:00:00. > :00:09.It's been quite a week so far here at the Chelsea Flower Show
:00:10. > :00:14.Today, we'll be bringing you the medal results
:00:15. > :00:16.in the Great Pavilion, as we get up close and personal
:00:17. > :00:24.And we'll be stepping behind the potting bench to meet
:00:25. > :00:57.If you adore plants, then you are in the right place.
:00:58. > :01:01.Hello and welcome to the 2017 RHS Chelsea Flower Show,
:01:02. > :01:05.an event supported by M Investments.
:01:06. > :01:08.There were a few sore heads around the show ground this morning
:01:09. > :01:15.after the celebrations of the medal results last night.
:01:16. > :01:17.And it was this Show Garden that the judges thought had
:01:18. > :01:30.This is such a dramatic garden when you are standing on it. But
:01:31. > :01:36.technically, how difficult is it to build? There is a section in the
:01:37. > :01:41.categories which is caused scale of endeavour and it is about how
:01:42. > :01:46.difficult it is. These plants had been grown specially and some of the
:01:47. > :01:50.seed has been collected from the wilds to be grown here. It is not
:01:51. > :01:53.months, it is years we are talking? Absolutely. It certainly is perfect
:01:54. > :01:56.and that is why it has won. We have a lot more for you today
:01:57. > :01:59.from across the showground. We travel to North Yorkshire,
:02:00. > :02:03.to meet a Great Pavilion exhibitor whose obsession with Camassias has
:02:04. > :02:06.grown into a national collection. Carol Vorderman, a regular
:02:07. > :02:08.Chelsea visitor, is back Fresh garden designer Manoj Malde
:02:09. > :02:12.reveals how a life in fashion has And we join Sarah Ravenin
:02:13. > :02:23.on her Colour Cutting Garden, as she shares her top tips on how
:02:24. > :02:25.to get the most If you'd like to share your thoughts
:02:26. > :02:29.on anything happening here at Chelsea, we'd love
:02:30. > :02:31.to hear from you. Get in touch with us
:02:32. > :02:36.during the show on #BBC Chelsea. But first, it's time to catch up
:02:37. > :02:39.on the medal results Carol Klein went along
:02:40. > :02:57.to share in the excitement. It is not all about the gardens, in
:02:58. > :03:02.the Great Pavilion, all the exhibitors have in this morning
:03:03. > :03:05.biting their nails, they have had a sleepless night waiting to see what
:03:06. > :03:16.the judges have given them. It is brilliant!
:03:17. > :03:26.I got a gold. This is my centrepiece. Have you told her? I
:03:27. > :03:49.told her this morning, yes. Overjoyed! Gold! There we go! It is
:03:50. > :04:02.a Gold. Well done! Well done! Thank you very much! What have you got? We
:04:03. > :04:12.have got Silver! Silver, we are over the moon! Over the main! I am so
:04:13. > :04:15.excited! I am so happy! Did you get Gold? I am so happy, I am beyond
:04:16. > :04:20.happy. It has been a great year for medals
:04:21. > :04:23.in the Great Pavilion, with nine Silver, 25 Silver Gilt,
:04:24. > :04:26.and a massive 61 Golds awarded. But for some of the exhibitors,
:04:27. > :04:28.the journey to this year's show was anything other
:04:29. > :04:40.than plain sailing. One of those was the nursery Daisy
:04:41. > :04:44.roots, it has been a tricky year. Yes, we are in the lap of the gods
:04:45. > :04:49.with the weather, a small site with no electricity, one small pony: and
:04:50. > :04:55.the only climate control is in the tunnel or outside -- polytunnel. The
:04:56. > :04:59.plants grown hardy outside all winter so the weather has been kind
:05:00. > :05:02.at the last minute. We had warm spell in April that brought
:05:03. > :05:10.everything on and there was a lot of fingernail biting! And then it cools
:05:11. > :05:13.down and it has been very dry and we have grown a drought tolerance
:05:14. > :05:19.selection which has worked and it all came right at the last minute.
