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Hello and welcome to the first of two programmes | :00:31. | :00:33. | |
from the Royal Horticultural Society's Flower Show, | :00:34. | :00:35. | |
Tatton Park in Cheshire. As usual, the show is set in the | :00:36. | :00:46. | |
middle of the glory is grounds of Tatton Park in Cheshire. And as | :00:47. | :00:51. | |
ever, this is one big garden party. And this year, there is a real | :00:52. | :00:55. | |
feeling of carnival, not just from the exhibits joining in, but also an | :00:56. | :01:03. | |
actual marching parade as well. Look at these butterflies. They are so | :01:04. | :01:07. | |
beautiful and you can see absolutely everything from this vantage point, | :01:08. | :01:12. | |
including all of the pavilions. And the one I am going to be heading for | :01:13. | :01:19. | |
is the RHS Summer Fruit and Vegetable Competition Pavilion. | :01:20. | :01:21. | |
Meanwhile, enjoy the music and the view. And as well as a full marquee, | :01:22. | :01:33. | |
which is full of late flowering summer plans, which are such a | :01:34. | :01:37. | |
distinctive feature of Tatton, there are 25 show gardens, 11th in the | :01:38. | :01:42. | |
Large Garden category and 14 small ones. Toby Buckland joined me to | :01:43. | :01:49. | |
take a look -- 11. We are starting with a bang. This is | :01:50. | :01:58. | |
a garden designed by Pete Probert, called the Narrows because it is a | :01:59. | :02:04. | |
space that most of us can recognise, your average back garden. People, a | :02:05. | :02:13. | |
seasoned show garden person, has put together a tapestry of vivid colours | :02:14. | :02:17. | |
and has been clever with the design, linking it with a chinking | :02:18. | :02:22. | |
pad. There is something that everybody, even the wildlife. Upon | :02:23. | :02:27. | |
the dipping, children's area with the lawn and some equipment, and | :02:28. | :02:33. | |
over here is a cosy, contemplative zone for entertaining and kicking | :02:34. | :02:36. | |
back in the summer. What I like about this is it has the feeling of | :02:37. | :02:42. | |
privacy thanks to this oak fence. But cos there are gaps in it, that | :02:43. | :02:47. | |
lets the light through, it makes it a good place to grow lots of plans. | :02:48. | :02:57. | |
-- plan tos. This garden is called The Threatened | :02:58. | :03:02. | |
Islands Of Southeast Asia, by Chester zoo, and these things | :03:03. | :03:07. | |
peeking out to represent us and our voyage of discovery as we learn | :03:08. | :03:10. | |
about this part of the world, moving towards a ruined Buddhist temple | :03:11. | :03:16. | |
representing the missing flora and fauna, and it relates to an exhibit | :03:17. | :03:20. | |
Chester zoo will put our next year. The planting exists to promote the | :03:21. | :03:26. | |
feel of a lost jungle. It works wonderfully. | :03:27. | :03:33. | |
This is Vogue. It is a proper show garden, by which I mean a garden | :03:34. | :03:39. | |
built for show. It is based around a stage, or a theatre. You are just in | :03:40. | :03:44. | |
front of the cheap seats and I am walking billboards, or more | :03:45. | :03:48. | |
specifically, over crisply cut York stone paving. There are even wings | :03:49. | :03:52. | |
to sit in, should you want a bit of privacy. It is surrounded by a | :03:53. | :03:58. | |
tranquil will and backed by an incredibly expensive sculpture. I | :03:59. | :04:04. | |
could see this in a swanky restaurant behind the homes of the | :04:05. | :04:07. | |
well-heeled, because the planting in these box tears is very fashionable. | :04:08. | :04:13. | |
This season's colours are coastal, there is frothing stackers and | :04:14. | :04:20. | |
topped off with a blue sky of agapanthus. This is a garden | :04:21. | :04:24. | |
designed to wow. It says, look at me, aren't I stylish? If you had a | :04:25. | :04:34. | |
garden like this, you would be. Every year at Tatton Park, the | :04:35. | :04:41. | |
Tatton Park team itself put on a show garden and this year, it is | :04:42. | :04:47. | |
based upon the centenary of the beginning of the First World War. | :04:48. | :04:54. | |
