Episode 11 RHS Chelsea Flower Show

It's a magnificent day here in central London and the

showground is bursting with visitors enjoying the floral festivities.

The intoxicating scents of Chelsea are still filling every inch

of the Royal Hospital Grounds on this the penultimate

We're uncovering some of the surprising plants and people

that make Chelsea the greatest Flower Show on earth.

Let the celebration of beautiful blooms

Hello and welcome back to the RHS Chelsea Flower Show,

an event supported by M Investments.

Hold on to your secateurs as today we have a packed programme.

Coming up, comedy legend Griff Ryhs Jones joins us

and reveals why these days he prefers the floral festival

Toby Buckland is in the Great Pavilion to discover some familiar

And Rachel de Thame finds the perfect plant recipe

The joy of being here all week means I've had a really great look around,

so this is where I get a chance to fantasise about picking just one

The one I really want to take away, you know I have such a soft spot, I

have different favourite gardens for different reasons. But I always say

it, it is the forensic level of detail. Such talented people,

picking over each enjoy it. If I could take somebody home to look

after my garden, it would be Ishihara Kazuyuki. I have some

favourites, but I will go with City Living. The designer has created a

design I would want to live in. I used to live in a flat, I didn't

have any outdoor space. What Kate has managed to do is create an

environment that a lot of us live in, but have small pockets of

outdoor space. It's beautiful. Hopefully it will be the future.

Forget the house, I could just live in her garden! She's done a great

job. It's not only scent

filling the gardens. Inside the Great Pavilion,

the air is thick with a cacophony of scents and some of

the plants pumping that fragrance out might surprise

you as Toby Buckland has discovered. The reason flowers have an aroma is,

of course, to attract pollinators. But when they are bred to have

bigger blooms, they are all athletics and no aroma. Sometimes it

is still worth sniffing them. It has a gorgeous aroma. It is a

cross between Lily of the Valley and lilac. Then there are flowers you

should never put your nose anywhere near. The sign to look for is blood

red stripes on the petals or Sam Winner modelling. That is a sign

they are pollinated by carrion flies. They will smell like

something that died last week. I don't want to put my nose anywhere

near that one. Jean-Claude. Lovely to meet you. You

are what they call a nose? Well, I prefer perfumer. You control it with

the brain, the nose is only there to control. Week you work on fragrances

for big brands? I like the variety of different kinds of smell. This

one, with the yellow, you smell it, it smells like lemons, grapefruit.

You are right, very citrus. It is light, as well. If you take this

one, darker, it is like chocolate powder. Vanilla. It does. I was

going to say it smells like cheap chocolate, but this is the good

stuff. This is the 80% stuff. Another thing is the smell in the

morning is very light, and at night they are very heavy. It is a product

of the oil changing? Yes. You can have a bouquet in the room and it

will diffuse through the house. It has been under my nose all this time

and I didn't know. Now you know! It has been a pleasure. This is another

flower you think don't have a fragrance, but they do. But it is

the smaller blooms like Montana that pack the punch. The flowers are

small, but produced in their hundreds. When you get your nose

into them, they are as sweet as cherry pie. It just goes to show,

you should never take for granted that the flowers in your garden

don't have a scent. You may get a pleasant surprise.

Throughout this week we've been featuring the designers of the large

show gardens to get a more personal picture of the people behind them.

Next up is Chelsea veteran Chris Beardshaw.

I am the design of The Morgan Stanley Garden at Chelsea Flower

Show. What a stage this is to be at, not only to impress thousands of

gardeners that come through, but also to inspire the schools and

communities that are the recipients of the particular scheme. I started

out life as a mystery man, essentially growing plants to

perfection. Later in life, my mid-20s, I realised that where my

heart lay was the assembly of those plans, the choreography. That is

where we can stimulate the emotions and create beautiful spaces that

change people's lives. My typical garden design, well, did be brutally

honest with yourself, especially if it is your own garden. How do I want

to feel and what makes me feel like that? The two most important

questions. Answer those honestly, and you are in line for a garden

that truly connects with the soul. Growing up, from an early age, did

you know that you were always going to be involved with gardening or

not? I didn't know how to do anything else. My grandmother bought

me a packet of seeds when I was four. I put them on the windowsill,

damp piece of tissue paper, scattered them. What fascinated me

was how they chased the light. If I turned them around, how they moved.

