalk.
:19:10. > :19:14.Here it is all about the water. The planting very much reflects that.
:19:15. > :19:20.There is movement through the grasses and there are native plants,
:19:21. > :19:26.things like ragged robin and Heathers. Not native are the plants
:19:27. > :19:35.from South Africa. One of the key plants I think are these trees which
:19:36. > :19:40.lend a sculptural quality to the garden.
:19:41. > :19:45.God's own county, a garden for Yorkshire, is the garden designed by
:19:46. > :19:51.Matthew Wilson. It is dominated by what Matthew describes as a garden
:19:52. > :19:57.retreat which is this huge building and it is inspired by the east
:19:58. > :20:01.window of York Minster Cathedral. The ecclesiastical theme is repeated
:20:02. > :20:06.throughout the garden. The edge of the beds are like the tops of church
:20:07. > :20:11.windows. The colours of flowers have been chosen to match those in the
:20:12. > :20:14.stained glass. The plants in the borders are those which do well in
:20:15. > :20:16.Yorkshire and believe me, there are a lot of those, thanks to rich soils
:20:17. > :20:28.and long summer days. This is a picture postcard of a very
:20:29. > :20:35.proud county. So now you've seen all 17
:20:36. > :20:38.gardens, and you can let us We will be telling you how to vote
:20:39. > :20:43.at the end of tonight's programme. Now, from the large show
:20:44. > :20:45.gardens to the small ones. There is a new face
:20:46. > :20:47.in our line-up this year. Horticultural lecturer
:20:48. > :20:49.Zephaniah Lindo has been finding out more about the stories behind
:20:50. > :21:03.the Artisan gardens. Every step of designing a garden
:21:04. > :21:08.here at Chelsea throws up its own challenges. First of all, where'd
:21:09. > :21:12.you find your ideas from and inspiration? I will speak to some of
:21:13. > :21:20.the designers and find out they got started.
:21:21. > :21:27.Steve and Alison, a fantastic looking garden, a gold medal, where
:21:28. > :21:31.did it all come from? We got together around the kitchen table
:21:32. > :21:41.with a glass of wine and Allison said, we are 50 next year. She is a
:21:42. > :21:44.florist, I am a landscape architect. She is a brilliant one. She said,
:21:45. > :21:49.before we are 50, we will have a go at Chelsea. Over that glass of wine
:21:50. > :21:53.we cemented our friendship and our dream of working together. It is not
:21:54. > :21:57.the case of a landscape architect working and a florist coming in,
:21:58. > :22:02.this will be pair of us at the outset, sitting around the table,
:22:03. > :22:07.both scribbling on a piece of paper, coming up with the design and the
:22:08. > :22:10.layout and worked together trying to make sure that the skills of a
:22:11. > :22:17.florist and a landscape architect are optimised. The hard landscape
:22:18. > :22:26.was my container. In that container I was able to use the same
:22:27. > :22:33.principles of floristry, and keeping your eye moving throughout the whole
:22:34. > :22:37.garden. So, we see lots of gardens which have tactile plants, bright
:22:38. > :22:42.colours, yours has a particular element of sound that has been
:22:43. > :22:48.featured. Where did the inspiration for that come from? When I was
:22:49. > :22:51.introduced to the Papworth trust, the disability charity in
:22:52. > :22:56.Cambridgeshire, we spoke about the possibilities of what they wanted to
:22:57. > :23:00.achieve, and the idea of a sensory garden evolved into something
:23:01. > :23:07.stimulating and more interactive and absorbing. We wanted to challenge
:23:08. > :23:10.the basic idea of landscape, introduce something more and bring
:23:11. > :23:19.this sonic layer into landscapes which I think has been neglected.
:23:20. > :23:26.A beautiful strong garden, it is your third garden here at Chelsea,
:23:27. > :23:31.in support of a meningitis charity. Where did you come up with the idea?