There is one letter to the gardener's chronicle from a | :04:55. | :04:57. | |
lieutenant and he notes that in a completely blitzed out Belgian | :04:58. | :05:00. | |
village with scarcely a wall standing, and -- an extraordinary | :05:01. | :05:07. | |
number of garden plants were grown coming through the potholes up the | :05:08. | :05:14. | |
charred ruins. So this has the imagined Belgian garden as it might | :05:15. | :05:18. | |
have been before the war and then the German trenches come in and the | :05:19. | :05:22. | |
war takes hold and devastated. And then, based on the letter, the | :05:23. | :05:29. | |
plants that are growing back despite the bombardment, despite the | :05:30. | :05:32. | |
devastation. And the final section is the garden as it is today, lost, | :05:33. | :05:38. | |
disappeared, but the ghosts of the past lie beneath the ground. | :05:39. | :05:48. | |
A Taste of Wythenshawe by Reaseheath College is a contemporary kitchen | :05:49. | :05:53. | |
garden with pillars for love edibles. Its design is rooted in | :05:54. | :05:59. | |
history, because Wythenshawe was a garden city and, as such, it was | :06:00. | :06:03. | |
built around the tenants of the Garden City movement which is what | :06:04. | :06:07. | |
is best for the countryside is best for the city, and that in turn is | :06:08. | :06:11. | |
best but the people. So it is a design with heart. It is also a | :06:12. | :06:15. | |
design with some natty features. I love this hydroponic salad table. | :06:16. | :06:22. | |
Take a few, have a bite. And steel reinforced trees, these rods that | :06:23. | :06:24. | |
are normally put into concrete dripping with runner beans. One | :06:25. | :06:31. | |
final thing, these lines represent a proposed tramway or Metro link | :06:32. | :06:35. | |
between Wythenshawe and Manchester City centre. So not only does this | :06:36. | :06:40. | |
design offer a taste of the now, it offers a Taste of Wythenshawe's | :06:41. | :06:41. | |
future as well. Here in the floral marquee, it is | :06:42. | :07:09. | |
evident that this has been a bumper year, perhaps one of the best I have | :07:10. | :07:14. | |
ever seen. Tatton is one of the last great shows of the season and it is | :07:15. | :07:19. | |
almost as though all of these plants have been saving themselves up for | :07:20. | :07:22. | |
this very moment. Everything is looking at its beautiful best. | :07:23. | :07:31. | |
Aren't they magnificent? Normally, when you see hanging baskets, it is | :07:32. | :07:34. | |
all about how those plans are combined. But on this stand, they | :07:35. | :07:39. | |
have taken a truly original approach. Every basket contains just | :07:40. | :07:44. | |
one planned, so you can see it at its best, in the round. -- one | :07:45. | :07:50. | |
plant. Just look at this blend differs begonia, these lovely | :07:51. | :07:54. | |
voluptuous flowers in gorgeous shades of yellow and orange. | :07:55. | :07:58. | |
voluptuous flowers in gorgeous shades of yellow and And I haven't | :07:59. | :08:00. | |
chosen it just because it goes with my dress, either! | :08:01. | :08:09. | |
Hanging baskets go on looking great for months on end, but some of the | :08:10. | :08:12. | |
rest of the garden is beginning to wind down, even maybe looking a bit | :08:13. | :08:17. | |
tatty. And just when you think it is all over, along comes this gang of | :08:18. | :08:23. | |
firecrackers, reds, oranges and yellows, setting the place alight. | :08:24. | :08:39. | |
But which of these sumptuous shades do you go for? I love these vivid | :08:40. | :08:48. | |
yellows and those deep, sumptuous reds. But if you can't make your | :08:49. | :08:52. | |
mind up, how about this one? It combines them both. In amongst all | :08:53. | :09:06. | |
of those fiery razzmatazz, what is needed is a breathing space, and | :09:07. | :09:09. | |
grass is a breathing space, and grasses give you just that. | :09:10. | :09:19. | |
Beautiful form and texture. And this one, you have this elegance, with | :09:20. | :09:24. | |
the beautiful, soft, fluffy heads. It is almost like a feather boa. I | :09:25. | :09:29. | |
feel like throwing it over my shoulder, but at least I can run my | :09:30. | :09:38. | |