:05:20. > :05:24.One of the big tricky things is the unpredictability at Chelsea. If
:05:25. > :05:28.everything comes on early, it can swap around your plants, but it
:05:29. > :05:33.stalls and without the fancy equipment, is your nursery under one
:05:34. > :05:37.acre? Yes, we do not have much space, we have a nice range of
:05:38. > :05:43.plants but not huge numbers to choose from. We just do not have the
:05:44. > :05:48.space some other nurseries have, they have huge staff and huge
:05:49. > :05:53.tunnels and show plants. Ours are all outside. Some have less
:05:54. > :05:57.equipment and facilities then you and you have pulled it out of the
:05:58. > :06:03.bag. You have been chasing a gold for a number of years, you have had
:06:04. > :06:07.four Silver-Gilt medals in a row and just a point sometimes from a Gold
:06:08. > :06:13.Medal. Yes, very, very frustrating and we just somehow tipped it over
:06:14. > :06:20.and got the Gold this year. Has anything changed in the garden to
:06:21. > :06:24.make you do that? I think because we have been so close and one gets so
:06:25. > :06:28.emotionally invested in the medal. This year, I thought I had given it
:06:29. > :06:33.my all last year and I just stepped back and was more relaxed about the
:06:34. > :06:37.thing and I think it shows probably. Yes, there is always a tension in
:06:38. > :06:40.creating a garden with control versus looseness and sometimes when
:06:41. > :06:45.you are too worried about getting a Gold, it can be tight and this
:06:46. > :06:47.garden is so playful, it is just incredible, thank you so much. You
:06:48. > :06:49.are welcome. The stunning plants that fill this
:06:50. > :06:51.vast Pavilion originate from all over the world,
:06:52. > :06:54.many of which we have taken Carol Klein has been searching
:06:55. > :06:58.the Great Pavilion to discover the plants whose roots stretch back
:06:59. > :07:12.across the Atlantic to the Americas. Everybody knows a fuchsia, it even
:07:13. > :07:19.non-gardeners recognise them. Amongst our most popular plans. But
:07:20. > :07:22.far from being British, their ancestors come from central and
:07:23. > :07:29.South America. They were not discovered until the late 17th
:07:30. > :07:37.century and it was 100 years after that they were first brought into
:07:38. > :07:44.cultivation. Many of us grow hardy fuchsias. But these need a bit more
:07:45. > :07:48.tender care and the best way to look after them is to keep them under
:07:49. > :07:54.cover and give them a winter holiday during January and February. Almost
:07:55. > :08:00.withdraw water and in March, against water gently. Increase the water so
:08:01. > :08:07.that by high summer, it you are watering them every day and give
:08:08. > :08:14.them feed, something like tomato water laser, two or three times a
:08:15. > :08:16.week. -- tomato fertiliser. They originated in the continent of
:08:17. > :08:23.America but fuchsias have now become one of our favourite flowers.
:08:24. > :08:31.It is wild lupins from North America who are the forebears of the border
:08:32. > :08:38.lupins that have become so familiar in our gardens. Very first records
:08:39. > :08:43.of them being in cultivation in this country data back to 1658 at the
:08:44. > :08:47.Oxford botanic Gardens. At our border lupins have not always looks
:08:48. > :08:55.like they do today and that is down to the efforts of one man, George
:08:56. > :08:59.Russell, from York. He got fed up of them being wishy-washy and weak and
:09:00. > :09:04.he decided to start a breeding programme to try and make them much
:09:05. > :09:12.better. His improved strain have become known as the Russell lupins.
:09:13. > :09:16.This took place during the 1930s and when he felt his lupins had reached
:09:17. > :09:21.the peak of perfection, you brought them to the Chelsea Flower Show. By
:09:22. > :09:27.then, he had reached the tender age of 79.
:09:28. > :09:37.Dahlias are from Mexico, they are wild there and they have been
:09:38. > :09:41.cultivated for thousands of years. The Aztec emperor Montezuma had them
:09:42. > :09:46.in his garden at the time of the Spanish invasion. There are also
:09:47. > :09:50.growing as a food crop there and their tubers lifted and stores to
:09:51. > :09:57.provide start should throughout the winter. Dahliastubers are enormously
:09:58. > :10:02.popular and every year, new varieties are introduced. This year,
:10:03. > :10:07.there is this one. It is lovely, isn't it? It is called Carol Klein.
:10:08. > :10:11.Who is she? A splash of the Americas has spilled
:10:12. > :10:14.out of the Great Pavilion and into the gardens this year,
:10:15. > :10:29.with Manoj Malde's Fresh Garden, And today is the perfect day to view
:10:30. > :10:35.your garden, dahlias. -- macro one. It is, when I started, I said if the
:10:36. > :10:40.Sun is shining in its full glory, it will be perfect. It is and what a
:10:41. > :10:46.date to be standing here today just admiring it. When you start the
:10:47. > :10:50.process, what we influenced by? Was it a Mexican design or somewhere you
:10:51. > :10:56.had been on holiday? I was actually influenced by the modernist Mexican
:10:57. > :11:01.architect Luis Barragan. I saw his work and was immediately attracted
