Episode 9 The Beechgrove Garden

Hello, and welcome to Beechgrove at Gardening Scotland,

the biggest show of its kind north of the border.

It's an everyman's garden show. And it's blooming marvellous!

All around us, there's inspiration for everyone and anyone starting out in gardening.

With a few smiles along the way!

As well as inspiration for any gardening budget

and more than a little Scottish style.

No shrinking violets here!

Fresh as a daisy.

And coming up roses.

But the rightful prima donnas are the plants.

The stars of the show.

Join us as we lead you up the garden path for a glimpse of Gardening Scotland,

where many of the exhibits have come straight from Chelsea.

The best of the best. The cream of the Chelsea crop.

Are we sitting comfortably? Then we'll begin.

And for those of you who are old enough, what's the magic word?

Herbidacious.

-Well, that word "herbidacious" just fits that scene there. Tell us about this stand.

-It's gorgeous, isn't it?

This whole stand is in celebration of 50 years of Britain in Bloom,

-the community gardening campaign.

-And I've seen this fella before here.

Yes. Here's Parsley the Lion, all the way from Bath Gardens.

And the scene has changed.

Completely. From the formal planting into a wildflower area.

And it changes on every side, so something different to see on every side of this garden.

And you were saying this is celebrating the 50th anniversary.

-Yes.

-It's also celebrating a collaboration between Fife...

-Tell us about the beaches.

-Fife, our beach areas...

We have the most award-winning beaches in the whole of Scotland.

-Stop bragging!

-There's a lot to brag about in Fife! There is.

I tell you what, I would brag about these vegetables forever and a day.

-They are amazing, aren't they?

-Fabulous.

-Yes, these have come up from the Southwest.

-Southwest England,

-so it's quite a collaborative thing, isn't it?

-Absolutely.

Between North and South, of course. Here's one of the other figures.

-Bath was the first city to win.

-Lord Basil himself.

-Lord Basil!

-It's great. Absolutely wonderful.

-Is fantastic, isn't it? It's a beautiful garden.

MUSIC: "Adagio for Strings" by Samuel Barber

This is the Lost Gardens of the Great War by Ivy Maud Garden Design,

in conjunction with Poppy Scotland and the Dry Stone Wallers Association.

And I'm here to meet Jane Whitehead, who's the garden designer.

Jane, tell us what all this is about.

Well, the concept behind the garden was that so many young gardeners

went off to fight in the First World War and didn't return.

So that's why we have the wildflowers growing up in front of the cultivated plants.

And there's no catch on the other side of the door?

There's no way back sometimes.

And we even see the scythe propped beside the door

as a poignant reminder of that.

And where's this going afterwards?

After the show, it's going to the Erskine Hospital

and it will be completely rebuilt by dry stone walling volunteers again

for use by ex-servicemen.

MUSIC: "What a Wonderful World" by Louis Armstrong

We all know that gardening is good for us, but it's also therapeutic.

And that seems to be the theme running through one or two of the gardens this year.

So, Amber, this is called the Perennial Garden,

-and Perennial is a charity?

-It is, yes. It's a gardening charity.

They help gardeners in need, whatever their problem is.

Financial or illness or anything else.

So, how did that influence you with the design?

Well, their logo is actually an arum lily,

so we've got these great big steel arum lilies at the back there.

-Your husband made those?

-He did, yes.

-He's a steel fabricator, so that's really helpful.

-Absolutely beautiful.

-And then the water coming out of them?

-Yes, we've got this chaotic landscape at the back.

With shards of slate all lined up and really bold purple planting.

And then the water kind of flows through the garden,

healing it as it goes. And it gets softer and gentler as we go through.

-So we end up in the calm bit here.

-We do.

-I'm quite relaxed, actually!

-Oh, lovely!

-THEY LAUGH

-# What a wonderful world. #

Carolyn, you're the designer of this lovely round show garden.

Is there a significance to that? It's called the Garden of Hope?

