Episode 1 RHS Chelsea Flower Show

Over the last three weeks, the grounds of Royal Hospital in London

have been overhauled by a team of Hart cultural here rows as they

prepare for the most celebrated flower show in the world. The sky

really is the limit here when it comes to garden design. Just look at

this! And the view from the top gives you a true sense of the

immense scale of this event. There are Main Avenue gardens. Artisan

Gardens, Fresh Gardens and some new feel good gardens. A great and

glorious 12,000 square metre pavilion packed to the rafters with

over 100 exhibits. Add in 165,000 visitors, more than 60,000 plants

and, of course, imagine the Queen... It can only mean one thing... It's

Chelsea 2017. Welcome to the Royal Horticultural

Society's Chelsea Flower Show 2017. An event supported by M

Investments. Bringing you an Er' exclusive first look before it opens

to the world's press tomorrow morning. Everyone has been working

around the clock to ensure the showground is looking picture

perfect. There have been some changes this year as the RHS has

decided to judge the Show Gardens a day early. That means today is

judgment day not tomorrow. In a competition where every second

counts, shaving off a day has really ramped up the pressure. Certainly

has. It's been fair to say it's been pretty will being particular here

over the last 24 hours as every plant has been pruned and preened

within an inch of its agricultural life. We are joined by a team of

green-fingered gurus and a national treasure who is as great a gardener

as she is a cook, mayory berry. We'll bring you the cream of the

crop. Here is our very own Monty done with his take on why shell

sea's still the greatest of them all. Every May for over a century,

the eyes of the world have turned to London SW 3 for a horticultural

event which is as important today as it has ever been. Chelsea started

life as a humble three-day gathering of gardeners in May 1913. In the

early days, the show was the domain of the landed gentry. They shared

their passion for blousy blooms and rock gardens. Fast forward over a

hundred years and now Chelsea is a world leader in innovation,

plantsmanship and showmanship. We see design let lose. Gardeners break

moulds, challenge were conceptions and open a world of new

possibilities. Traditional, formal gardening is given a whole new

twist. Landscapes show us the art of gardening in inaccessible places.

Aspirational designs help us to reimagine our outside spaces as

extensions of our homes. At Chelsea, gardens entertain, inform and even

make us question what a garden is. It's backbone is the Great Pavilion.

People from across the globe gather to share their passion for plants.

If it appears at Chelsea, every gardener wants it. Marking the start

of the summer season, the great and the good flock to see and be seen.

Yet, it still remains a quintessentially British affair at

its heart with its pensioners, picnics and, of course, Her Majesty

the Queen. I've been coming to Chelsea for over 30 years. I still

get that same tingle of excitement and anticipation as I did the first

time. And it's because every time you know that you're going to find

something that will fire and inspire you as a result of this

extraordinary pageant and celebration of all that is best

about gardening. Most of us garden at home in a bit of a muddle. We

make miss stakes, we do our best but we fail. That's part of the process.

Here, it seems as though everything is perfect. But the point about that

is you will find something that will elevate your own experience of

gardening and you can take it away with you. You draw upon it for the

rest of the year. Your own garden becomes just enriched by what you

see. So, it is with that expectation, the knowledge that not

only are you going to be passive but you are going to be enriched by

Chelsea that always makes it one of the most special occasions of the

year. I think Monty's right. It is the catwalk of garden design. These

crazy ideas sometimes. But they filter through to the mainstream. A

few years later, you see planting combination everywhere. There are

quite a few gardens this year which are take home gardens. You can

straps plate what you see here into your own garden whether big or

small. We will be catching up with Monty later once he's had a chance

to have a look around. First, a quick taste of the mayhem of the

last few weeks as the designers and their teams pull out all the stops

to put their best plants forward. First time on Main Avenue. Are the

plants going to be flower, will it be ready. A pretty nerve-wracking

time. It's been great to come with our design. Absolutely. Having your

best friend to design, it's a laugh, isn't it. This is my fourth Chelsea

garden. This time, we're hoping for gold. We've had three silver gilts.

At the moment, it looks monumentally hideous. It will be much softer.

Constantly pushing, stressing. Everything's tense.

