Episode 2 RHS Show Tatton Park

Hello. Welcome to the Royal Horticultural Society's Flower Show.

Now, every year, 30 acres of this beautiful park in Cheshire is

transformed, not just into a superb show ground, but also a

horticultural carnival, to which you are all invited.

Thousands of people have come through the gates to enjoy the

floral spectacle. The weather is glorious. The plants

are in wonderful condition. Everything is beautiful. What is

your favourite thing about the show? It's my first time - so everything.

And you have no hands for anything! No!

It is worth coming, isn't it? Indeed, just to see you, Carol!

If you are coming back from a flower show of any kind loaded with plants

don't put them straight into the border. They have been in a

stressful environment. Put them somewhere shady, soak them if

possible and leave them for two or three days to acclimatise to your

garden. We will bring you as much of the show as we can. We will be

joined by the Chelsea Gold Medal winner, Adam Frost, who is meeting

the contestants for the RHS Young Designer of the Year award. First I

am joined by Toby Buckland and he and I will look at some of the

smaller show gardens. Earth, wind, fire and water - that

is the theme of a brand new garden design category, where design is a

challenge to come up with designs which are conceptual and creative.

Ian Price has done a fantastic job. He's got the elements here, but

these natural forces that are large, wild and free have been rendered in

an anning you lar, shahhed-like de-- shard-like design.

Of course the wind is going through the plants and moving around the

grasses too, which in turn were ground in the earth. The fire is

represented in the charred fencing at the back and the granite paving.

It is ignious stone. It is subtle. Very good!

This garden, which is called Recovery is based on the element of

fire. It shows a corner of a wild territory, which has been scorched

by fire, reduced to ashes and then is starting to regrow.

Of course, what it is showing is that fire is often a crucial part of

the cycle of growth in plants. I love the way that Chris has made

this garden. Every detail has been thought through. What may look just

natural actually has been painstakingly and rather brilliantly

put together. Michael Vinsun's design contains all

four elements and it is the fire that's the most striking. You see,

he's used really hot colours - fiery red hot pokers to express that.

Usually these are plants that are specimens in gardens, standing

alone. By growing them as a hedge, it is so effective and will bring a

garden to life and shine right through to the back end of summer.

Water bubbles in the middle. Wind is expressed by this rock. The thing I

like is a sense of discovery in the garden. You see, as you move around

the undulating site, you come across these golden nuggets. It re reminds

me of when I was a child. They are not chocolate, but it is the earth

and all the treasures contained in it.

This garden is called See the Wind. Obviously it represents the element

of the wind. What it obviously does is capture

the way that the wind moves and ripples and touches everything, and

the barley moves with the wind, of course making a lovely sound. The

waves are planting, representing the movement of the wind. I have to say

w the planting I have never seen so many bees as on the alliums at the

back. The sculpture is very delicately shippying with the wind.

It moves like -- shimmying with the wind. It is full of delicacy and

subtlety. Jonathan Price's design is called

Musica Mundana. He has created a plan that is innovative,

particularly this globe that dances and bobs away above the pond. Fire,

that was here earlier in the week, with this amazing pyrotechnic

display from a fire-breather. It has a permanent presence in the garden

as well. I have gone to California and a what is amazing is the ash and

earth around their feet. They grow so tall so the branchs can stay up

and out of the heat as well. They have brought in lovely trees, of

gorgeous sculptures to Tatton. I have never met anyone who has

brought in his own earth. He has sand with sparkling elements in

there and even upland acidic soil for his heather. It is very

beautiful! Well the gardens outside are

inspired which the elements. For some plants it is not a question of

inspiration, it is one of survival. Catty grow in some of the -- cacti

grow in some of the harsh environment in the world, in baking

sun and in poor, incredibly well-drained soil. Some even have to

survive in sand. Once you have made it to this stage, you don't want

anything to breach the barricades. You want to turn yourself into a

living fortress. Over millions of years, these plants

have evolved in incredible ways. The fleshy body of the cactus is

actually a stem and the leaves have been replaced by thorns and spikes

to protect that body and, more importantly, to protect the flowers,

which emanate from the top of it. Aren't these just beautiful? Imagine

that barren earth suddenly set aflame with these starry flowers!