Yes, it's a garden which was designed and built for

the Freedom from Fistula Foundation, and I realised that it was

about healing for women and that this was not a straightforward process.

So hence the circle? Same with the path as well, then? That's taking you on that journey?

Yes, it's a winding path for a complicated journey, yes.

And what about the plants? Because I particularly love these alliums.

Yes, I've combined Stipa tenuissima

with Allium giganteum and Allium "Purple Sensation".

-It's very much a team effort?

-Very much so.

The garden was built by Water Gems

and the plants were supplied by Binny Plants.

-Well, we've certainly plenty of water today, but I wish you the best of luck.

-Thanks very much.

The Retreat is a garden designed by Dundee and Angus College.

It is another one of these therapeutic gardens.

I'm here with Ally McQueen. Ally, tell me something about this.

Well, it first was initiated last year by the guys from CHAS,

the Children's Hospice Association Scotland.

They loved our design and wanted to commission a design from us

for this year's show that would be finally installed through

Robin House, which is a hospice at Loch Lomond side.

And the purpose of the garden is?

It's really for the respite of the parents, to hang out in

and contemplate in and just have a place of respite for a while.

Now, you've had a lot of help with making this, haven't you?

Yeah, great teamwork, both from our students and staff from Robin House

came through, Andy and Maggie, and a team of volunteers,

helped us build the dykes and also do a lot of the planting and donkey work.

-And you've got a picture here of Robin House itself.

-Yeah.

And this roofline reflects the roofline that we've got here.

Yes, it's a very dramatic, modern building, isn't it?

And our final design is going to have an amazing stainless steel roof

designed by Jeff Henry at the college, which he's busy still welding bits onto at the moment.

Well, when he's finished and it goes through at the end of the show,

it will just look splendid.

Now, this area of Gardening Scotland shows off the talents of

a new crop of garden designers from the Scottish horticultural colleges.

This one is Glasgow, with the cheerful sunflowers.

Now, George, he is over there doing a bit of space exploration.

# There's a starman waiting in the sky

# He'd like to come and meet us... #

That's one small step for George and one giant leap for garden design.

MUSIC: "Starman" by David Bowie

Oh, Donald! Good to see you. I'm glad I made it.

-Have you have landed?

-I have, aye! What's this all about?

This is a student project for SRUC Edinburgh

and the idea originally came from a plant list checked out at NASA

that would sustain a human being or astronaut in a hostile environment.

-So, what have we got?

-We have hydroponics. Air-pots.

We've got some test tubes, we've got the ROCKWOOL.

All different methods of growing experimental-type stuff.

-And a whole range of plants.

-A whole range.

We looked at a list for available vitamins and nutrients,

and these came up. We've elaborated slightly with some of them.

-And this would sustain me in space?

-We would hope so.

-Beam me up.

-Beam me up!

-THEY LAUGH

RADIO STATIC

'We can't hear you. Come in, Anderson...'

Right next door and from the same college, but Jingo, it could be from

an entirely different planet, is the Woodman's Hut, designed by Anna.

Has this memories of home for you?

Yes, I'm from Hungary and most of these ideas and equipment came from my country.

And, of course, when we go out here, there's an incredible path.

-What's the story of that?

-Yes, it's called a barefoot walk

and we thought after a long day trip in a forest

a woodsman could take off his shoes

and just walk his way in the hut and this path will massage his feet.

Well, you've kept faith with that, but I'm certainly not!

The point being that in a forest there is so much that's edible?

Yes, it's called a forest gardening method,

and it's full with all these fruit-bearing trees and shrubs

and edible leaves, edible flowers. Everything is edible or medicinally used.

-I think you've created a bit of a masterpiece.

-Thank you.

-Well done, you. Thank you.

Louise, you're the designer from SRUC Ayr.

It's being in the jungle and all about childhood?

Yes, well, our sponsors are the NSPCC,

so that's really where the childhood theme came from.