fingers through it. Hydrangea is a hydrangea is hydrangea. Or is it? | :09:39. | :09:45. | |
They are such familiar plants, and yet during the last few years, they | :09:46. | :09:49. | |
have had a real renaissance, and they seem to have reached the height | :09:50. | :09:55. | |
of their flower power and popularity at this year's Tatton show. | :09:56. | :10:06. | |
Those wishy-washy old-fashioned pinks and blues have been replaced | :10:07. | :10:16. | |
by a plethora of brilliant colours. This purple, rich and luxurious | :10:17. | :10:21. | |
crimson and almost shocking pink. Far from reaching the end of their | :10:22. | :10:25. | |
performance, you feel as though they are just building up to a final | :10:26. | :10:33. | |
crescendo. Hydrangeas are planned that I am | :10:34. | :10:37. | |
learning to love. Of course, plants on their own, they can be | :10:38. | :10:43. | |
beautifully attractive, but it is the combination of plants that makes | :10:44. | :10:47. | |
aboard a interesting. So hydrangea, gentle pink and mauve, create a | :10:48. | :10:55. | |
gentle environment, but if you put an energetic planned together, it | :10:56. | :11:04. | |
transforms. This Echinacea creates more energy with the yellow. Perhaps | :11:05. | :11:08. | |
not entirely comfortable, but it ramps things up. So how do you use | :11:09. | :11:14. | |
plants in combination and how will it influence how your garden | :11:15. | :11:15. | |
appears? Increasingly at shows like Tatton, | :11:16. | :11:34. | |
plant stalls are increasing their wares in combination and this caught | :11:35. | :11:45. | |
my eye. It is the grass across -- mixed with the cosmos. You have the | :11:46. | :11:51. | |
delicacy of the grass with the purity and intensity of the cosmos | :11:52. | :11:55. | |
flowers and the way they hold themselves. But the two together and | :11:56. | :11:59. | |
you have a really dramatic, elegant mixture. -- put. Violent contrasts | :12:00. | :12:09. | |
can actually have a harmony of their own, so this Echinacea tomato soup | :12:10. | :12:15. | |
with the salvia, complete opposites, but sitting comfortably. | :12:16. | :12:21. | |
But you can be more subtle. Look at the way that the colours of the | :12:22. | :12:25. | |
Salvia and the claim at his art almost identical but very different | :12:26. | :12:36. | |
habits -- Clematis. You are using a combination that is very subtle | :12:37. | :12:42. | |
indeed. And it is not just flowers that you | :12:43. | :12:47. | |
have to think how they work together. Sometimes as they fade and | :12:48. | :12:53. | |
fall their seed heads, that can make interesting combinations. So these | :12:54. | :12:57. | |
grasses and the clovers beneath them on a rough piece of ground have a | :12:58. | :13:02. | |
beauty as well. Whatever plants you choose, however much you love them, | :13:03. | :13:05. | |
they are only as good as their neighbours. | :13:06. | :13:16. | |
The gardens here at Tatton are packed with clever design ideas that | :13:17. | :13:22. | |
you can adapt for your own back garden, and ever garden needs a | :13:23. | :13:26. | |
seat. This is a seed that has it all. It is comfortable, as all | :13:27. | :13:31. | |
garden furniture should be, but it is a focal point, it draws you in | :13:32. | :13:33. | |
and invite you into a space. is a focal point, it draws you in | :13:34. | :13:36. | |
and invite you into a This is obviously made of steel and is the | :13:37. | :13:41. | |
spoke and expensive, but seats do not have to be like that. A simple | :13:42. | :13:46. | |
swing is just as effective. And in the same way, you save space at | :13:47. | :13:52. | |
ground level for shading the plans. Every garden needs are packed and if | :13:53. | :13:56. | |
you have a lot of timber and stone behind your shed, you can build one | :13:57. | :14:01. | |
like this. Shuttered sides with angular gravel held between. Into | :14:02. | :14:06. | |
the gravel, stones and pieces of wood have been set. Because of the | :14:07. | :14:11. | |
pointy edges, it is locked in place with no concrete necessary. Talking | :14:12. | :14:16. | |
of concrete, it is not a material that has to be as dull and drab as a | :14:17. | :14:21. | |