Imagine you are gliding over the Amazonian rainforest, through the

moist, misty atmosphere - trees and branches come into view, all covered

thickly with vegetation. The They have moved into the trees, into the

air, up into the sky. All of these plants have adon'ted a cunning

trick, to make sure -- adopted a cunning trick. The roots are there

merely to attach them to the stems, but the leaves are covered in these

tricones. They pull in that moisture, constantly and keep the

plant not only well and truly alive, but covered in beautifulle flowers.

-- beautiful flowers. From the stemmy, humid atmosphere from the

Amazonian jug toll the heat of a South African hillside, ablaze with

fire. These plants depend for their very existence on that fire.

These are almost exclusively South African. Every year, they flower,

set seed, it falls to the fall, but it does not germinate, it is not

until a fire comes along, burning the plants right down to the ground.

They are dead. At the same time, a sterile seed bed is created, but the

smoke from the very fire that killed the parent plants triggers the seed

into germination. Like a Phoenix from the ashes, a new generation is

born. Water is the ultimate element of

life. These great lily pads are their own

flotation devices, they are filled with oxygen and the fact they don't

have to support themselves, that they can float on the water means

that their great green leaves can spread out in every direction.

All the plants on earth are adapted to one or more of those four

elements - earth, air, fire and water. They are all dependant on one

force - the sun. Every year at Tatton there is a

competition for the RHS Young Designer of the Year award. This

year, there are three contestants. They have been given the brief of

avant-gardening. This is a license to be as daring or as innovative as

they need to be to make a modern garden. Last week Chelsea Gold Medal

winner Adam Frost went along to meet each of the contestants and see how

they were getting on. As an RHS ambassador I am driven to

encourage the next generation into horticulture. It is great to be here

to meet three promising individuals from the young designers'

competition. The three finalists are Alex Skol

field, Claire Broadbent. Sam is a cool lad, brought up in the

south-west on a farm. He has a huge passion for the environment. I love

his take on a wildlife garden. You are very brave in what you've

taken on. Obviously show planting is probably the most difficult things.

2,000 plants to go through. 70% grasses. Very green and lush. I

didn't want lots of vibrant colours. I wanted a calming space. What is

happening to the garden later? It is being located to St Luke's Hospice

in Plymouth, so will be used there. They are terminally ill and it will

be a place for the patients and family to go and relax and chill

out. Claire is a cracking young lady. It

is great to see her following her father into the landscape industry.

Her guard season a funky take on the green gym. It is a garden which

facilitates exercise, but has the facilitates exercise, but has

traditional feel of a natural garden. These here, these are monkey

bars. You have some wonderful elements. They are the key points

within the garden, aren't they? Yes. I am still not sure how it will look

yet. It is scary, but exciting. It is lovely, we need more ladies in

our industry. You only have to look at the Chelsea Flower Show. The fact

you are here is fantastic. It would be nice to see you at Chelsea. It

would be very nice to be at Chelsea. brought newspaper Switzerland before

returning to the -- brought up in swits spits before returning to the

UK -- brought up in Switzerland before returning to the UK. I moved

to England after having lived in Switzerland for 12 years. I was very

upset about how dark and dull the weather could be at times. They'll

love you! So, I wanted to create a garden which even with dull weather

like today you can still have a bright garden which brings in heat.

This really is a fantastic opportunity and I so wish it was

about when I started off. I think I would have jumped at the chance.

Today I have met three completely different people, three different

designs. I think it will be interesting to see how they all

finish them off in the next week or so. This could be a great stepping

stone to a fantastic career. Adam, the three designers were

mentored by Paul Hervey Brooks, you were mentored by Geoff Hamilton. I

look back on that fondly. I hope they've got something working with

Paul. They don't look like first-time designers gardens. What

do you think of the design of Sam? It's a beautiful garden. I love the

detail in this space. The concrete he made himself. And experimenting.