Cater pillars. I hate cater pillars. They're eating leaves. Thankfully, a

Robin is having a field day in the back hedge cleaning them all off for

me. That's a worry. You get here. It's head down, focus,

don't look left or right. Get on with your garden. There's been quite

a lot to do. All of the major structural-type things have gone

into place. You'll see you Wawnedering around looking like he

we need a coffee and are not doing any work. We're keeping an eye on

the planting, making sure it's doing the right thing. We're on day 11.

We're working a pincer movement. The girls have started coming to the

back. We're pushing the boys out the front. I saw the tree just under a

year ago. It's been a right nightmare trying to get it in just

because the hole wasn't wide enough. Then I got carried away and dug it

too deep. Now it's sat just right. Emotionally I'm going on waves. In

the morning I think, we've loads to do. My midday you settle down. Then

you get nervous and then excited. There's loads of prep going on.

Tidying up plants. Making sure they're in the right places. It's a

mix of excitement and anxious energy, the pressure of knowing the

deadline's coming up. A bit like a very tall raised bed. Nice to plant

at this level instead of bending over. Working with stunning plants.

It's really a privilege to be doing something like this. It's nice to

have those moments at the end of the build rather than just staring at

concrete. This year at Chelsea, there are eight Show Gardens on Main

Avenue. Throughout the week, we'll be looking in-depth at each and

every one of them. They're all gardens created to engage, excite

and challenge you. This here is Linklaters garden for Maggie's

designed by Dar Ren Hawks. This elevated walkway gives a new

perspective on the space. It is the first hidden garden ever to be

attempted on Main Avenue. Darren Hawks is here. This is beautiful,

why have you hidden it away? You change the perspective on this plot

and allow people to view it from above. Look down into the courtyard

garden. But, more importantly, the garden is for Maggie's and they

provide support for people living with cancer and their families. It

seemed really appropriate to create a garden that enveloped you and

created a secluded sanctuary. A real place of peace and calm? I think the

hedge does that. Then it allows you to fill it with all these lovely

goodies around us. The first thing people will see is this huge horn

beam hedge. They can have access to it? They can see it from above?

Yeah, I think everybody's excited about the fact there's this hedge

and they can't see it. For me, the most exciting thing and what makes

this garden unique, is the public are invited to be in it. They are

not standing behind a rope. They're within the garden and they're very

much engaging with it. When they do look in here, they'll see this stone

we're sitting on. When I saw it being built, I thought it was

granite? It's beautiful. It's like granite. A bass salt-based concrete

polished. Rough cast. Broken edged and broken up. You have a big block

there representing the journey people go through? I was looking for

a metaphor for a life blown apart by that diagnosis of cancer which is

traumatic for most people. Taking a single cube of concrete and blowing

it apart within the garden and allowing all the elements inside

that cube to form the lapped scaping of the garden was something I found

quite exciting. Beautiful planting. Rambling roast. You've that lovely

tree there. Stunning. Thank you. One of the great pleasures about being

here is being able to work with super growers. To have the ability

to chose an rose last July that's sat here behind me exactly as I

wanted it, seeing all these little plants dotted around the edge which

have been giving me nightmares for the last six weeks. They're all

ready. Yeah, it happens in the last ten days when things burst forth and

you have a garden. It has all come together. Good luck this week and

thank you very much. Thank you. All the show gardens have set the bar

incredibly high. This is Chelsea after all. None more so than Lee

Bestall. He's taken the challenge of telling the story of the past '500

years of Covent Garden'. This space is only ten metres square. Now, Lee

is a first-timer to Main Avenue. He's been to Chelsea before but

never on Main Avenue. He's come up with a nice, bold, confident design.

I like these arches. They hold the structure of the garden together.

These are taken from Covent Garden. These are in miniature. I like the

verdigris colour and the way he's tied it into these planters on the

terrace. In these we've lovely ewe-clipped domes. Plenty of

structure and a nice sense of symmetry. I like the way he faded

those out into the planting beyond and changed the size of them,

slightly random. They add really good structure into the borders and

hold that perennial planting nicely together. He's sourced these apple

trees. These are pretty old. They were grubbed up and left on the side

of an orchard, pretty much left to die. He saved them and has brought

them to this garden here at Chelsea. They will live on in Covent Garden

after this show. They will be potted up and they will grow down there.