The speed they were doing that. And the fact that every grew, all of

them germinated. I looked at them germinating and thought, I am

probably quite good at this. It was a great introduction from my

grandmother. It was cress, which is so easy to germinate, but that was

her skill. To ignite that passion. At Chelsea, we are surrounded by

wonderful planting and design. Do you have a favourite, now that you

can relax and it is coming near to the end of Chelsea? What are you

most proud of? It's very difficult, it is like asking which is your

favourite child. The Sylvester on the corner is stunning. A British

native, standing by itself. Got it off the vehicle in four hours

without breaking a branch. Around the corner, the Himalayan Lily. I

don't think it has ever flowers at Chelsea Flower Show before. I've had

them for five years, they are probably eight years old. It is from

the Himalayas and it grows with a rosette of leaves for many years and

suddenly, when it decides, it pushes this stem up ten or 12 feet in

height. Regal brooms on the top. It has opened up in the last couple of

days. That is a real surprise. I love the fact you said it decides

when it is going to do it and it knows how important this week is.

Not just for you, but to all of us. It is such a splendid garden. Thank

you very much indeed. We see a lot of green fingered

celebrities at Chelsea. Griff Rhys Jones is

a regular visitor, but it wasn't until Joe Swift visited Griff's

garden that it became clear just So, you are growing a lot of

vegetables? Well, my wife, Jo, she is fanatical. This little plot

controls our whole calendar. We had asparagus, broad beans, artichoke,

extraordinarily beautiful and delicious pumpkins, called Crown

Prince. Fantastic. But it does mean that you cannot necessarily go

somewhere at certain times of the year. As you will find, as we travel

around, the private domain, there is a box everywhere. This is the

obsession with formality that runs around this whole place. We try to

compartmentalise a bit. This is beautiful. Really contrasting to all

of the hedges. It is. Lots of roses. It's beautiful.

The per -- pergola gave us some height, old-fashioned shrub roses

coming up. What is fascinating is what will grow here. I think if you

move into an agricultural field, you are left with a lot of nitrogen in

the field. Very lush. Yes. You are imposing yourself onto the plot?

Nature is a form of disorder. Man is about rationality and lines. If you

make a structured, rational, mathematical pattern and then allow

the profusion to go through it, but a lot of people in a garden like

this, in a rural setting, would be tempted to be haphazard. I really

like the way that you have done this. Is it quite a male thing

question might The house was built in 1700. These were not places

people joined with nature, they are places which people built to

separate themselves from nature. Originally. Where they showed the

control that they can have. A beautiful view? I sat down and we

worked it out so that we had these back and forth bets. Everything is

supposed to be designed to be low maintenance. How is that, is that

the reality? No, it is like selling your plate with food. It feels a

great excitement as you put it onto the plate, then you think I've got

to eat all of this. One of the fun things about having this is you can

plant things and forget about them. Instead of standing over, a small

garden, you stand there and say, come on. If you have got a big

garden, you walking around the corner, two years later, do go, look

at the size of that! Wow! This is my new project. We have new

projects on the go all the time. Isn't that rose fantastic? This is

exactly what I mean. I come in here and go, what's that!? What I'm going

to do is cut a hole in my hedge, another Vista. I'm going to put a

path to take us right the way through, down there. Probably two

more borders in there. These are the beginnings of a little Provencal box

border here. Have you always gardened? As a child, did you?

Gardens are something, like Radio 3, that you need to grow into. We don't

need to worry that young kids are not spending a huge amount of time

gardening. They come to it later. It's fair enough to say, I don't

want to go to Glastonbury any more. But I did. But I don't want to go

there any more. I'd rather be in my garden.

I love the fact that you said you would rather be gardening van Gogh

to Glastonbury! You are at a horticultural customary now, test of

both! I am a Chelsea virgin, it is the first time I have been to

Chelsea. There is the feeling, even as I wander around, you walk around

and see all these things, you think you should be in the garden now

pulling weeds. So much inspiration firing at all angles, have you seen

anything that has caught your eye? I know it is crazy, but I love the

pavilion, I love that side, the Victorian flower displays,

extraordinary. Chrysanthemums, you think... ! How have they done it?