You are sat here and you could be in a meadow. It's bespoke. It hasn't

been bought. The planting, though, it makes me want to dive in. It's

brave. If you think about it, he has covered this side with planting.

That's impressive. I am getting a little bit too comfortable here.

Best look at the next one because it's not so relaxing. OK.

What do you make of this? I think it's cool. Fantastic. You rate the

work of Claire then? It's brilliant. There's great ideas in this garden.

It's fun. It's engaging. I feel like a hamster in a wheel working away. I

know, but in reality I think Clare set out to do something, to create a

green gym and I think she's nailed the brief. If this was at the bottom

of my garden and the kids ran to it they would engage with this space. I

like it, it's just the work element! You are tired.

I could do this for hours! I tell you what, Commonwealth Games, I

could be there. 40 kilos that is. That's four! He puts a nought on

everything. The great British public will never believe that Father a

moment. This isn't me. It's just not me. -- for a moment.

I love what Alex Schofield has done with these stepping stones. There is

flowers. It's a cracking piece of work. The simplicity and the lovely

rectangles that overlap each other. It's a lovely piece of work. And the

perspex. I love the way it plays with the light. You have the red and

the amber colours. Yeah, it's right for this time of day. He has created

what he wanted. This is a sun lover's paradise. This will be

difficult to call, it's not like comparing apples. Each garden is

completely different. That's what's great. These are different animals

and that's what I love about it. Now it's all down to the judges.

We will be coming back and finding out who's won the Young Garden

Designer of the Year later. Getting young people involved in every

aspect of horticultural is really important both for horticultural

itself and for young people. I personally think for the planet too.

If we can get people engaged with looking after plants, looking after

the soil, that's got to be ecologically important. Gardening

has increasingly been seen as a form of healing, in all kinds of ways.

This is known now as support through hort. Over half the large gardens

here at Tatton are expressing that theme.

This is the Safe From Harm garden, designed to raise awareness of the

NSPCC's I Know appeal, to fund the Childline schools service ensuring

volunteers will run workshops in every primary school throughout the

UK by 2016 to educate children about protecting themselves from abuse.

The Styalist garden has been designed by Richard Heyes who runs a

horticultural course for female prisoners at Styal prison. Many of

the women arrive to the prison with behavioural problems, some have

never held down a job. Part of this project provides a sense of

achievement, raises self-esteem and provides practical skills. All of

the show garden this is the most open and expresses a desire for

freedom and space. One of the most compelling examples

here at Tatton of support through hort is this garden. It's called

Hope and Recover yes -- Recovery and has been designed by Gerry Hosker

with the help of Dr Melanie Higgins. Ashworth, we care for 200 mentally

disordered male predominantly offenders. Explain the garden top

me, does it have a pattern or meaning? It's supposed to represent

the patient's journey from the beginning of the hospital stay when

they're in chaos and despair, their illness is untreated and that's

represented by darker planting to this side. That moves from hope to

the recovery with brighter planting and then also the pebble patch was

an opportunity for even the illest patients to make a pebble that shows

many things about ash court but including people looking out for --

about Ashworth but including people looking out for each other. It's

been able to show a wider audience what the hospital is about. I was

going to ask you that. I can understand the healing process of

the garrening, but why begin -- gardening but why bring it to

Tatton? We question ourselves on that. We felt confident as a

hospital that we have a story to tell that's not just the way it's

portrayed in sensationalist media profiling. We wanted to say our

patients, although they're mentally disordered offenders, mentally ill

many with Schizophrenia, they're able to contribute to society and

the work we do at Ashworth is to help reduce the risk to the public

eventually and to rehabilitate them along that pathway. What feedback

are you having from the public here? We have been really blown away

actually. We did have some anxiety that people would question why we

have done this. The opposite has been true. We have had a welcoming

response, not only people have liked the garden, but once you have

explained what Ashworth is and people go, I know Ashworth, it's

where so and so is, we tell them why we are here and what we are doing

they've been supportive and in some cases very moved. Melanie, thank you

very much. There are lots of very thought-provoking gardens and

exhibits here at Tatton. Others are just stimulating and fun. I have

asked the team to choose the one thing that has most excited or

inspired them about this year's show.