motorway bridge. If you are clever, you can make it sparkle. When this | :14:22. | :14:26. | |
was drying, terracotta pots was pushed into the surface and when it | :14:27. | :14:30. | |
was dry, it has been polished and, like Italian marble. -- it has come | :14:31. | :14:39. | |
up like Italian marble. I like that peephole. They are very fashionable | :14:40. | :14:43. | |
at the moment, a great way of framing the view and giving a | :14:44. | :14:46. | |
different perspective on a garden. It is also a way of adding another | :14:47. | :14:51. | |
dimensional and that is what these raised beds are doing. Usually, soil | :14:52. | :14:56. | |
filled boxes are about function but here they are bad form, defining the | :14:57. | :15:01. | |
entrance and exit to the garden, as well as giving this space a good, | :15:02. | :15:05. | |
strong character that stays with it even when the flowers in the Borders | :15:06. | :15:15. | |
have gone to ground. What about these fluttering silk screens? They | :15:16. | :15:18. | |
hang like washing on a line. I can see this is an idea that could catch | :15:19. | :15:24. | |
on. It is so simple to create. Like pop-up restaurants and pop-up shops, | :15:25. | :15:29. | |
this is a pop-up garden boundary. There giving privacy for parties as | :15:30. | :15:35. | |
and when you need it. It is fun and useful. | :15:36. | :15:42. | |
Raised beds are of course a way of squeezing space, even from tiny | :15:43. | :15:47. | |
gardens and this design, which is based on one of those difficult to | :15:48. | :15:52. | |
plant corner plots does just that. The beds are not square, they are | :15:53. | :15:58. | |
tapered and set out in a fashion, running north-to-south. That is | :15:59. | :16:01. | |
important. It means as the sun passes over the tops during the day | :16:02. | :16:06. | |
t vegetables in the rows get plenty of light on both sides. | :16:07. | :16:19. | |
We Brits love growing our own fruit and veg. We don't just like growing | :16:20. | :16:26. | |
it. Some of us love showing it too. Now, here at Tatton, under the roof | :16:27. | :16:31. | |
of this marquee, amateur growers have gathered together from all over | :16:32. | :16:39. | |
the country to show their very best produce at the RHS Summer Fruit and | :16:40. | :16:48. | |
Vegetable Competition. It is nail-biting stuff! . | :16:49. | :16:55. | |
So, Jim, you are a seasoned competitor. How long have you been | :16:56. | :17:00. | |
doing it? Well, I first started when I was about eight. Not so long then! | :17:01. | :17:09. | |
No, no, no. It is 76 years ago. Are you getting better at it, do you | :17:10. | :17:13. | |
think? You get better if you have more time. I've got that. Yes. What | :17:14. | :17:18. | |
inspires you to grow stuff like this? The Lord's creation. The fact | :17:19. | :17:26. | |
that such a small seed can do what it does and produce such beautiful | :17:27. | :17:32. | |
flowers, lovely vegetables. I look after nature. I feed all the birds | :17:33. | :17:43. | |
and everything. I think they are brilliant! | :17:44. | :17:50. | |
Nobody knows more about exhibiting fruit than Jim from whichesly. This | :17:51. | :18:02. | |
is a -- from Wisley. This is a magnificent display. Show us what | :18:03. | :18:07. | |
you have been doing? I have put all the strigs in one direction. They | :18:08. | :18:12. | |
are what the redcurrants hang off. They are full of berries. No empty | :18:13. | :18:20. | |
ones on your plate! No. This is a typical ripe colour. This is | :18:21. | :18:26. | |
magnificent. You are busy. I will let you get on with it. But thank | :18:27. | :18:33. | |
you. That's OK! Years ago, I used to enter all | :18:34. | :18:40. | |
fruits and vegetables. I have brought some of my own redcurrants | :18:41. | :18:44. | |
from my garden. I am longing to know how they get on over here, so I will | :18:45. | :18:47. | |
sneak them in and see how I get on. They don't really compare, you know, | :18:48. | :19:02. | |
but I hope my redcurrants don't leave me red-faced! | :19:03. | :19:08. | |
Well, we will see how Carol does later on in the show. Without bees, | :19:09. | :19:16. | |