Daffodils! How are they doing this?! Also, I am impressed by the little

gardens. I am impressed by formal gardens, I like the carefully

organised planting. I am a control freak in the garden, I clip things,

and only for it to get wilder as you get further away. I love the way,

the effort, if you look at the borders around here, to make the

random planting effect, it is more corrugated than making a formal

plot. It is really cheeky. It is a constant battle, making it sends to

how we like to understand the world, and having enough chaos to make it

feel relaxed. Either messy or clinical. It is amazing. 50 years

ago, everybody had been getting a builder in to get all that stuff off

your roof. Now, it's a fashion. What I like is, I come along and I can

see these extraordinary re-creations, recreating a Yorkshire

seascape, or to see the extraordinary re-creation of a wild

field. And the gnarly old trees that will have have the shock of their

lives, these apple trees... Appearing here! But I am still as

much in love with it come at the clip pawn beam hedges, I thought the

garden deserved a gold medal. It is one of my favourites. On the theme

of control, I hear you won a beautiful wild flower medal, but you

don't want certain things in it. Of course! What is causing you

distress? In a wild flower Meadow, you have two clear every scrap away.

I was out there pulling. My wife is watching me with a look of horror,

she does all the work in the garden! I go around and say "We must put a

new path here." But the problem for me is, looking at an acre of wild

flower meadow. You have the best place in the world to find an expert

to solve your problems. Have a lovely day. Thank you, James. Lovely

to see you again. We all know that a beautiful

garden can make us happy But getting out and gardening has

much deeper benefits to our mental Garden designer Mark Lane has been

out in the show ground exploring the added advantages gardening

can bring to us all. John, I know there are a few three

varieties of edible plants in here. Different colours, shapes,

performance of plants, wonderful tomatoes and mulberries, the

nasturtium, they are all edible. It isn't a big garden and you don't

need much space to grow it on. This garden is ten metres by ten metres.

The vegetable area is five eggs five, you do not need a big plot to

grow for your family all the year round. My passions is to get

everybody involved in horticulture. -- five eggs five. Those were my

earliest memories, following my grandfather around, growing stuff

for me to eat later. Happy healthy horticultural sums it up, happiness,

fun, breathing in the fresh air, fitness, and above all eating it,

and having a balanced diet for what you grow yourselves.

Over in the Breast Cancer Now Garden through the microscope garden, the

design has focused on making the garden and up listing places for the

mind. -- and uplifting place. It is important for people to rest their

minds by focusing the mind on the minutiae which makes you more

restful and more calm. You have done that with some of the smaller

planting. Part of the garden is about magnification, having little

plants and bigger plants. One of the ones we really like is the tiny

Euphorbia. There are two. Their ardour. This is as well. They are

lovely, exquisite versions of their bigger selves. Taking the time to

observe the small details, and being in that moment, that mindfulness can

be calming and soothing. It can. That is what it is about, enjoying

yourselves and being outside. I agree. It's wonderful.

Throughout the week Carol Klein has been searching the Great Pavilion

to reveal the origin of some of our most loved border plants.

Next, she is focusing on those plants that hail from Australasia.

It was in the 1700s when explorers James Cook and Joseph Banks landed

on the shores of New Zealand. When they arrived, they found the local

people, the Maori, clad in garments, fashioned from a cloth they did not

agonise. It was made from this plant. Plant occurs all over New

Zealand, but articulately on windswept hillsides. It is the tough

leaves that help it to withstand the conditions there. If you tear them

apart, they are fibrous. It allows the plant to bend its leaves

backwards and forwards, and put up with gales, hot sun, and even salt

spray. It was these fibres that were woven together to produce the cloth

of which their clothes were made. It didn't really appear as a common

feature until the last few decades, but now you see it all over the

place. It is often used in bedding schemes and a punctuation plant. It

will grow practically anywhere, but it does need sunshine. It hates

very, very wet soggy, stagnant soil. But apart from that, it is tough as

old boot. I don't grow many plants from down

under in my garden, but one that is looking spectacular at the moment is

a huge, big clump of this. It is an evergreen perennial, native to New

Zealand. The flowers have three petals, in common with many other

members of the iris family, to which it belongs.