My highlight of Tatton this year is this whole display of pelargoniums.

There's more to the Group 4. All of them love this sunny weather.

There's some real beauties here. These flower all summer long.

They've happy little faces. Then the decorative types, always have a kiss

of colour around the outside of the petals. If I was to choose a

favourite, it would be the scented leafed. The throwers aren't that

much but the fragance -- the flowers aren't that much but the fragance is

delicious. One has a Minty scent. The other reason this is my pick is

because this is the last time all of these plants will be displayed

together because fir trees pelargonims are packing up. What a

display they've been putting on for decades.

How about this for a karn avalue -- carnival celebration. Everything

this stand is at its perfect best. All the flowers are open right up at

every spike. Each bulb is a different variety, it's at the peak

of perfection. There's such a wealth of different varieties too.

Everything from new ones down here with lovely coral flowers and silver

edge through to this one. It's so inspiring. Even daem Edna -- Daem

Edna would be blown away -- Dame. It's not justably who loves them,

it's the public and judges. This has been awarded the Best Exhibit in the

floral marquee and this wonderful trophy. It's splendid.

My choice is very simple. It's a plant called Midnight Dream. It's an

Agapanthus. This was a chance seedling grown in Holland and then

started to appear about four years ago, although I confess I haven't

seen it before. It's one of those plants that grabs you and says,

you're mine. As with all Agapanthus, the secret to flower well is pack

them into a pot or plant them where the roots are constricted and then

you will get lots of flower and not too much leaf.

There are so many wonderful things to see at Tatton this year, but

there is one more highlight to come. That's finding out who's won The

Young Designer of The Year competition. There were complee

competitors -- three competitors. First, Clare with her garden

designed to be a green gym. The second was by Sam, The Sky's The

Limit. It's a garden with every inch planted.

And the third was Alex Schofield's garden Prehistoric Modernism which

is well-suited to this season's weather because it's designed for

sun-worshippers and takes inspiration from Stonehenge.

Ladies and gentlemen, it gives me great pleasure to announce the

winner of the RHS Young Designer of The Year competition. I am proud to

announce that it is Sam Owens. Sam, congratulations. Sam, how does it

feel? It's brilliant. Completely over the moon. Still can't quite

believe it's happened. I think one of the things that has made it

special is that your planting is incredibly sophisticated. And

confident. Do you feel sophisticated and confident? Not sure about that.

I am glad that's what you think from the planting, that's what you get.

What's the next step, now you have won this what about a Chelsea

garden? Definitely in a couple of years, I would love to do a Chelsea.

I will definitely be back. This is a fabulous show. To win this award at

Tatton is an amazing thing. Another big round of applause everybody.

That's it. That's it from the HHS shows. -- RHS shows. It is sad.

There's been lots of good stuff. It's been exceptional right the way

through. The thing that stands out is youth. Hugo Bugg winning a gold

medal, having won Designer of The Year here. They're coming through.

The two Matthews, Matthew Keightley and Charles. Insuspicional. People

-- they're inspirational. Let's hope there are going to be more women

amongst them. What's also interesting about Matthew Keightley,

it wasn't just the judges, the people's award. It's reaching out to

people everywhere. I think that is really good. Each show plants have

been at their very, very best. The most superb. Like they're performing

for us. It's been good fun. I hope you have enjoyed it as much as we

have. Carol, Joe and myself will be here on BBC2 in half an hour's time

on Gardener's World. From Tatton, bye.

here on BBC2 in half an hour's time on Gardener's World. From Bye.