:11:02. > :11:05.to the colour. I have Indian ancestry, born in Kenya, surrounded
:11:06. > :11:10.by beautiful women in gorgeous saris and subconsciously, it was the
:11:11. > :11:15.colour I was attracted to. That is a very dramatic backdrop. He was your
:11:16. > :11:19.influence. When you are designing a garden, what you have in mind? You
:11:20. > :11:25.have the blues guide that shows off the colours so well. How difficult
:11:26. > :11:31.is it to recreate that planting or did you take elements of it? Part of
:11:32. > :11:36.the planting scheme is was to show Luis Barragan's life, he struggled
:11:37. > :11:39.to become a recognised architect. I also wanted to introduce plants that
:11:40. > :11:45.people can take home and grow themselves as well. There is a
:11:46. > :11:49.number of plants in this garden that people can take home and actually
:11:50. > :11:53.using their own gardens. In your gardening always strikes me because
:11:54. > :12:03.I have an enormous one of these in my garden, mine is huge, what is
:12:04. > :12:07.this incredible tree behind us? That tree is commonly known as a
:12:08. > :12:12.strawberry tree. It is gorgeous because when the first layer of skin
:12:13. > :12:17.heels off, either get this lovely Orange streak on the branches. It is
:12:18. > :12:21.absolutely gorgeous and it will survive in this country. The
:12:22. > :12:27.architectural structures, especially behind you, in the cacti, it really
:12:28. > :12:33.works. Definitely, and this is a hierarchy, it you have got the trees
:12:34. > :12:36.and the specimen plants and this soft planting that weaves through
:12:37. > :12:43.the lovely structure. And it works perfectly well. The bursts of
:12:44. > :12:48.colour. And we know you as a famous garden designer, but that was not
:12:49. > :12:52.your chosen career originally? No, was in the fashion industry it for
:12:53. > :12:58.18 years and after 18 years in that career, I decided I wanted to have a
:12:59. > :13:03.change of career. It easily transferable skills. Do you design
:13:04. > :13:08.in the same way? I still designing the same way, I start off with mood
:13:09. > :13:13.boards colour pile -- and colour palettes. It is like creating a
:13:14. > :13:18.beautiful print and a sumptuous piece of silk. It works and
:13:19. > :13:21.congratulations on your silver-gilt yesterday. The Sun is shining, it
:13:22. > :13:30.will be a fantastic week and we are loving your garden. Thank you.
:13:31. > :13:37.If you are an obsessive plant collector, Chelsea is paradise and
:13:38. > :13:41.my passion is Oriental lilies. And you are just dazzled by the weird
:13:42. > :13:47.and wonderful things. I love the names. Sweet sugar. Flash point. And
:13:48. > :13:53.you will see one which has a label but with no name. Like there is a
:13:54. > :14:02.code. Like this pink one, the nice tall one. Just hardly a glamorous
:14:03. > :14:08.name. That is because it is so new, it just has a plant breeders code
:14:09. > :14:17.and not even a name yet. Chelsea is a coming out party. And you realise
:14:18. > :14:21.how many there are. Just here, one, two, three, four, five, six new
:14:22. > :14:23.varieties that have never been seen before. It is just spectacular!
:14:24. > :14:28.Throughout the week... Throughout the week,
:14:29. > :14:31.we've been meeting each of the large Show Garden designers to discover
:14:32. > :14:33.a little more about Today, we're meeting a design duo,
:14:34. > :14:44.Laurie Chetwood and Patrick Collins. I'm Laurie Chetwood. I'm Patrick
:14:45. > :14:54.Collins. Our garden is the Chengdu Silk Road garden. Three words to
:14:55. > :14:59.describe me, relaxed and happy. I chose to work in garden design
:15:00. > :15:03.because it combined my interests of botany and design, my dad was an
:15:04. > :15:10.architect and I had a fascinating with plants and plant life. My
:15:11. > :15:14.earliest memory of gardening was going round my grandmother 's
:15:15. > :15:18.garden, she bent down, a bamboo stick went inside her mouth, her
:15:19. > :15:24.false teeth came out and traumatised my sister and me for some time after
:15:25. > :15:28.that. My top tip for garden design is when you actually start doing it,
:15:29. > :15:31.relax and keep everything quite fluid, think of all possibilities
:15:32. > :15:35.and then slowly clarify it after a while. Shrubs are going to be the
:15:36. > :15:42.new herbaceous and if you come to this garden you'll lots of them.
:15:43. > :15:49.Lovely to see you here gentlemen, I remember in 2009 when I did my first
:15:50. > :15:52.show garden I was directly opposite the site and you were here, it's
:15:53. > :16:00.like a reunion. I know, great to see you. We've met to do this site
:16:01. > :16:05.again. Most people have no idea how to give this particular site out of
:16:06. > :16:08.all of them is to build. Did you find that? Definitely, nowhere to
:16:09. > :16:12.hide, everyone can see all round it. Some of the other gardens are one
:16:13. > :16:16.shot, that's it. This is all the way round. The sheer scale of it, the
:16:17. > :16:21.size of the site, it's the biggest plot at the show. The volume of
:16:22. > :16:33.plants we had to use to finish the garden, it's huge.
