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00:00:00This is the magic of Chelsea. Very early in the morning and the air is so fresh. It's
00:00:13wonderful stillness, calmness before they open the gates to the public.
00:00:18It's an incredible privilege to be in here early. But it's calm but it's actually noisy
00:00:26in a really good way because there's a really rich bird life. One of the great joys I have
00:00:33of coming here early in the morning is that yes it's empty of people but it's full of
00:00:40wildlife.
00:00:44The gardens are waking up to birdsong, accompanied by the buzz of insects drawn to the plants
00:00:53as the sun rises.
00:00:55There's a soft breeze off the Thames filtering through the trees and the grasses all around.
00:01:02At this time of day the light is particularly delicate, reflecting on the different surfaces
00:01:08and water in these designs.
00:01:12The sound of the water running through the gardens is incredibly soothing.
00:01:25These are blissful moments, aren't they? Mindfulness, it's wonderful. But they're fleeting.
00:01:31Well they're fleeting and they are incredibly privileged to have this. And in a few moments
00:01:37the gates are going to open and Chelsea will be transformed. And then it belongs to the show
00:01:43and all the people coming in. But we've been lucky. We've been so lucky.
00:02:07Hello and welcome back to Chelsea. Now today is the first day of the week that the show
00:02:33is fully open to the public and not just RHS members. So it is packed with people enjoying
00:02:39the gardens and the plants in the Great Pavilion.
00:02:41Well earlier today before the gates opened we had the privilege of starting our day by
00:02:47taking a quiet moment to really enjoy the gardens. It was wonderful wasn't it?
00:02:52Well I always feel that that is the real privilege that we have. I mean obviously we get access
00:02:59to the gardens and you know that is all wonderful. But the thing I love most is coming in at
00:03:04dawn as the sun is rising and just being here pretty much alone listening to the birds,
00:03:11seeing the sun rise up, seeing the gardens. That is a treat. Absolute treat.
00:03:16Well I agree and it was fantastic. But you're a lark naturally and I'm a night owl.
00:03:22So I also love being in the garden at dusk when the birds are settling again.
00:03:27And just as the sun is dropping and the temperature cools. And I love that time.
00:03:32It really feels like my time.
00:03:34Well I suppose the point is you need to find time in your life. Whether it be a crack of dawn
00:03:39or it's bedtime for me. Just in order that you can appreciate the stillness.
00:03:45I mean we talk about well-being and mindfulness and all that sort of stuff.
00:03:49It doesn't matter what you call it. Gardens can do that. Gardens can heal.
00:03:54Gardens can just give you the space in order to just calm down and relax and feel that wellness.
00:04:02And the fact we can do this at Chelsea and looking around we know there's going to be all these people.
00:04:07That's special.
00:04:08Yes I think so and I agree that just being in this environment whatever time of day is a privilege.
00:04:16Well this is what tonight's show is all about. Gardening for the good life.
00:04:22And how gardening can really enhance the quality of our lives.
00:04:27Tonight we're taking inspiration from across the show ground for the different ways
00:04:32that gardening can enhance our physical and mental health.
00:04:37So coming up on the RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2025 an event supported by the Newt in Somerset.
00:04:44There's no question that growing vegetables is one of the earthier aspects of gardening.
00:04:50And Frances visits an exhibit that celebrates the joy of growing your own.
00:04:55If you'd like a garden to escape from the hustle and bustle of modern life.
00:05:00I'll be exploring a Chelsea design that will inspire you to create a space that slows the pace of life right down.
00:05:08And there is no bigger advocate for the benefits of gardening than His Majesty the King.
00:05:13And tonight we're going to be taking a look at his stumpery at Highgrove House.
00:05:17Which is home to a national collection of hostas.
00:05:20Plus all week Adam's been showing us how some of the top planting trends can help your garden designs.
00:05:27And tonight he finds out how to recreate rockeries with a modern twist.
00:05:35But first of all I'm here at the Boodles Rain Dance Garden designed by Kathleen MacDonald.
00:05:40And this is a garden that is celebrating the beauty and wonder of one natural phenomenon.