Everybody can see them. That looks back to the history of Covent

Garden. It was an apple orchard. 500 years ago. It ties in nicely to the

history too. I like the way Lee's done his research. He's been down to

Covent Garden with his tape measure and he's measured the gaps in the

paving, the gaps in the granite stairs and in the walling as well

and made sure this garden all works to that scale. But it doesn't feel

like a big, grand garden. It feels like a very accessible space. A

garden we could all have, perhaps. I like this seating area. This modern

furniture represents modern Covent Garden. A bustling place where

people meet and socialise. The original idea for these are taken

back to the apple orchard, based on apple crates. They're beautifully

made. The only thing this Covent Garden garden is missing is someone

who sprays themselves in silver, an inanimate mime artist standing there

all day completely static without blinking! How do they do that

For the design is here, no mountain is too high or river to wide when it

comes to creating a garden for Chelsea. One design a double act

this year have taken it upon themselves to recreate an entire

region in China, almost without putting a spade in the ground. I

caught up with them as they brought their in genius to central London.

This is the biggest show garden here at Chelsea. It is also the most

challenging. Underneath here is one of London's sewers. This is as far

down as they can dig. In just over two weeks' time, it will be

transformed into the Chengdu Silk Road garden, and it promises to be

spectacular. These are the men who have created

it, the architect Laurie Chetwood and the garden designer Patrick

Collins. How is it going? Not brilliant at the moment. We are

discussing these trees, they are looking a bit stressed. They have

travelled a lot. Plus, it has been so warm, so they are in full flower

now, two weeks to early. Are they going to be all right? Who knows.

Is the Chinese influence, it is a Chengdu garden. It is a Chengdu

garden, famous because it sits on the ancient silk Road, and it has a

fantastic variety of habitat for planting. It is like an away sis.

The plants have to be from China. That can also be challenging.

So this is it. They are describing the typography of the area around

Chengdu, there are lovely mountains. This goes from white to red, the

Chinese colour for happiness. They are going to be huge. Five metres

high in the middle, a flatpack idea that fits together. We are putting

it together quickly and easily. There's a lot of soil on the site,

as you can see, but there was going to be a limit for the loading,

because we have a major London sewer underneath, and we don't want to

collapse the sewer. The RHS said, on pain of death, do not load this up.

The trees have actually perked up a bit. He is relieved, and I am, too.

They have been well watered and we are feeding them. With the weather,

it is slightly warmer here at the moment. That has helped as well for

new growth. The Finn is the central feature of

the garden. For me, it is the excitement of seeing them come in

and being put in place, it is fantastic.

I like to think it is a very complex, technical idea. But

actually, the big hammer does the job.

Patrick, how is it going? It is mixed, I think. Can we say that? The

Finns have gone in with a couple of glitches. The architecture in effect

is in place. I was worried the architecture was a bit strong, but

with the planting going in, the whole thing gets more balance. The

bit more harmony comes back into it, which is a relief.

You were worried about these. They have settled in well. We are happy

about them, although one died. Will you replace it? It is too late, we

can't find another one at this late stage.

Let's talk about timescale. We are not sure how far behind we are, but

it could be a couple of days, maybe. There will be a few late nights.

Really? By goodness, you will be planting through the night. It has

got to be done? It has got to be done. Are you sure? 100%.

And here we are. Is it finished? Are you happy? It is finished and we are

very happy. It has been quite a journey but we are there. Were you

up until the early hours of this morning? We had a few, we were up

late last night. Until 10pm, all the cars were lined up, the headlights

shining on the garden, but we got them out. Not what you want to do at

Chelsea. Not quite but we had a few hours to spare. We did quite well.

Tell us the story of the garden. We have the Chengdu Mountains, we are

standing on the silk Road. At the centre of it is the legend, the City

of Chengdu was lost to the sun, so they sent out four elders to find

the sun. They found it and they were immortalised at four birds that

circle the sun. One big challenge is that it is not just a big site, you

get a 360 degrees view. That is right. You can't hide anything

behind any boundary, everything is on view. It throws up a few

challenges. What we have tried to do is vary the experience as you walk

around. On the backside, it is calm. Approaching the front, the colour

hits you as you come round. We have related the colour to the silk Road,

giving the impact of vibrancy. And flatpack Gardens, this is a flatpack

garden, but it is supposed to be easy, but it is the stuff of

divorces. Everybody. Over flatpack. It sounded good but we talked about

it, to drop the size of object as a flatpack garden into place was a

challenge, but it has worked out. De Vos territory at any point? No!