:16:34. > :16:37.No anything. At the moment there are people wandering around with pins
:16:38. > :16:39.and it's very relaxed. When this is being built to have a constant
:16:40. > :16:41.conflict articulated lorries going around three sides of the site,
:16:42. > :16:44.there is no gangway to store anything, you are planting while
:16:45. > :16:47.storing plants in the garden, like painting with your paintbrush on top
:16:48. > :16:49.of canvas, how did you do it? We did it but it was a challenge. The dust
:16:50. > :16:52.and the fumes, everything like that is all up against you. But I think
:16:53. > :16:57.we've pulled it off and we're proud of our achievement, I think. I think
:16:58. > :17:01.you were planting by head lamp at the end. Right up against it at the
:17:02. > :17:05.end, we had all the cars lined up with their headlights shining into
:17:06. > :17:09.the garden so we could finish planting the front. We had a few
:17:10. > :17:14.hours to spare. I've been there. It looks incredible. I understand you
:17:15. > :17:18.were quite a last-minute addition to the show, quite late getting to the
:17:19. > :17:23.show, so you've managed to pull it off in a really short period of
:17:24. > :17:28.time. Yeah, one city was going to sponsor the site, they decided not
:17:29. > :17:32.to. We got the go-ahead end of February, beginning of March, we
:17:33. > :17:35.have ordered plans, we had to design it, get it fabricated. Probably what
:17:36. > :17:41.happened was we ended up having very little time to plant. It's always
:17:42. > :17:47.the sharp end. We had to buy food propagating everything off site we
:17:48. > :17:52.would have more time to plant. -- by prefabricated everything. It made it
:17:53. > :17:57.quite difficult. We have the problem, obviously, with the Chinese
:17:58. > :18:01.client, the language barrier. All the instructions have to go back to
:18:02. > :18:06.China, they come back, we have to wait for them to be translated, that
:18:07. > :18:09.was an ordeal. Translating Chinese dingo and you can't even directly
:18:10. > :18:13.translate, there are lots of terms in design that there is no English
:18:14. > :18:17.word for, no Chinese word for. You've done spectacularly for all
:18:18. > :18:23.the challenges you've had. Congratulations. One of the things I
:18:24. > :18:30.love most is "Shrubs are the new herbaceous". Yes, that's mine. It's
:18:31. > :18:34.worked brilliantly. Synthesiser for garden. There are loads of Chinese
:18:35. > :18:35.shrubs that we take for granted these days but they are very
:18:36. > :18:39.important in these types of gardens. Each year, Chelsea is visited
:18:40. > :18:42.by a stream of famous faces, all looking for inspiration
:18:43. > :18:43.for their gardens. One regular to the show
:18:44. > :18:55.is Carol Vorderman. Nearly every year, Carol. I
:18:56. > :19:02.absolutely love Chelsea. How many years have you been coming? In a
:19:03. > :19:07.macro obviously I'm still only 27. How much is jealousy influenced your
:19:08. > :19:12.garden? A lot over the years, in fact the last garden I built, when I
:19:13. > :19:17.say I built, this is a few acres, from scratch, with the diggers and
:19:18. > :19:21.everything... Did you design it? Yes, but I got my inspiration from
:19:22. > :19:25.an Australian garden which was literally down this corridor here
:19:26. > :19:29.and left. I remember exactly where it was on the showground. It has a
:19:30. > :19:34.lot of water in it. It was about 12 years ago, this garden, it even had
:19:35. > :19:38.water coming through a glass table, so I thought... I love the sound of
:19:39. > :19:41.running water, so I wanted water. And it had, because we've got this
:19:42. > :19:51.kind of furniture now, this amazing new furniture, like a plasticised
:19:52. > :19:55.rattan. I thought, I've got to have that. Of course we all buy that
:19:56. > :19:59.stuff. You love your trees as well as your water, what do you think of
:20:00. > :20:04.this garden? I much prefer trees to flowers. Do you? We have a real
:20:05. > :20:09.theme of times, are you a pine person? You clicked on the one tree
:20:10. > :20:13.I'm not necessarily a fan of. My favourite of all, I've planted
:20:14. > :20:20.probably 200 different trees over the years, a lot of them mature
:20:21. > :20:28.trees, they come in at 20 feet high, I adore trees... Beach is totally my
:20:29. > :20:35.favourite, number one. 200 trees. You involved with the build as well?
:20:36. > :20:40.Yeah, I just love it. Sort of designing the garden, I just like to
:20:41. > :20:45.sit... Sit in positions for a year first, so you know where the sun is.
:20:46. > :20:52.My garden is a complete soundtrack, it's got a temperature almost 10
:20:53. > :20:58.degrees higher than the rest... That interesting. In Bristol? I was at
:20:59. > :21:08.the Malvern show, they had a Beerens, a metal cage. They filled
:21:09. > :21:12.those with stone. -- gabians. I didn't want Greystone because in the
:21:13. > :21:19.wet it looks miserable, so I got this white, these white crystallised
:21:20. > :21:24.pebbles which shine in the rain. Sounds gorgeous. We often have rain
:21:25. > :21:29.in Bristol. Do you go out and photograph trees? All the time.
:21:30. > :21:33.We're a very green city as well, so we have avenues of these
:21:34. > :21:37.magnificent, mature trees. I just love it all the time, taking
:21:38. > :21:42.photographs. I walk... I'll happily walk ten miles a day, I just love
:21:43. > :21:46.it. And not necessarily a country girl, I like walking in the city.