So, we've got these tree ferns, the bananas, the cannas

with their big leaves, which really get that kind of jungly feel.

-And when you're small, that kind of sense of seclusion in the garden.

-Yeah, you have to bend down.

We've obviously got this wee hut for them to hide in,

-with our friendly orang-utan here.

-Has he got a name?

-I think that might be George!

-What a good idea! He'll like that.

Water, I think, is important to play with.

Yeah, and we've got these boats here which will also be good fun

-when they're ready.

-It's making me reminisce about childhood.

I used to make mud-pies and collect rose petals.

-It's all about having fun, isn't it?

-Yeah, all about having fun.

MUSIC: "Go Wild in the Country" by Bow Wow Wow

It never ceases to amaze me what you can do in a few square metres.

Here we've got the Scottish landscape.

We've got a little pebble beach with the thrift on it.

A lovely meadow with the campion.

And then we come out onto the top and we see this little mountain tarn

and meet the perpetrators, Jenna and Matt.

-Now, what's it all about, then, Matt?

-So, this garden's all about

looking at how you can use a range of different plans to bring wildlife into your garden.

So we've got all different aspects. We've got the heather moorland, we've got the grass, we've got everything.

-It's fairly diverse.

-Yes.

Great stuff. What about this tartan? Where does that come into it?

Dotted around the garden,

-there's plants that are associated to Scottish clans.

-Ah, yes.

So we've got the thistle over there, which is Clan Stewart.

And the ferns behind it are Clan Chisholm.

-And there's more dotted around.

-It's good stuff.

As we go round the showground, we're on the lookout for tips, hints and observations.

MUSIC: Guitar plays "Mr Sandman"

We've use a lot of greens in our garden, which is

a really nice therapeutic calming colour.

In particular, we've got these wild ginger, which,

when you're planting them, the roots really smell strongly of that ginger.

Our top tip is, how about going on a weekend course?

Learn some dry stone walling,

then look at these lovely wildflowers you can grow.

This is a lovely native mix, which I think just looks great.

Nature abhors a vacuum, so don't leave too much bare soil in your garden,

otherwise nature will fill it up with weeds. So make sure you cram your plants in.

This is a very straightforward design tip. Keep it simple.

We've got red sandstone here in the two dykes behind us.

We've got a lovely stone trough

and we've repeated the sandstone down here in the rockery.

So keep it simple and repeat the same material throughout

to draw your design together.

Fresh herbs make such a difference to our cooking.

Probably the best-known is mint.

It's lovely with new potatoes or peas.

But it does tend to spread quite a lot.

We always recommend you grow it in a container. Here's a new idea.

This is a vertical planter. We've got six different sorts of mint in there.

Guess what? The planter's purple.

MUSIC: "BBC Golf Classic Theme"

Club caddy, get the right one now. Thank you. Thank you.

Here we go, then. Let's have a wee look at this. OK?

Oh, yes! CRASH

That's on its way. Caddy, next club.

Well, I think you should try this one because that shot was rubbish.

Hey, you, guys. Off the grass!

Come on, the only shots you're good for are doubles.

-It's the greenkeeper! I thought we were going to have to pay!

-It's OK.

-It's just James Wheatley, we're all right.

-Behind all of this here.

Tell us a little more about it.

Well, we've been building this garden for the last three or four days for Westbank Enterprises.

-And that's in Perth?

-That's right. They're celebrating the arrival,

or they're welcoming the Ryder Cup this September.

-Of course!

-And what a fantastic way to celebrate that.

-Yes.

Now, the planting intrigues me. Just brilliantly organised, these plants.

We've gone for the naturalistic planting behind me,

through to the formal planting that Perthshire's well-known for.

And then we've fused it through with this soft, gentle planting.

It's hard to combine the colours,

hard to get that naturalistic look flowing into that,

-but I think we've done it.

-Oh, you certainly have.

-And that curve going round there is absolutely stunning.

-Thanks.

-Well done.

-Thanks.