Australia, it's hot. The picture is full of earthy colours, terracotta,

ochre, fire and a smell, that wonderful, pungent aroma. The

remaining ingredient of that snow is a plant that probably typifies

Australia for us, the eucalyptus. Eucalyptus are found all over

Australia, many different habitats, but it is only in the last few

decades that they have become a familiar sight both in our gardens

and in our flower shops. As well as grabbing them, it is really

straightforward. They will grow anywhere, providing it is in the

sun. And in reasonably drained soil. But choose the variety that will

grow to the kind of height you want it. But beware, they are really

rapid growers, so you have to keep an eye on them. Throughout the week,

we have looked at each different continent, looking at flowers we

think of as being British. That's not the case with plants from

Australasia, but who knows, in future years, they may become just

as familiar. From a tree that thrives

in the baking heat to a group of antipodean plants which prefer

living life in the shade. I did expect tropical plants to love

shade, but that's not the case. People always think exotic, which

means newbie light. Funnily enough, in tropical rainforests, the canopy

blocks out so much alike. All of these are from damp, due mid

conditions. You can grow this kind. Can you grow a beautiful structure

like the one behind us? Cyathea medullaris,

the black tree fern - But in 2010, I had seven huge ones.

I donated them to gardens around the UK. Everyone put them in

greenhouses, except Chelsea, so they put it outside and gambled. Seven

years later, it is still looking great. West of Cornwall, Central

London, but you can get away with it. A few questions for you, Lynne

Cowdrey says, I rescued a dying tree fern from a nursery section and it

is doing well in a pot, should I planted in the ground? If it is

doing well in the pot, keep it in the pot. However, in pots, water can

dry up quickly because there better grabbing conditions in the ground.

Even in the winter, it should be fine? Throughout most of the UK. If

you are up north, get straw, shove it in the centre of the growing

team, and it will keep the warmth in the centre. Like a woolly jumper.

Emma Quinn says, my fern is turning a pale green, yellow colour, please

help. It sounds like a fertiliser issue. There are lots of types. My

favourite is organic, Lama Peru. It doesn't smell. That is something I

wasn't expecting to hear at Chelsea. Thank you, James. Ferns can be the

perfect plant to breathe life into an unloved shady corner.

But whatever the conditions of your garden, there

Rachel de Thame has been exploring the show gardens to discover

which plants they've used to create a beautiful border no matter

Whether you are on a windy hillside or the very top of a tower block and

have a balcony there, exposed sides are some of the most difficult to

deal with. But there are plenty of plants that will thrive and are well

adapted for exactly that. Alpines come within that category. What they

all have in common is they tend to be low growing, so that the worst of

the wind can sweep over the top without doing too much damage to

them. They often have small foliage, small leaves, sometimes with a

silvery coating, tiny hairs, and those adaptations help the plant

conserve moisture. A few here special. This one is a large flower

on this particular one. It is difficult to get hold of, you won't

find it in a local nursery. But you may find this one. Again, a smaller

version with a rather more delicate shape of daisy flower. Another one

of my favourites, a plant that many of us are familiar with, we see it

in garden centres. It comes from areas in North America, on the North

facing side of cliffs. It can take everything the elements can throw at

it. This has a lovely Daisy Sheikh, with finely dissected leaves. These

ones as well, so beautiful am the rose that is of leaves and so low

maintenance, you don't have to do anything with them once they are in.

And I love this, there are various types, there are also alpine

varieties that are even shorter. Don't be put off by that long stem.

Because it is so slender and wiry, it can get buffeted by the wind.

This is also very popular, and they are perfect. They have the hammock

shape, and the flowers in spring time appear like stars above

foliage. These plants can take the wind, the sun, they can take brain.

What they don't like is to get their feet really wet, soggy, damp soil

all through the winter is a killer. Make sure when you plant them, lots

of drainage goes into the planting holed, and make it deep. These

beauties are then going to thrive. Give me an exposed position any day!

So we've profiled seven of the designers of the Main Avenue

show gardens and in the final instalment of this series,

designer of The Royal Bank of Canada Garden.