there would be no fruit here on the show. There'd be no fruit for us to | :19:17. | :19:19. | |
eat at all. Manchester City Council have a campaign to encourage as many | :19:20. | :19:25. | |
bees as possible into the city's parks and gardens. | :19:26. | :19:36. | |
The bee is Manchester's symbol and has been since the beginning of the | :19:37. | :19:42. | |
Industrial Revolution, which Manchester was very key in. It | :19:43. | :19:47. | |
symbolises the work ethic of the people of Manchester. | :19:48. | :19:55. | |
It's a symbol that you can see all around the city, particularly in the | :19:56. | :20:01. | |
Town Hall itself, where there are the bee mo saybacks. But -- mosaics. | :20:02. | :20:11. | |
Also in Manchester's coat of arms itself. There are actually real bees | :20:12. | :20:21. | |
in Manchester now, which people may not realise. There are beehives in | :20:22. | :20:27. | |
unexpected places, such as on top of art galleries and on top of | :20:28. | :20:32. | |
Manchester's Arndale Centre and the Cathedral. The planting surrounding | :20:33. | :20:37. | |
the cathedral now is being changed to maximise the foraging | :20:38. | :20:39. | |
possibilities for the bees. There is quite a team here that | :20:40. | :20:54. | |
looks after the bees. The entire cathedral team is involved. Our | :20:55. | :21:00. | |
volunteers and the one thing about buildings like this is that we've | :21:01. | :21:05. | |
got very, very high roofs. The bees are pretty safe up there. They are | :21:06. | :21:10. | |
pretty comfortable and things can flourish, even in an urban | :21:11. | :21:13. | |
environment. One of the great stories I do love about this, was | :21:14. | :21:17. | |
the Queen came to Manchester last November. I understand on her way | :21:18. | :21:22. | |
back to London on the Royal train, they opened a jar of this and had it | :21:23. | :21:27. | |
with their afternoon tea. We had a lovely letter afterwards, saying how | :21:28. | :21:33. | |
much she enjoyed the honey. We are here at Frog Lane Park, with the | :21:34. | :21:41. | |
Friends of Fromming Lane park. They will plant some seeds and it is to | :21:42. | :21:51. | |
transform them into wild meadows. We want educate and inform people about | :21:52. | :21:56. | |
the natural environment in the city. Not only does it look amazing and | :21:57. | :22:04. | |
wonderful, but it is fantastic for insects, invertebrates and other di | :22:05. | :22:13. | |
yo diversity. The outcomes are much more positive. | :22:14. | :22:19. | |
It is this change in approach to planting that has really sort of | :22:20. | :22:25. | |
inspired this year's Tatton's flowerbed entry. Hence it is called | :22:26. | :22:31. | |
"the bee roads to Manchester." The main strand is a road, running | :22:32. | :22:36. | |
through with the city centre, depicted with beehives. The | :22:37. | :22:40. | |
flowerbed itself is a bedding competition. To demonstrate | :22:41. | :22:45. | |
naturalised planting using bedding plants is quite difficult, but it is | :22:46. | :22:51. | |
giving that impact and feel of more naturalised planting, but still | :22:52. | :22:54. | |
fitting within the confines of what the flowerbed competition is | :22:55. | :22:56. | |
actually about. Sarah, how did you do? We got | :22:57. | :23:18. | |
silver-gilt. We are so excited. You have displayed a complicated idea of | :23:19. | :23:23. | |
how bees see colour. Talk me through this. This shows the colours as we | :23:24. | :23:28. | |
see them. The other flower boxes to demonstrate how bees see these | :23:29. | :23:32. | |
colours in a different way. They see in ultraviolet. I know you had quite | :23:33. | :23:39. | |
a lot of conflict between the concept and a formal bedding | :23:40. | :23:44. | |
competition? Yes. The formal bedding competition is about using bedding | :23:45. | :23:48. | |
plants. It is about demonstrating that change that we are trying to | :23:49. | :23:52. | |
effect. There's a lot of herbs in here, which you can mix in with more | :23:53. | :23:57. | |
traditional annual bedding to use as companion planting and still have | :23:58. | :24:02. | |
the impact, but it still provides nectar-rich fields and pastures. I | :24:03. | :24:06. | |