Hammering it in... I saw that! Be a hammer is the answer to everything.

The judges are wandering around the showground rout -- right now.

Between you, you have three goals to your name. How do you feel right

now? We are nervous. It is the worst time of the show. Best not to watch

the judges coming, and there is a rotten moment where everybody puts

their hand up or down, you don't know whether it is to say yes or no.

It is best not to look. You need a well-deserved rest. It has been a

long road to Chengdu, but thank you both very much and good luck. Thank

you. One never fails to intrigue me is

the complex subject matter and, often, intricate messages designers

try to convey through their gardens. Take this, on first look, well, it

is a piece of sculpture, albeit an unusual one. And I like its

ephemeral quality, but you take a close look, and you see it starts to

disintegrate and fragment towards the front of the garden. It is

clearly more going on than meets the eye. There is a hidden meaning. We

will be trying to unravel this and all of the ambitious designs here at

Chelsea across the week. Away from the show gardens, at the

epicentre of the grounds is its beating heart, the Great Pavillion.

This year, it is home to well over 100 specialist plant exhibitors,

being the most pristine plants and flowers from across the globe. Carol

Klein has been jetsetting around, seeking out the plants and players

with that special wow factor. Roll up, roll up, and welcome to the

greatest floral carnival on earth. It's time to perk up your petals,

pump out that perfume and turned your very best side to the camera.

It's time to dive into this oceanic display of clematis. Wave after wave

of Pastoral perfection, you can almost hear the sound of the sea. --

pastel. And if you plunge under the surface,

you are swimming alongside a shoal of silver refinish. The creativity

in here is breathtaking. It's out of this world.

Some of the stands in here are on such a scale, and they have so much

panache. Rather than walking through a floral display, you feel as though

you are immersed in a fantasy garden. Just look at it, full

texture, colour, pure beauty. It's sublime.

And now it's time to step up the tempo with this cloud of kinetic

colour. Forget Glastonbury, the festival season starts right here,

right now. No gala performance would be

complete without its superstars. And these aren't just any old orchids,

these are amongst the best in the world, the Eric Young Foundation in

Jersey. How lucky we are that they have graced us with their presence.

David Austin's roses are pure romance. It's not just their colour

that enchants, but these waves of perfused that waft through the air,

bringing a whole new dimension to our experience of the Great

Pavillion. -- waves of curfews. To make it into the Great Pavillion

is a huge achievement in itself, and it can be pretty nerve-racking, too.

But there are some first-time exhibitors that make it doubly

difficult by bringing along plants that need more than a little TLC.

You are looking a bit small. What is the matter with the? I will move you

close, you will be happier. You will be with each other. Not in there.

Chop, chop. Where are you? I look at all my plants, and look,

and think, "You are looking good today." You have got to talk to

them. They enjoy it. We come back to the talking. That is what I like,

talking. We know. There he goes again. What is wrong with you

today...? This operation is just the two of

us. Yeah. We have done pretty well considering we started with just the

main two top greenhouses, and it has expanded over seven. We grow palm

trees. Agaves everything you want exotic is here in Southampton. This

is the Agave section. Unfortunately, they seem to like to attack me. I

told you, you should sat talking to the plants, I do it every day. Some

are happy, some don't like me much, but the majority are happy.

People are changing their tastes now, they don't want an English

cottage garden, they want a summer holiday experience back home in our

gardens. Nice try, well rooted, nice head. He

can grow quite happy outside. We have one that has come to flower.

They do flower. It is quite interesting, a spike of yellow comes

out. You may get a seat. Some seed, some don't. It depends which variety

it is. Here we are, a great banana to have in the garden. It is brutal

hadith, not top hardy. If you want to grow a nice, big huge banana, we

protect the trunk in the winter months. We get a bit of Frost

damage, but mine. It will come out in spring, and have big comic huge,

16 foot, 18 foot, banana trees. This one here, a great plant to have

if you really like your spiky ones. The most crucial care for this one

in the winter is keep dry. If you have a nice porch away from the rain

in a nice pot, it will be quite happy for the winter. This is my

type of plant. My design, OK, you have to

Voshellise it. Great big palms, dropping off to the yuccas,

desileriums. I don't know where they go until I get there. If I don't

like it, I move it. We work round the clock here. We're

very busy. At night-time, we're here now checking the quality of the

plants. We look for bugs. That's what we need to do to make sure our

display is the best for Chelsea this year. I love this job. Seeing this,

doing this at night-time and doing this any time of day, this is the

fun. This is what growing plants is about. Enjoy what you do. When you

move around here at night-time, we have to be really careful. We've

very sharp striveds. They rip into your legs. Make you bleed. We have

to use head torches to make sure we do not walk into these trees. Oi!