My name is Charlotte Harris, I am the design of the Boyle bank of

Canada garden. Three words to ascribe myself,

inquisitive, passionate and happy. -- Royal Bank of Canada garden. The

reason I became a garden designer is because I like being out and

adventuring in wild landscapes, exploring them. And bringing pieces

back of those and bringing green into our everyday lives is something

that brings real joy to me. My earliest gardening memory is

being in the garden with my mother in autumn, raking leaves and the

smell of wood smoke. My top tip for designing a garden is

to work with it, and not to attempt to control it. Have a sense of what

grows there naturally, whether it is sunny or shady, right plant, right

place. I have seen US Chelsea, I have not

met you until this year. I recognise you from working on some of the best

gardens I've ever seen at the show in terms of planting. It is your

first year designing one. How long was it in the making? I started

planning it in June or July last year. Chelsea last year, I thought,

actually, I really am ready now for a Show Garden in my own right.

Planting a Show Garden is very different from a real garden. There

are all sorts of tips and tricks. You are trying to create a realistic

piece of Canada in 20 days? It is a challenge. I think working with a

brilliant nursery, having a very strong plant eating to help you out

and having a sense of what you want to achieve. I was really clear I

wanted to make this about planting communities that were reflected

within the world landscape of Canada. Walking through it, it is so

immaculately perfect. It is hard to imagine you had any difficulties.

Chelsea is about hiding the difficulties that come along. Was

anything particularly challenging? The trees are so beautiful, but they

are super fragile. Bringing them in, there were some sweaty moments. A

brilliant contractor, lots of care and concern, making sure they got in

safely. All other plans are planted in pots. Then we had to take the rim

off. These trees will have been wrapped up, The Brunchies pact, on

the back of a lorry, transported hundreds of miles and they look like

they have been here forever. -- The branch pact.

Because of Monday night's tragic events we interrupted Tuesday's

broadcast to join the nation in a minute's silence.

This meant we missed the opportunity to bring you Carol Klein searching

out plants in the Great Pavilion originating from Asia.

We didn't want you to miss out, so here it is.

There are lots of plants in our gardens that we assume our British

through and through. They have always been there. But in actual

fact, many of them originate in places all around the world. Very

many of them come from the continent of Asia. What could be more English

than a rose? They epitomise an English summer garden. But the roses

that would grow in our gardens today over their heritage to roses from

all over the northern hemisphere. But particularly from Asia. It was a

chance meeting between East and West, on the Isle of reunion in the

Indian Ocean, which was a trading post. Chinese traders brought their

flowers, including the roses. French traders did exactly the same thing.

Eventually, they got together, producing some of the most beautiful

roses you can imagine. The very basis of many of the roses that we

grow today, like this one. This is a ball then rose. -- Bourbon rose. It

brings all sorts of things to the party. These double flowers,

gorgeous scent and the ability to flower on and on.

What is the quintessential English fruit? Surely it is the apple. No.

Not a bit of it. It actually comes from Asia and it was probably

introduced here by the Romans. In recent times, our choice of apples

has diminished hugely. There are only a few varieties available. Help

is at hand. Recently there has been an enormous movement to reintroduce

heritage varieties, so the choice is going to be wider wider.

Nonetheless, they all come from trees from Asia.

Peonies the Queens of the border. Many are from Europe. But we owe our

greatest debt to those from Asia. All of these sumptuous hybrids. But

there is a whole new generation that are even more exciting. They are

hybrids with gorgeous blooms. They have an enormous advantage over some

of the older varieties. For a start, they are really robust, strong

plants. They stand up for themselves and do not need staking. They have a

longer flowering period and maintain their foliage deep into the autumn.

This one is absolutely gorgeous. We have such a debt of gratitude to

Asia. Thanks for these gorgeous plants.

Earlier today we sent Griff Rhys Jones off

into the showground to solve a problem he was having

Let's see if he found a Chelsea solution.

As I explained, I have a problem in my garden. I have an alien invasion.

I'm hoping I can get some help for that year. -- here. Hello. I am here

to bring you a monster and primeval problem. I have a rather successful

wild flower meadow. I have what I think is called horse tail. What can

I do to get rid of it? It is a really interesting weed. It looks

like a tiny Christmas tree. It was around at the time of the dinosaurs,

which gives you an inkling as to how tenacious it is. It has a couple of

ways of spreading. It does not have flowers, it has spores. It will also

have thickened, dark coloured roots, which will spread out through the

soil. That is what your garden is getting. It sounds like something

from outer space. You can try digging it out, but it can go down

one or even two meters down into the soil. To get half an acre, digging

down to two metres... I think we will let you off that. The

management of cutting it, when do you do that? Probably early October.