MUSIC CONTINUES

Binny, it's really good to see you again, from Binny Plants.

And this garden has been inspired by your trips to New Zealand?

Yeah, very much so.

The whole structure, everything, the trees, the shrubs, the grasses,

-they're all New Zealand plants.

-Absolutely brilliant.

And straightaway we've got to mention these here

because they do dominate it.

The big pseudopanax. Pseudopanax ferox,

or the lancewood as it's known. It's weird and wonderful.

-But you like that, don't you?

-I love it.

I love the ferns and there's a beautiful asplenium just on the edge.

That's the "Chicken and Hen" fern,

which has these little babies on the tips of the leaves.

Yes, I noticed that. So a little bit of propagation there.

Yeah, I'll give you some of those before you go.

Another plant that dominates is the grass.

Anyone that's ever seen Lord of the Rings will remember

all the hillsides covered in red grasses, and this is it.

Chionochloa rubra. The New Zealand red tussock.

-I prefer red tussock, I think!

-I think so!

-Beautiful.

-Thank you.

Well, Keith, I'm a bit worried about you and this sword.

What's this about today?

George, we were asked by Dunfermline Delivers to put on a floral display

that reflects Dunfermline's connection with Robert the Bruce,

and through that, the Bruce Festival.

As you know, Robert the Bruce is buried in Dunfermline Abbey.

All, that is, except his heart.

And the visitor to the show here can see the spider,

the cave behind us, Robbie himself, his sword,

and if they look really, really carefully,

they can actually see his heart as well.

Now, what happens to this garden when you're finished?

Well, fortunately, there will be a legacy

because we hope to put this in Dunfermline Park itself,

where everybody can see it, all of us can see it there.

-So a legacy from Robbie?

-Indeed.

And another legacy from the exhibitors is their handy hints.

MUSIC: "Mr Sandman"

To protect your hostas from slugs,

the old rule of thumb is to put the slug defences down on 14 February

and supposedly that will keep

the slug pellets, or the slug defences, dry

but if it's in Scotland, it might be 14 July.

Why not try growing this really hardy little kiwi plant in your garden?

Bulbinella hookeri.

Well, this is a bladderwort and it is carnivorous.

It's an ideal plant for the windowsill.

It catches its prey via little sacs on the roots

so you don't get to see what happens,

but at least you get a lovely little flower.

My hot tip is to collect dahlia seed, sow the seed,

select them, and you can actually name it after yourself.

This one we've named Bloom 50

to commemorate 50 years of Britain in Bloom.

Isn't it lovely?

Yeah, people often ask how you get vegetables looking as good

and as large as this.

But I think the first thing is,

you need really good quality seed

then, after that, I feed all my plants.

Every time I water them I give them a weak liquid feed.

I find they respond well to that and they keep their form and shape.

Yeah, we always deadhead pelargoniums so that they don't come into seed.

If they start to produce seed, then they stop flowering.

So removing any heads that are going over

is really important to keep them flowering.

I always enjoy the Vegetable Society stand

because these vegetables are absolutely immaculate

and you can eat all of them, and I just love my food.

I particularly like the wheels here.

And that's an interesting combination, isn't it?

Garlic and radish.

Chillies, I think I could only eat one of those. Hot Mexican.

And potatoes? I love my tatties.

A variety called Nadine,

whether you roast it or mash it, it's very versatile.

It's a plant with a purpose.

And we're going to find other plants with a purpose.

MUSIC: "Pass It On" by The Coral

I reckon that this plant, the chrysanthemum,

was actually bred for a purpose. And that purpose is cut flower.

The range of colours, the shapes, absolutely fabulous.

This particular display, from Chrysanthemums Direct,

got a gold medal at Chelsea.

You could be cutting them

all the way from July right beyond Christmas.

Just look at that. Isn't that sublime?

Now, I know Jim mentioned Christmas,

so how about this as a cracker of a plant?

The fuchsia is incredibly versatile as a bedding plant -

whether you plant it in the border, put it in a container, or even

trailing in a hanging basket, these plants will flower for months.