:23:32. > :23:37.I had the idea of figures passing through a wall. Meningitis and other
:23:38. > :23:41.diseases are like figures encased in stone, it represents the trauma
:23:42. > :23:47.which people and families go through. These are the ambassadors
:23:48. > :23:52.of the charity. You have ideas of sculpture, how you want it to look,
:23:53. > :23:57.and in doing this process you have to adapt to each individual person
:23:58. > :24:02.and what they are capable of doing. It turned into something different
:24:03. > :24:08.from what I intended. You have the children immortalised in the garden.
:24:09. > :24:12.Have they seen it? They saw it on press day. To see their doppelganger
:24:13. > :24:20.staring at them as they came down the pathway was amazing. Little Liam
:24:21. > :24:24.is the youngest, he is seven. He has had meningitis four times. He could
:24:25. > :24:32.not make it but his parents were here and it was very emotional. It
:24:33. > :24:38.must be very proud? Brings it home, the medals, and then you see how
:24:39. > :24:41.important it is for his parents. It is quite humbling.
:24:42. > :24:44.Well, it's my great pleasure to say that we have with us now
:24:45. > :24:50.on the famous Chelsea terrace, the winner of Plant of the Year.
:24:51. > :25:07.It has a pretty unpronounceable name. Part of it is Amber.
:25:08. > :25:18.It flowers in spring. It is beautiful. Apparently, there is no
:25:19. > :25:27.other parameters with that colour at this time of year. It is from
:25:28. > :25:30.Taylors Nursery. I see this as the plant of the show. It is the canary
:25:31. > :25:47.Island foxglove will stop. It needs really good drainage. You
:25:48. > :25:52.could grow it on a pot and put it under cover for winter. I have
:25:53. > :26:00.chosen a plant which is not fully hardy.
:26:01. > :26:08.I grew it in London for quite a few years and sadly a very hard frost
:26:09. > :26:16.wiped it out. What you called a harsh frost in London is what we
:26:17. > :26:27.call a day which is fresh at Long cap Meadow! What I love about it is
:26:28. > :26:32.it has beautiful arching strands. It gives it a lovely architectural
:26:33. > :26:37.quality. Today, we have focused on plants which is good. Do you think
:26:38. > :26:43.the plants have had a particular character this year, or we get used
:26:44. > :26:49.to it, everything will be here and it is all great? I think there are
:26:50. > :26:55.more plants. We have such a huge range of plants and with James
:26:56. > :27:06.Basson there is a more diverse range of plants than ever. The hypatica
:27:07. > :27:13.exhibits. He won the award for the best exhibit and rightly so. Talking
:27:14. > :27:20.of awards, it is your birthday today, isn't it? Don't go on about
:27:21. > :27:29.it! I have got you a birthday cake. Here is, for you, made especially by
:27:30. > :27:36.the winter Beauty of Mathematics garden by Sebastien Davies, this is
:27:37. > :27:48.a cake. Please take a piece and eat it. RU Sirius? It is a key? I
:27:49. > :27:53.thought you were introducing a new plant. Enjoy your day. You certainly
:27:54. > :27:59.had me going. I thought you were introducing a new plant at Chelsea!
:28:00. > :28:01.And don't forget the People's Choice Award.
:28:02. > :28:03.This is the moment you've been waiting for.
:28:04. > :28:05.You've seen all 17 of the large show gardens
:28:06. > :28:10.All the large gardens are available to vote for online so all you need
:28:11. > :28:13.to do is go to our website where you can find
:28:14. > :28:16.Voting closes at 9.30pm tomorrow night and we'll be bringing
:28:17. > :28:19.you the results of that award on our show on BBC One
:28:20. > :29:01.Once upon a time, there was a great and glorious king.
:29:02. > :29:09.But they would all see him destroyed.
:29:10. > :29:14.MUSIC: Kings Of The Wild Frontier by Adam The Ants