A lot of summer flowers will be finished by maybe late July, early

August. Try bringing it back just a little bit. That will help to keep

it suppressed and allow the wild flowers to keep a bit of

competition. If we cut that, does the grass need caring? Definitely

clear it up. You might need to learn to live with it. I have been called

a bit of a dinosaur myself, maybe I will have to live with a dinosaur

plant. The Great Pavilion houses some

of the most coveted blooms in the country - peonies have long

been a favourite in the border but recently they've been

topping the list of most The nursery Primrose Hall have

been wowing the crowds with their stunning

bridal headdresses. I'm joined by Bronwyn Brett to see

if we can recreate that magic. Alice, our blushing bride, how

gorgeous do you like? Is this made by your good self? Absolutely. How

easy is this going to be? Really simple. What you have to do is just

click the flowers really short and close to the stem. Then we have a

glue gun, and we just have a tiny dab of glue. Simple as that, stick

it down and hold for a couple of seconds. Lets see how I get on. We

are surrounded by wonderful different varieties. Are they the

number one flower for brides in your opinion? Absolutely, definitely.

They are such gorgeous, gorgeous flowers. Why do they work so well?

When I think of bridal headwear, I am thinking the tiara. If you went

back to the Victorian ages, they used to be made flowers? Absolutely,

definitely a trend that came from the catwalk. We have seen it a lot

recently. Everything travels down to weddings, really. This one, I don't

know what variety it is, but it has the most wonderful fragrance. I

don't think of peonies having much smell? They really do. That is Sarah

Bernhardt. At the front, Lady Alexander Duff, one of the most

highly scented. The bees are loving them. How should you use it, right

at the front, to give its structure? A nice focal point for the

headdress. Is that the front? That is definitely different! We also

have delicate carnations and roses. As a leading stylus, how long have

you been working with flowers? For the last seven years. I fell in

love, doing a friend's wedding, helping her. I carried on from

there. I learned more about them and fell in love. I will have to glue

that again. It is very hot. Are brides quite competitive, would they

be asking their florist for this? In my years in industry, they are

always trying to each other. I am running out of time, I managed to

get two on. Yours is looking beautiful. I have to get my peony

finished. This is a labour of love. We have roses, carnations and the

gorgeous peonies, but you could use other flowers? Totally, the roses

held up well, they add texture. A little bit of colour range, so that

you have a bit of interest. And the smell is so important. Totally! If

you are the rushing bride, you want to smell gorgeous all day long. They

give you that, and a bit of luxury. I'm struggling slightly. All --

always the bridesmaid, never the bride. I think I might need a few

more hours. But it is truly gorgeous.

The Great Pavilion is packed full of the world's

here are some that really got the crowds excited.

James Comey made his birthday and I have a surprise in store. I have

been warned about this! This is what all of the brides will be wearing. I

will wear it, just for you, Nicki. Humiliate me on my birthday. You can

take it off, I don't mind. It has been the most wonderful week. Any

highlights that stick in your mind? For me, it has to be Charlotte

Harris. I have seen her kicking around for years, helping other

people get gold. To finally have an opportunity herself, she was shaking

like a leaf, when she cried, it got me and I burst into tears. It is

that emotion and exhaustion. I love the gardens, it has been the most

terrific week. We have been so blessed with the weather. It is when

you talk to the garden designers, large and small, also the exhibitors

in the Great Pavilion. You get that sense of how much they have been

looking forward to the whole week, the planning could be a week, a

month, sometimes it is years in the making, a lifetime of ambition. Here

they are, and you really get that sense of how important it is. We

have to mention our special guests, all week, but my favourite is going

to be Peter Kay. Forget Car Share, it is all about the Chelsea Chariot,

as I took them around. I met my childhood hero and found out he is a

plant geek as well. I didn't do too badly, did I? Always room for

improvement. Well, sadly that is the end

of The Chelsea Flower Show for the two of us, but you can join

Sophie Raworth and Joe Swift as they reveal the winner of the BBC

RHS People's Choice Award at 7:30 on BBC One or the same time on BBC

Two if you're watching in Wales. And you can catch up with Monty

and Joe on BBC Two at 8 o'clock. Keep sending your thoughts on the

hashtag, #BBCChelsea.