Just keep deadheading them, even feed them with a tomato fertiliser.

And I know this is slightly different,

but you can also grow them as bonsai.

Two more plants for a purpose, dry shade.

An epimedium with its wonderful bronze foliage coming

through into Blechnum penna-marina,

absolutely charming, both with bronze foliage, ideal for dry shade.

Do you know?

I reckon that the hostas are the most promiscuous plant family

that I have ever come across.

That's why there's so many of them.

But do you know? If you've got a problem in the garden,

or a damp spot that doesn't get a lot of sun,

the hosta family might just solve the problem.

Now, I'd like to introduce you to the latest member of the family.

There he is in there - 'Andy Murray'.

From herbaceous to shrubs, I think rhododendrons are fantastic plants.

And if you have a busy lifestyle, you might want to grow these

because they are low-maintenance.

Fantastic foliage, colours, they're evergreen, so you get interest

12 months of the year, also a wonderful range of flower colours.

Give them acid conditions, a little bit of deadheading, and do remember

it's maybe not no-maintenance but it's definitely low-maintenance.

So from low-maintenance to high-value.

This is a foxglove known as 'Camelot'.

Normally foxgloves flower on one side of the stem only,

but this one flowers all the way round the stem.

Twice the value. Brilliant plant.

And there's no place I'd rather be than

the Scottish Rock Garden Club stand.

This is all about plants growing in different situations,

starting off with a woodland area where we have to pick out

the meconopsis - the beautiful blue poppy.

It associates so well with the candelabra primula.

And then we move into the mountains and right at the peak,

look at these two plants here that grow so well together -

celmisia, the grey foliage and the daisy-like flowers

and then the white flower heads there of the saxifrage.

Then we go into a dry area, right into the crevice. The house leeks,

they love that, they don't need a lot of moisture.

And so do the lewisias.

And then, just moving on to the edge of the river bed,

are two plants that have really caught my eye - the oxalis,

which is called 'Sheffield Swan', and the bright-blue polygala.

Now, Jim, George and myself are going to take the opportunity

to go around and find some more planting partners.

MUSIC: "Put Your Records On" by Corinne Bailey Rae

Ever get that sensation when you visit a gallery,

or an exhibition, or a garden,

something happens that makes you stop and take a step back,

as it happened to me a wee while ago here?

And what was it?

It was this pleasing, beautiful arrangement, plant design,

of the different sizes, the different shapes,

the different colours all coming together with a very,

very pleasing outcome in my eyes.

I couldn't do it but I can certainly admire

the work of the people that do.

It's absolutely beautiful.

Well, I think this is beautiful too.

It's very simple but personally

I think it's a very effective combination.

We've got two plants, the Heuchera 'Midnight Rose' - deep maroon

and then a splash of pink.

And then we have the contrast with the veronica, fresh green foliage

and then these lovely spires with the soft pink blooms.

No wonder it's called 'Inspire Pink'.

And these two plants are quite happy in the sun or slight shade.

Often when we plant aliums, we get upset

because we can see the foliage dying back and it looks really ugly.

So what to do is plant them amongst other herbaceous plants

so that the herbaceous plants cover the dying foliage and you get

extra height to your planting and everything looks wonderful.

When people talk to me about plant associations, I think of little

cameos like this, dominated slightly by this gorgeous little Iris tenax.

And they're all happy.

And the skill of the planter, of course, is to look at all of these.

None of them are complaining about their neighbours, are they?

They're all seated in nicely, in the right position,

and it gives the most wonderful effect.

And just to finish off, something that is quite sublime -

that gorgeous primula there.

You'd think it'd been there all its days.

And this is a divine combination, two plants, one pot.

Clematis on the top with wonderful blue flowers.

Underneath, the variegated foliage of ampelopsis, which extends

the planting season and covers the messy base of the clematis.

The last planting combination is just a bit of fun.