:21:47. > :21:53.You're going to do a lot of walking today. This passion you have for
:21:54. > :21:57.trees, you are in the perfect place. We'll let you go out there, have a
:21:58. > :22:00.good look and see how you get on. Carroll, thank you very much. Thank
:22:01. > :22:04.you. The exhibitors in the Great Pavilion
:22:05. > :22:07.use an arsenal of tools to ensure their plants reach peak
:22:08. > :22:09.perfection for Chelsea - from refrigerators to hold
:22:10. > :22:12.them back, to grow lamps But some of the exhibitors
:22:13. > :22:15.are a little more fortunate, as they grow plants for which right
:22:16. > :22:22.now is their natural time to shine. Camassias are one of those
:22:23. > :22:24.plants, and we visited North Yorkshire to meet
:22:25. > :22:51.the national collection holder. I first saw Camassia in a garden in
:22:52. > :22:56.South Devon. Probably about 17 years ago now. And we actually went to
:22:57. > :23:00.view the property to buy it, but I was more interested in what I saw at
:23:01. > :23:08.the edge of this woodland. There were these bright blue starlike
:23:09. > :23:13.flowers that just captivated me. It just touched me and since then I've
:23:14. > :23:19.been hooked. And I suppose looking back now that's when my passion,
:23:20. > :23:30.some say obsession, with Camassia really started. What I really really
:23:31. > :23:34.love about Camassia is not just that deep blue, stunning deep blue
:23:35. > :23:38.colour, but I love the foliage, when the foliage first starts to appear
:23:39. > :23:43.in spring, the sap isn't only rising in them, it arises in me, too, I get
:23:44. > :23:48.so excited every year. It's just a visual feast for the eyes, they are
:23:49. > :24:00.absolutely incredible, they take my breath away. Camassia are very easy
:24:01. > :24:04.to grow. They're happy in virtually any environment. So from deep shade
:24:05. > :24:14.too. Am. You can grow them pretty much anywhere. Nothing touches them,
:24:15. > :24:17.slugs and snails don't eat them. They're incredibly easy to propagate
:24:18. > :24:28.so even if you're a beginner, you could easily learn to bulk up your
:24:29. > :24:36.own collection of Camassia. The weather doesn't bother them. So
:24:37. > :24:47.whether it's snow, a hailstorm, they are virtually bombproof. Camassia
:24:48. > :24:52.could possibly be the perfect plant. I've realised it's not just about me
:24:53. > :24:58.and my love of them, I want to share that with a much wider audience. My
:24:59. > :25:05.first opportunity to do that was when I met crispier chalk and he
:25:06. > :25:13.asked me to grow 4000 individual pots of Camassia for his garden at
:25:14. > :25:23.RHS Chelsea. It was an enormous undertaking. After seven months of
:25:24. > :25:29.virtually not sleeping, rotating these beauties around, trying to get
:25:30. > :25:36.the best out of them, I did it. A huge lorry appeared, got them loaded
:25:37. > :25:42.up, and off they went. Crispier chalk won a gold medal with my
:25:43. > :25:51.Camassia as one of the main future plans in that garden. -- Chris
:25:52. > :26:02.Beardshaw. You have a silvergilt medal.
:26:03. > :26:06.Normally first-time exhibitors... They might start with bronze or
:26:07. > :26:13.silver, but to come in, and almost get right to the very top of the
:26:14. > :26:20.game. We met at a small regional flower show. You were even a
:26:21. > :26:25.national collection holder, talk about meteoric rise. It really has
:26:26. > :26:30.been, I guess, I'm just thrilled to be here, it feels surreal. Chelsea
:26:31. > :26:35.is the perfect opportunity to get Camassia on a world stage. You
:26:36. > :26:38.converted me onto Camassia, I always thought they were like a Bluebell,
:26:39. > :26:42.they come out at a similar time, they are easy to grow, but I never
:26:43. > :26:46.thought about them being slugged proof, you were the first to mention
:26:47. > :26:51.it. They are in my garden, everything else gets attacked except
:26:52. > :26:55.them. They are amazing in that respect, slugs and snails do not
:26:56. > :26:59.touch them. I'm still amazed lots of people don't know this, it's a
:27:00. > :27:03.fascinating fact but it's true, they just look beautiful all the time.
:27:04. > :27:07.One of the things I think is fascinating is the level of detail
:27:08. > :27:09.you can do in your space. I noticed this sign, you're based in
:27:10. > :27:17.Yorkshire, what is the Shropshire connection. The Shropshire and
:27:18. > :27:22.Yorkshire connection is all about me inheriting the previous Lakes
:27:23. > :27:25.National collection holder of Camassia collection and merging it
:27:26. > :27:30.with mine. Margaret Owen lived in Yorkshire, and I'm based in
:27:31. > :27:33.Yorkshire, so the story is about preserving that, following her
:27:34. > :27:38.death, moving it Yorkshire. -- Margaret Owen lived in a Shropshire.
:27:39. > :27:41.So it is therefore future generations to enjoy. It is so
:27:42. > :27:43.important to do that, national collections do that all the time.