Very spiky. Got to be very careful. Watch this one. And, ouch! Spikes

behind me now. Watch the phoenix, Dawn. Yeah. Ouch! CHUCKLING

It's not about selling your plant, it is about your children. These are

my little pets and my children and you've one of me. I want you to come

back every year and say, fantastic, it has grown and I'll be happy.

Chelsea is what we're excited about. It is the ultimate of all we do. So,

yeah, it's top of the Premiership. I won the Premiership as far as I'm

concerned. Gold will top it off. So, yeah.

Everything got here safe and sound? It did. They're all looking great.

It will be great. Are you feeling fighting fit for that Premiership

final? Ap. I'm going for it. I have the best plants available. So, yeah.

They're not exactly the softest and gentlest of plants. Did you sustain

any injuries when you were putting on the display? Got a few scratches,

a few bruises on my legs. One of them got me. Don't know which one.

What about the weightlifting alement? It's worth it when you see

them here on the stage. Worth all the pain and the hurt you go

through. It was definitely worth it. It's looking terrific. So, a couple

of times you've been to Chelsea as a visitor on the other side of the

ropes. Does it feel entirely different on this side? Yes, it's

more exciting to be here. You dream about being here but you are here.

You've arrived. Does it look like you imagined it was going to? Now

the flooring is in, that's really brought the colours out. I've walked

around a couple of times, gone away, come back, yes, I'm still very

happy. I think, I like the stand today. So it's as brilliant as it

can be and your plants have really shone, haven't they? They have. It's

fantastic. To show off now my plants that I've grown, it's going to be

great. Yes. Every one of these plants is an individual. Have you

got a soft spot for any of them? Is one your favourite? This arrived in

the post very small. Nurtured that on. Five years to get bigger and

bigger. Now, to be here at Chelsea, great. It's taken its rightful

place? In centre stage. Still plenty more to come in this exclusive

preview of the Chelsea Flower Show 2017. An event supported by M

Investments. We'll explore exciting new editions to the showground, the

feel good gardens with Jo Whiley. Keep going. It's all right for you.

You can join in. With the help of designer Nigel Dunnett, we'll see

how you can green the most urban of spaces. We detective receiptly need

to bring far and green back into contact with people. Now, over to

Sophie to give us a tantalising glimpse of some of the more compact

designs on offer this year. The small gardens always draw the crowds

at Chelsea. They are divided into two categories, fresh and artisan.

The Artisan Gardens use arts and crafts whereas the Fresh Gardens

redefine our expectations of what a garden space can be. To give us our

first peak at the small but perfectly designs small gardens, is

Juliet and Adam Frost. What I really love about the Fresh

Gardens is there are no boundaries at all to the designer's

imagination. They can take just one idea and use that to inform every

single detail of the garden. So, this garden is called beneath

the Mexican sky. I just love the really brave use of colour here. On

the vertical plain, the orange and ping contrasts fantastically with

the cool blue on the horizontal plain.

The Mexican theme continues into the planting. With bold,

drought-tolerant silvery succulents and grasses. Behind me, is the

architectural and statuesque cacti. What I love most, the garden

designer has not made this garden too hard. He's softened it with

lovely, floating, silvery forms. Above the grasses, bob the heads of

brightly coloured ping and orange which reflect the walls all around

the garden. Though the garden is full of arid, Mediterranean

planting, it's actually is surprisingly refreshing space to be

in with this large body of water and the beautiful Turk wows colour that

runs up into the juicy agave plant. A vital ingredient for Mexican

tequila. So, this Fresh Garden is completely different. It's called

the mind trove. It reflects the very personal story of the designer as he

wept through depression and out the other side. Every single detail in

this garden has been carefully thought about so that it tells the

story of recovery from mental illness. Ian the pool is symbolic.

It represents a place of loneliness. Taking back control requires a step

out into the unknown. The inside of the garden really illustrates the

state of mind of somebody suffering with depression. We have the twisted

form of the corokia plant add the brutal sharp thorns of the poncerus.