Have you ever thought of planting up an old barbecue?

And I really like the choice of plants.

Right at the top you've got the dark foliage of the lysimachia,

then there's the cirsium with the thistle-like flower heads,

followed by fiery red geums.

And round at the bottom, you've got the lettuce.

This is really potager-style gardening in a novel container.

One area of Gardening Scotland which really excites me

is the pallet gardens.

This year is no exception - there are 40 pallet gardens

in 40 containers of absolute brilliance.

MUSIC: "Shiny Happy People" by R.E.M.

Look at Nature's Carnival, it's a roller coaster of a tea party.

I like this one, this is a grandpa's garden

and I've got a garden just like this at home.

What do you think about it, Billy?

I love these green, textural mounds. But look, a candy-striped path.

And I didn't know that dolly mixtures grew on trees!

And just look at the detail in this.

A little blue house, washing on the line,

a sweet pea arch and a wonderful spiral staircase.

And you thought it was just a broken pot.

Unhand that! What are you doing to that?

THEY LAUGH

Ivy...hebe...geranium. F?

What's the F in here? Fuchsia.

So, on reflection, if you want to see what I see,

don't miss the pallet gardens.

MUSIC: "Treasure" by Bruno Mars

Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes!

Oh, that's absolutely brilliant. It's unbelievable.

Oh, my God. Oh, my God!

I thought we didn't get anything

but it was just blown away by the wind.

Gold!

Woo, we've got a gold!

And you've got a premier gold. And it's best in show as well.

-Best in show.

-In the floral hall.

-It's just, "Oh!"

So, where's the champagne?

That's my first gold medal.

-Another gold!

-Yes, fantastic.

-Oh, you must be so pleased about that.

-Absolutely delighted.

-Congratulations.

-Thank you.

-Well, a premier gold.

-Yes. Really pleased with that.

It's wonderful because this is going to be your last year showing.

Yes, that's right.

But I believe you're coming back to do some judging.

Yes. Yes, I always love coming to Gardening Scotland.

It's such a warm, friendly show.

So, yes, I'll enjoy coming back just as a judge.

WOODWIND RICH MELLOW POP MUSIC

-Well, Jim, have you enjoyed yourself?

-Enjoying myself? Absolutely.

And there's a lot more to see. It's a tremendous show, absolutely.

I haven't seen the pallet gardens, but you were judging them.

You have to go, because if you want to lift your spirits

and make you smile, that's the place.

I was judging them this morning and they're absolutely fabulous.

What do you think of the new layout? Show gardens...

And more show gardens, which is brilliant.

And the standard of the show gardens is well up this year.

Absolutely. Now, you've been purchasing.

From the floral hall.

I went in and I bought this orchid because I want to try that and make

sure that it's hardy in Scotland and then we can really get off and go.

Do you think we could divide it?

-I think we MIGHT be able to.

-Moving swiftly on.

-I bought this as well.

I didn't go for another plant,

I went for this because I think this is a wee example of recycling.

You can fill it with water or you can fill it with liquid feed

-and you can spray plants.

-Moisten your plants.

-Two nozzles, I like that.

-One for up and one for down.

-Yes, yes. And yourself?

-Two plants.

-Predictable as ever.

Two plants. Two plants. One for sun and one for shade.

Yes, I love the blue of that. That's a Veronica 'Crater Lake Blue'.

And this for the foliage. A viola and the name - 'Heartthrob'.

Aw!

What about you, Jim?

Well, George was talking about hardiness a minute ago.

Hydrangea quercifolia, absolutely stunning.

Grows at Crathes, I wonder if it will be hardy in my garden?

It's marketed as hardy plant, we shall see.

And then, what about this little fella?

This has been the people's choice of a new introduction -

-Streptocarpus 'Bella'.

-Look at the veining on that.

-Isn't it gorgeous?

-Wonderful.

-The colour and movement in that is brilliant.

-What a choice.

-But that's it. Until next time...

-ALL: Goodbye!