:27:44. > :27:54.Thank you so much for your efforts. Walking into the Great Pavilion,
:27:55. > :27:59.your stand catches the eye, these begonias are incredible, can I say
:28:00. > :28:04.congratulations on gold yesterday? Thank you so much, we're absolutely
:28:05. > :28:08.thrilled. Tell me, how easy are they to grow and maintain? Really easy,
:28:09. > :28:11.they are amazingly tolerant, people grow them outside in a sheltered
:28:12. > :28:15.spot, you can grow them in a greenhouse or conservatory, so
:28:16. > :28:20.there's all sorts of aspects you can grow them in. Those beautiful heads
:28:21. > :28:25.are show stoppers, aren't they? I'm a show pony and love flowers like
:28:26. > :28:31.this. They are an acquired taste, some people love them, some aren't
:28:32. > :28:36.so sure. Really? What do you think? Take home, if I had a garden room I
:28:37. > :28:42.could look after them there. How do I get blooms like this? That is the
:28:43. > :28:47.male flower, either side of the male are the two females with seed pods.
:28:48. > :28:52.No way! If you nip those of you get a much bigger male flower, that is
:28:53. > :28:57.why you get these. The male one is the one that dominates and is the
:28:58. > :29:00.most beautiful. Absolutely. Something to take home and something
:29:01. > :29:01.to cherish, they really are stunning, Miles, thank you very
:29:02. > :29:04.much. Chelsea is a hotbed of information
:29:05. > :29:06.and inspiration for us gardeners. This week, Rachel de Thame has been
:29:07. > :29:09.out amongst the Show Gardens, searching for planting combinations,
:29:10. > :29:27.no matter what your Whether you have part of your garden
:29:28. > :29:32.where the soil stays reliable moist all year round, perhaps by a pond or
:29:33. > :29:38.a streamside, or whether you're thinking of creating a bog garden in
:29:39. > :29:41.order to grow plants who like those conditions, there are some absolute
:29:42. > :29:49.beauties. This area here has my absolute favourites. Starting here,
:29:50. > :29:54.that architectural shape from the broadleaf at the base, it sends up
:29:55. > :30:00.long stems with blooms and creamy flowers at the top. That shape and
:30:01. > :30:05.colour very much a code here. Rather more delicate with this. Slight
:30:06. > :30:10.greenish tinge to the flowers, a little bit lower growing. Around my
:30:11. > :30:18.feet I've got some of my favourites, primulas. This one, the foliage all
:30:19. > :30:25.at the base of the plant. Long stem. And these beautiful, pale, lemony
:30:26. > :30:30.flowers at the top. And tucked in front, this time quite a different
:30:31. > :30:36.looking flower. Two tone, so you've got brick red at the top and worlds
:30:37. > :30:39.of soft mauve below. That one, actually, is quite an acidic soil.
:30:40. > :30:43.You've got to make sure you've got those conditions to make sure it's
:30:44. > :30:49.happy. And I love the way this fresh colour is picked up in this, members
:30:50. > :30:53.of the buttercup family also like those damp conditions. I love the
:30:54. > :30:56.way these plans have been put together here, very informally, so
:30:57. > :30:59.it looks as though they have naturally just found their places
:31:00. > :31:04.and put themselves really where they want to be. And they're all pretty
:31:05. > :31:07.low maintenance plants, nothing here requires a lot in terms of
:31:08. > :31:11.after-care. What is more important is the nature they are in the right
:31:12. > :31:15.place to begin with. All of them liked to have their feet reliably
:31:16. > :31:21.wet. That means if you put them in a sunny spot, it really does need to
:31:22. > :31:25.be super moist. In the shade they can take it drier. It just shows if
:31:26. > :31:29.you've got an area of garden you think, this is very dumb, what am I
:31:30. > :31:33.going to do with it? Right pad, right place should be your mantra.
:31:34. > :31:44.The ground may be soggy bennies, but your plants will be sensational.
:31:45. > :31:46.Growing your own veg has been popular for generations,
:31:47. > :31:49.but a new trend in growing your own has been hitting gardens
:31:50. > :31:53.across the country - growing your own cut flowers.
:31:54. > :31:56.Sarah Raven has designed her Colour Cutting Feel Good Garden
:31:57. > :31:59.here at Chelsea to both celebrate and inspire growers
:32:00. > :32:15.What strikes me and excites me, it is not very large, it is just full
:32:16. > :32:22.of flowers. These patches are 2.5 metres across and if you grope the
:32:23. > :32:27.right things which are cut and come again plants, you do not need much
:32:28. > :32:32.space, it is you can even have a window box and you will have enough.