This garden says to me it really is OK not to be OK. And the colourful

planting on the outside highlights the positive message of this garden

that none of us are alone. So, these are the Fresh Gardens. What I really

love most about them is there's no restrictions. No holds barred. You

can really let your imagination run wild.

For me, when you look at those fresh gardens, they could even question

what the concept of a garden is. But then you look at the artisans and

you can think picture postcard. Or you can liken them to a painting.

This is a lovely little garden. I walked around the corner and saw it.

It put a massive smile on my face. When I looked, I didn't think it

necessarily looked like an artisan garden. In my head I've artisan as

calmer, I suppose cottagey. This inspired by Goudi and this slightly

mad park he created in Barcelona, it is fantasy meets fairy tale with

abstract in the middle. The detail is absolutely fantastic. But you

really need to look at the craftsmanship in this garden. It's

really cool the way this Bath stone has been used in its different

states. This standing stone's been blasted right back to expose the

shell. In behind, this beautiful rubber wall which gives real

texture. Come across. Then sawn with this beautiful mosaic top to it.

Then you look at the floor and it takes me back to 1970s London and

crazy paving all over the place. But this has a lovely feel. Planting,

bang, pops out. Architecturally. Then you look a little closer. The

colours used really tie back in with the mosaic. The craftsmanship in

this garden really is artisan. From a park in Barcelona to

industrial Britain. The garden's inspired by an old industrial

Wharfe. You can imagine it. The boats coming in. The big old Jeb.

The bridge across. The garden smells of graft. There's a real oily aroma

in the air. It's clever as well. In behind is actually borrowed the

landscape which brings everything down. Then you look at the planting.

The clever bit is actually the tonage. The barks, the little detail

in the cones. And the flower. Simple. They tie really well with

the materials. I think I can imagine walking out here on a Saturday

morning and sitting having a cup of tea and doing a little bit of

pottering. In a sense, I've been to Europe and back. Both completely

different gardens. But, the one thing they've in common, is they

really do celebrate artisan. Real drafteesmen, we should do more of

it. -- craftsmen. Everything here at Chelsea bombards the senses.

Something that the RHS have decided to make a feature of this year with

their five feel good gardens. Each one focuses on one of the five

senses and is champ beyond by a Radio 2 DJ as part of their 5th

anniversary celebrations. This one here, you can hear it humming. It's

dedicated to sound. The ground in there is literally vibrating. Next

door to it, this is all about taste. And you can see why. Look at that

incredible array of vegetables that all ready to pick and devour. Over

here, it's all about smell. I caught up with its Radio 2 ambassador Jo

Whiley just a week ago when she was knee deep in mud.

Jo Whiley, I've seen you here at Chelsea so many times on the opening

day. Now you've swaned in here with your own garden. I know. I've hob

nail boots on and high vis jacket. Couldn't be happier. I'm in the

scents garden. The best phone call I've had when asked to get involved.

In is our garden. Jo, you've a wonderful garden at home. This is

very different doing it here at Chelsea? It is fascinating, coming

here seeing walls being constructed. Big truckers, diggers, lorries going

around. It is so transformed by the end. It is like being in a sweet

shop. Racks of plants you can pick and choose. It is the best place in

the world to be, to see what's on offer and what you can create. A

million mimes away from my own garden. Kay and Tamara are the

designers. I'm planting this rose in here now. Sophie, this is hard work.

Do you want me to help you? There we go. The power of the Raworth! That's

from somebody's garden last year, I think! What do you think? It looks

pretty good. We better check with the bosses. We're their slaves! I

love all the words engraved on this wall. All the scent memories. Dusty

vinyl. That must be one of yours. You've got a great ambassador here.

I know. Just happy to be your servant and get my hands dirty. What

next? The other rose. Putter to work. How's she doing? The truth.

She's brilliant. It's so fabulous having someone who just wants to get

stuck in. Keep going, Jo, keep going. It's all right for you

sitting over there. I can join in, you know. Look at this. I know. What

a difference a few days make. All your hard work, Jo. I know. You must

be delighted with what you've all achieved? I'm wowed by it all.

Amazing so wonderful. The realisation of the conversations.