am sure the public will not only enjoy the way it looks, but learn | :24:07. | :24:09. | |
something. I hope so. Thank you. These flowerbed displays by Park | :24:10. | :24:30. | |
Departments have become famous here. As well as two from Manchester there | :24:31. | :24:34. | |
are nine other designs. The reason they are so loved is because bedding | :24:35. | :24:39. | |
plants are unique. They can be grown from seed in the spring and planted | :24:40. | :24:44. | |
out to tell stories which are mediate to -- immediate to get. | :24:45. | :24:52. | |
Birmingham City Council, 100 years on commemorates the First World War. | :24:53. | :24:55. | |
Here is a soldier pushing his trolley of ammunition up through the | :24:56. | :25:02. | |
mud. Interestingly, the mud is created from a perennial plant. A | :25:03. | :25:08. | |
lovely plant for shade that one. A lovely meed co-from Cosmos and mill | :25:09. | :25:21. | |
let. There are the -- created from Cosmso and millet. | :25:22. | :25:24. | |
This shows a pathway of plants leading to a better, happier future. | :25:25. | :25:30. | |
There are not only flowers that look fabulous right now, they will keep | :25:31. | :25:34. | |
going right through to the first frosts of autumn. | :25:35. | :25:40. | |
This though is the height of floral flowerbed design. The judges gave it | :25:41. | :25:45. | |
the award for best in the show. Look at the density of the planting | :25:46. | :25:55. | |
- there's not an inch of soil in sight sight. It is from St Helier. | :25:56. | :26:01. | |
It even has Stars and Stripes. That's what I think. Let's see what | :26:02. | :26:06. | |
the visitors make of this floral feast. I like the grasses and the | :26:07. | :26:10. | |
ferns together. I wouldn't think to do that usually. I have been told | :26:11. | :26:14. | |
they like dark conditions with moisture. With the right fern that | :26:15. | :26:19. | |
is really effective. We like them because if you look at them closely, | :26:20. | :26:25. | |
they are spiky and pretty. You can take bits away that you could - I | :26:26. | :26:31. | |
suppose if you only have a small garden like mine. It is | :26:32. | :26:34. | |
extraordinary, the creativity and the energy - just brilliant! Looks | :26:35. | :26:36. | |
beautiful! I can't bear the suspense. Any | :26:37. | :26:53. | |
second now this will be cut and I will see how I have done. We are all | :26:54. | :26:58. | |
ready for you now! Thank you very much! | :26:59. | :27:06. | |
I've got highly commended! I don't believe it! Fantastic! I thought | :27:07. | :27:12. | |
they might have chucked them out and said they were not good enough! | :27:13. | :27:17. | |
Hello, congratulations. Thank you very much. It is a wonderful | :27:18. | :27:24. | |
exhibit. Really? It was well worth its prize. You were unlucky in a way | :27:25. | :27:29. | |
because this exhibit here... That won first prize. That won first | :27:30. | :27:34. | |
prize, also won the award for the best dish of fruit in the | :27:35. | :27:38. | |
single-dish classes. So, it was the best around here. Can I also make | :27:39. | :27:43. | |
your day a little bit better by presenting you with this? It is a | :27:44. | :27:49. | |
certificate to mark your achievement. Congratulations! Oh, | :27:50. | :27:54. | |
look at this! Look! I will tell you what, if I had a mantelpiece it | :27:55. | :27:57. | |
would go straight on there! Just look at what I have won! | :27:58. | :28:20. | |
That is really good and brave of you to go, because I tell you what, they | :28:21. | :28:24. | |
know a thing or two about growing fruit and veg in this part of the | :28:25. | :28:31. | |
world. That is it for tonight. We will be back tomorrow night at 7. | :28:32. | :28:36. | |
30pm on BBC Two. I will look at the smaller show gardens along with Toby | :28:37. | :28:42. | |
and Adam Frost, the Gold Medal winning Chelsea designer is looking | :28:43. | :28:46. | |
at the young garden designers. I will be in the floral marquee, | :28:47. | :28:52. | |
looking at plants that rely on earth, air, fire and water. It is | :28:53. | :28:59. | |
really exciting. See you tomorrow night. Until then, goodbye. Goodbye. | :29:00. | :29:06. |