:32:33. > :32:36.You say cut and they come again, how? I thought if you cut certain
:32:37. > :32:43.flowers, you might not see another blame for the rest of the season. If
:32:44. > :32:47.you grow the annuals and biannual is, even yet auxiliary buds forming
:32:48. > :32:52.and that is next week's flower. So keep cutting and it is basically
:32:53. > :32:57.like live heading and not dead heading. You could have flowers from
:32:58. > :33:03.May to November? You really can. What are secrets once you have cut
:33:04. > :33:07.these flowers, and there is that sense of pride, how do they look
:33:08. > :33:12.beautiful in the vase? Three or four things, eBay in the early morning or
:33:13. > :33:16.the evening and you cut into water and not into your hand or a basket
:33:17. > :33:19.because they get dehydrated quickly. You go inside the house and you boil
:33:20. > :33:25.a kettle and use strict believes below the watermark like those and
:33:26. > :33:31.this is boiling water. You plunge the stem end into the boiling water.
:33:32. > :33:40.This is a soft-serve amp so just ten seconds, and then into cool water to
:33:41. > :33:45.stop it warming -- this is a soft stem. It is proportional to the
:33:46. > :33:49.heights so it is common sense. And the important thing, you pick, you
:33:50. > :33:59.condition, you rest overnight and you arrange. So ten seconds for
:34:00. > :34:04.this? That is able lovely black PNE Poppy, Black beauty. And 40 seconds
:34:05. > :34:10.for a more wooded variety? Gorgeous. You are the expert, I have
:34:11. > :34:14.questions. To Reza Marshall loves to cut buddleia flowers but they always
:34:15. > :34:19.troop, how can she look after them and keep them looking gorgeous for
:34:20. > :34:27.longer? They would eat so for 30 seconds and then into cool water
:34:28. > :34:31.overnight. Katie, how to make cut flowers as strong and not get eaten
:34:32. > :34:35.by slugs with the rain we have had throughout the UK? I chuck them over
:34:36. > :34:43.the wall! Their comeback, there is no point doing that. Pots things, a
:34:44. > :34:49.deep layer of grit, a good mode about six inches wide and one inch
:34:50. > :34:53.deep and I use biological control, and then aside you water onto the
:34:54. > :34:57.plants and it really keeps down the slugs. And you can get other
:34:58. > :35:02.products as well. Is there anything I should add to the water in my
:35:03. > :35:07.vase? Anything that decreases bacterial reproduction like bleach
:35:08. > :35:11.or vinegar is perfect. It helps the plants and keeps the vase clean,
:35:12. > :35:15.what a garden, thank you so much! Thank you.
:35:16. > :35:17.Every day this week, we're featuring each of the large
:35:18. > :35:19.Show Garden designers to explore their personal
:35:20. > :35:22.Next up, we have a designer who's brought the essence
:35:23. > :35:43.I am Tracy Foster and my garden is the Welcome to Yorkshire garden.
:35:44. > :35:51.Describe myself in three words, I would say artistic and adventurous
:35:52. > :35:54.and is determined. I wanted to be a garden designer because I have
:35:55. > :36:00.always loved plants from childhood and after many years working in IT,
:36:01. > :36:05.I got an opportunity to retrain. So it is perfect. My first memories of
:36:06. > :36:11.gardening quitting my first home when I was three or four and I had a
:36:12. > :36:17.little bit of the garden to look after and it was the wildlife and
:36:18. > :36:22.loved the most. My top tip for a garden design is to think big and
:36:23. > :36:26.not be shy. Have bowled structures and planting. If that involves
:36:27. > :36:29.raising things up and making structures that are high, go for it,
:36:30. > :36:35.it makes your garden feel bigger and much more interesting.
:36:36. > :36:43.But one thing I think is fascinating about garden design, people come at
:36:44. > :36:48.it from all angles. Have you always wanted to be a garden designer? No,
:36:49. > :36:51.I did not always another, it is not always know there were such things
:36:52. > :36:54.as garden designers when I were younger and there were probably not
:36:55. > :36:58.that many. I always wanted to be something to do with plants and
:36:59. > :37:04.gardens and I studied plant biology at university. The two botanists!
:37:05. > :37:15.Exactly, I am interested in this series plant, it is -- side of
:37:16. > :37:18.things. I love the hard disc -- landscaping is elements, the rocks,
:37:19. > :37:23.the quarries, everything. You do have to become a master of
:37:24. > :37:26.everything. It is not just about plants, you have to understand how
:37:27. > :37:32.they grow, the colour and the texture and if you are budding a
:37:33. > :37:37.structure, the deep foundations, there is so much more to it than
:37:38. > :37:40.meets the eye. What is your biggest challenge creating a garden like
:37:41. > :37:45.this that nobody sees when they walk past? Probably getting it to look
:37:46. > :37:49.natural. Just try and arrange the elements in a way that looks as if
:37:50. > :37:54.they had been casually thrown together by nature. It can be quite
:37:55. > :38:00.tricky. How do you create a naturalistic landscape in 20 days?