The water's trickling to the side in the pool there. Gorgeous. There are

beautiful details. The water feature being one of them. I was very glad

to see that rose is still there. It's still there. The girls have not

moved it. This is the scent garden. There are, just sitting here,

wonderful scents. It is so important in a garden. It really does evoke

very powerful feelings in people? Very much. The memories I have

thinking about the garden my mum attended, was the honeysuckle. When

I smell honeysuckle now it takes me back there. Jasmine as well. In my

own home, I've a herb garden. There's fennel andtime here as well.

It is so evocative and really takes you on a journey. That's the idea of

a wall. My parents had lavender. Going up their front garden path.

Lavender and rosemary, still to this day, really makes me think of home

when I smell that. Rosemary and sage, Sunday roasts. This garden is

not being judged. It takes the pressure off a little bit

I am so proud of them, or the gardens look wonderful. What I love

is all these gardens are very much things you can take home and do

yourself pretty easily. Very much so. I have my eye on a few pieces.

This is like my garden. I hope people will come and will look, and

they can absolutely do this in their own garden. We have got the

foxgloves that grow, they self seed all over the place. People can

recreate a garden like this. We have been bombarded by bumblebees. The

bumblebees love your garden. Is there anything you have seen and

thought, I must do that at home? The angelic all around us. Those massive

plants will go on the of my borders. The public coming in tomorrow will

no doubt stand here in their droves watching your garden. I hope they

enjoy it. You must be proud. What a wonderful thing to have done. This

is an absolute dream. To have our own garden here, it doesn't get much

better. It really doesn't. Shall we just stay here? Gin and tonic,

actually! Fine by me! Thanks, Jo! Lovely to see Jo and great to see a

DJ getting her hands dirty, too. From one set of gardens that are not

being judged, to another. This impressive garden is packed with

sustainable planting and ideas to encourage people to transform their

local grave spaces into green places for people and wildlife. We caught

up with designer Nigel Dunnett, who has taken inspiration for this

garden from one of his earliest projects at the Barbican in London.

There are 65 million people living in the UK, and a staggering 84% of

that population live in cities. And big cities like London,

high-density, development and built up areas, we desperately need to

bring nature and green into contact with people. And yet, in so many

places, we fail to do it. I am Nigel Dunnett, and I am passionate about

greening our urban spaces. As a professor, design and expert in the

creative and imaginative use of plants, I have been involved in some

huge greening projects, such as the Olympic Park in London's east end.

My garden at Chelsea provides a vision or blueprint for how we can

develop places in the future. One of my biggest influences for the

Chelsea garden is the Barbican Centre. It is this fantastic, iconic

example of architecture, a perfect utopia of people centred urban

living. I have worked here for 3-4 years. With all the grey and

concrete, I saw the need to really bring a very dynamic and softness

and exuberance to planting. Although it looks beautiful, it's actually

really important, because it is the sort of thing we need to do a lot

more of in urban environments, because it is low-cost, it looks

after its to some extent. The scale of this, it works on all scales.

Gros, hectares of the stuff, and it is beautiful for the drama, but you

can take a square metre, and it is a sparkling, beautiful, flower

arrangement on the ground. Even I am amazed at how much this changes

every time I come, week to week, month to month. Today, the

lime-green, but also the upright white is a nice contrast. In a few

weeks' time, this will all turn purple, purple coming through

everywhere. Later on, it turns red, then blue, then it goes purple. You

come every week, and it changes. It is always something different. That

is what I call dynamic planting. Because it is 2- free plant species

at any one time, you get the same change throughout. It is an

overwhelming experience. I want people to feel in the middle of this

concrete jungle like they are in the middle of a fantastic, almost

psychedelic wild flower meadow. The garden at Chelsea takes a

starting point from what we have at the Barbican, but takes it weighed

more than that. It is just the inspiration. The garden has an

apartment block as its main focal point, with narrow balcony is full

of plants and seating spaces, small private areas on the ground with

lots of ideas in there. I am using a street artist from Sheffield, Joe

Peel, to paint the walls, to give an urban context for the garden. As

part of a boundary walls, we are using a new green hoarding, much

more attractive than the normal bleak surroundings we encounter.

One of the really exciting things here is the use of water. We have

planted these wetlands Erreala with native wild flowers, for example but

Marsh marigolds down here, which are flowering now. Lots of colour, but

great for wildlife. With Chelsea, we have brought water in as a central

part of the garden. The path goes through and over water. At the

Barbican, bridges go across and people can walk through the water.