:38:01. > :38:04.And what is fascinating, every time I walk past, there is a little
:38:05. > :38:08.ornithology. You had some docs, you had blackbirds, it did you expect
:38:09. > :38:16.that to happen? Wildlife seems to love it. They see it as a natural
:38:17. > :38:21.environment. But we did cheat, our stonemason Richard was keen to have
:38:22. > :38:26.crows and other birds on top of his stolen by late so he went up one
:38:27. > :38:30.morning with a huge bucket of muesli and water and smeared it across the
:38:31. > :38:36.top. It is totally cheating! Yes, but it is working. This comes from
:38:37. > :38:39.Yorkshire, at what happens when it finishes? It is going in different
:38:40. > :38:45.directions, we are trying to waste not think and use as much of it as
:38:46. > :38:48.possible. The pebbles will all go back to where they came from at
:38:49. > :38:54.Flamborough because they are unique and we did not want to disturb that
:38:55. > :38:57.balance. And plants and trees have been found new homes. So hopefully
:38:58. > :39:04.everything finds a home after the show. Eat a full, congratulations. I
:39:05. > :39:07.am loving it your trees and it is wonderful to see. -- wonderful.
:39:08. > :39:09.Earlier in the programme, we met Carol Vorderman,
:39:10. > :39:11.who was eager to discover the perfect Chelsea
:39:12. > :39:22.It's time to catch up with Carol to see how she got on.
:39:23. > :39:29.What I love about Chelsea is that you see lots of unusual trees and
:39:30. > :39:33.also that you see traditional treason in unusual situations. I
:39:34. > :39:37.recognise this as a whole fun. We would normally see these in
:39:38. > :39:44.hedgerows but they have containerised it. This is also
:39:45. > :39:46.unusual, this is a court oak grown in the Mediterranean, massive
:39:47. > :39:58.trunks, they peeled apart and they take a plug out and that is
:39:59. > :40:04.traditional. So I recognise belief kind of like a maple, I am not an
:40:05. > :40:11.expert. You are on the right track, it is they've the old maple, native
:40:12. > :40:17.to the UK. What colour does this go? Maple is bright red. This is a
:40:18. > :40:28.lovely yellow colour in the autumn which is beautiful. Just gorgeous.
:40:29. > :40:36.These, I have never seen before. I am told this is hornbeam, like a
:40:37. > :40:43.hedge, but the trunk has been raised. They keep cutting it into a
:40:44. > :40:46.cube shaped, fantastic! A gain, what you could do with what we
:40:47. > :40:51.traditionally think of as a hedge. I am searching for the bonsai. You
:40:52. > :41:06.probably cannot see them very easily! Looked! Look at these! This
:41:07. > :41:20.is a hawthorn, day of origin 1931. That is extraordinary. But that
:41:21. > :41:25.is... Is old! Nicki as me if I wanted more pine in my life, I do
:41:26. > :41:31.not. At Chelsea, I have seen different ways of shaping trees, of
:41:32. > :41:35.Bryn Genk forest trees into tiny gardens is to shape them and grow
:41:36. > :41:39.them in different ways -- bringing forest trees. If you live in an
:41:40. > :41:46.apartment, there is no excuse not to happen a tree in your life.
:41:47. > :41:48.We're almost out of time, but before we go, we've
:41:49. > :42:00.What plants benefit from the Chelsea Chop? The Chelsea Chop is a basic
:42:01. > :42:05.pruning technique where you hack some of the growth back and what
:42:06. > :42:10.that does is encourage stocky and healthier growth and the plants
:42:11. > :42:13.flower a bit later so it instead of having eight border with lots of
:42:14. > :42:18.floppy foliage with no flowers at the end of the summer, it encourages
:42:19. > :42:22.better garden performance. It is called the Chelsea Chop because it
:42:23. > :42:27.is done at this time of year. Very quickly, when is the correct time to
:42:28. > :42:30.prune roses and have you any tips? When the leaves have fallen off at
:42:31. > :42:36.the end of autumn, I hack back revenue growth by half. There are
:42:37. > :42:40.loads of Victorian pruning techniques with specific angles and
:42:41. > :42:44.bugs but recent scientific trials demonstrate you get better leaves
:42:45. > :42:47.and flowers by cutting the new growth back by half. Very good
:42:48. > :42:51.advice and well done against the aeroplane which was very loud
:42:52. > :42:57.indeed! We always like hearing from you. But tomorrow, we will have a
:42:58. > :42:59.foxglove frenzy and if you have questions, do get in touch.
:43:00. > :43:01.It's been a glorious day here at the show
:43:02. > :43:04.today, but don't forget, there is still plenty to come
:43:05. > :43:07.on our BBC2 programme this evening at 8 o'clock.
:43:08. > :43:09.Monty and Joe will be launching the BBC RHS
:43:10. > :43:12.People's Choice Award for 2017, where you get to have your say
:43:13. > :43:15.on which of the large Show Gardens you think should have come
:43:16. > :43:21.And if you have any questions for Monty and Joe this evening,
:43:22. > :43:28.Nicki and I will see you back here tomorrow at 3:45.
:43:29. > :44:15.It's cold. Tastes a bit like avocado.
:44:16. > :44:19.And soon we're all going to be eating them.