We have tried to get that field. Water areas are multifunctional,

they soak up rainwater, as well as looking good and having the

wildlife. The architecture here was

pioneering, cutting edge. It was like brave New World at the time. I

like to think that what we do with the planting of the landscape and

everything here is, in terms of gardens, cutting-edge and

pioneering, and showing us a way ahead, too.

Plants and gardens can do so much for us. I really hope the Chelsea

garden will inspire people to take ideas away and make their own Mark.

Anywhere where there is a chance to really green up Britain.

Nigel, I have recently been to the Barbican, planting looks fantastic.

It feels so good for one's soul, in an otherwise harsh environment. This

is your Brave new green world, are you pleased with it? It is

fantastic. More than pleased. It has really come together. It is a vision

for the future about how we can really pack our green spaces, our

gardens, even in the most restricted spaces with so much life and

richness, but also make it beautiful and functional. Run us through what

you have got here, then. In very urban context, apartment blocks,

small spaces, we are trying to make a haven to show what you can do in

the smallest of spaces, particularly growing food. We have an edible

table, apple trees growing up through herbs, vertical planters

with herbs and vegetables in it. We are taking the rainwater off the

roof, doing the whole sustainable... watering these areas. It comes

through to the wetlands. It can fill up, but in dry weather, the water

can go down, but the plants can survive in these concrete pipes. It

is multifunctional. And a bike store over there. Usually you can be

embarrassed by these things, but each is a chance to green up and put

plants in. Planting here is exuberant, joyful and uplifting. It

is realistic. It is the same as what I have done at the Barbican. There

are lots of different areas, it shows you how you can reapply

gardening and horticultural planting to areas where you didn't think you

could. Really difficult places. There are so many exciting ideas. We

have tried to make it really smart, and clean, so it is not scruffy. A

lot of people think sustainable gardens. This is sustainable through

and through. Greening Grey Britain is really cutting through, the

campaign. The RHS have done a great job and taken on designers like you.

Well done. Thank you. There you go, from bike sheds to green walls, if

you don't have a garden, there are things you can do, too, to green up

your life. And Nigel's garden... The One Show

will announce the winner on Monday 29th May on The One Show. One T is

here. You have been looking around, what are your first impressions of

Chelsea 20s Aberdeen? The obvious thing it is not

like last year or previous years? You can't help but notice the first

thing, there are fewer Big Show gardens. That is very noticeable.

The ones that are there are a mixed bag. I think James Basson's one

standout. One or two I am working out, one or two aren't my cup of

tea. But I think, as always, it is a mistake to come to judgment. That is

what judges are for. You are taking a lot in, but there is less of that

this year. 17 show gardens lasted, eight this year. Lots of changes.

Including here. The BBC home has had a make over. You have been busy. I

didn't have anything else to do. What do you think of the show? I

think we have do dig a little deeper. The Great Pavillion is

stunning, some great Artisan gardens. We are here all week, so

plenty to look at. You two will be hard at work, the gardens have been

under the microscope already today, and all week, people camp at you

under the microscope as well. We have a new thing #askmontyandjoe. Jo

Whiley has kicked us off, she wants to know what frequent plant is a

must have for any garden? Only one? For the winter, Christmas box. That

is one. Is that it? Honeysuckle. Short and sharp answers from you

two. The jasmine. I like tobacco plants in the summer. One! Roses are

gorgeous. There are hundreds of fantastic plants out there. What

about you? I have got to have geraniums, lavender and rosemary.

And nice roses, obviously. Lovely, aromatic foliage. It doesn't always

have to be flowers. That brings us to the end of the

show, Nikki and James will be here tomorrow 3:45 on BBC One to bring

you all the glitz, glamour, the celebrities and the opening day. We

will be back tomorrow at 7:30 when we have none other than Peter Kay

joining us for his unique take on this very British affair. Who knows

what mischief he will be up to. We are feeling that brave. And I will

be with Joe on BBC Two later in the evening to bring you our first

in-depth analysis of Chelsea 2017, and exclusive coverage of the royal

visit. Not to mention an appearance from our other Queen, Mary Berry, as

she proves she is just as at home in the garden as she is in the kitchen.

See you tomorrow. From all of us now, goodbye. Goodbye.