00:05:45But it's quite small, quite specific and yet all of us can relate to which is the raindrop.
00:05:51Now to take a simple raindrop and create a show garden based on that.
00:05:58Is both extremely simple and I think incredibly difficult.
00:06:03And has been successful because it's won a gold medal.
00:06:06And they've done it by a number of different ways.
00:06:08Obviously you've got the circles here.
00:06:10The circle shape that is repeated everywhere.
00:06:12In the water and in the steps and in the building we've got there.
00:06:16And the ripples that come out.
00:06:18Ripples cut into the stone which incidentally as we've rained are the cells filled with water.
00:06:24The residue of the raindrops.
00:06:26You've got the water itself which is reflecting bubbles coming up.
00:06:31Wherever you go you've got the rain and the drops.
00:06:34And the other factor is the sound.
00:06:36The sound of rain.
00:06:38We all know that feeling of lying in bed and listening to the rain falling.
00:06:43Incredibly evocative.
00:06:45And immediately connects you to nature and the spirit of freedom.
00:06:49And finally and I think probably the most important thing for a Chelsea garden.
00:06:54The planting.
00:06:55Which is very simple.
00:06:57It's all greens and whites.
00:06:59But absolutely gets that feeling you get from warm sun or rain.
00:07:05Where the whites leap out.
00:07:07Strong colours disappear in rain.
00:07:10But green and white get stronger.
00:07:13And that is very, very cleverly done.
00:07:16So it's all really cleverly put together.
00:07:19And I've got the designer Catherine MacDonald here to talk to me.
00:07:22First of all congratulations.
00:07:24Because you've done it brilliantly.
00:07:25Thank you very much.
00:07:26When you've given the brief.
00:07:28Okay I want to sort of get the raindrop.
00:07:31How did you set about that?
00:07:33Well I suppose you're thinking about nature.
00:07:37And something that's very natural.
00:07:40And you're wanting to create a garden that showcases it.
00:07:43So we've got the rain dance.
00:07:45The water feature.
00:07:46Drops of rain naturally falling into something.
00:07:49And the concentric circles and how that interacts.
00:07:52And the play of light.
00:07:54And you're thinking about how you're going to then translate that into the design that you do.
00:08:00Right.
00:08:02You've got a gold medal.
00:08:03Yes.
00:08:04Which is fantastic.
00:08:05So obviously the judges.
00:08:06It's a brilliant day.
00:08:08So therefore the garden is immaculate.
00:08:11There are certain things that leap out at me.
00:08:13Over and actually above the hard things.
00:08:15For instance the ginkgo.
00:08:16Which I love.
00:08:18Have you had to prune that to get that shape?
00:08:20That is globosa.
00:08:22And it grows naturally in that form in quite a relaxed way.
00:08:26So it doesn't need the pruning.
00:08:29A little bit maybe to keep its shape.
00:08:32So you've got those rounded drops of shapes coming through.
00:08:36I think that's incredibly successful.
00:08:39To do something that is essentially so simple and yet do it with such subtlety and panache is fantastic.
00:08:45So well done.
00:08:46Congratulations.
00:09:00If you see just one stand in the Great Pavilion, let it be this.
00:09:04This is the She Grows Veg stand.
00:09:06And it is a huge celebration of vegetables in every colour of the rainbow.
00:09:12This is a 360 degree stand which showcases over 100 different varieties of vegetables.
00:09:18Many of which are heirloom.
00:09:20Which is kind of ironic because the whole thing looks incredibly modern.
00:09:25The way it's been displayed almost makes it look like we're in an art gallery.
00:09:34What's evident here is the skill of the growers.
00:09:38You have unblemished, perfect chard and cabbages and kohlrabi all growing.
00:09:44But really, really impressive is the ability to have ripe chillies and aubergines growing in May.
00:09:53It's really clever.
00:09:56I'm jealous.
00:09:57We know that eating a rainbow full of vegetables will give us loads of different nutrients.
00:10:03But we also know that growing our own food is better for us because we're eating those vegetables fresher than we would do if we bought them from the shops.
00:10:11And this stand is all about encouraging people and inspiring them to grow their own vegetables wherever and however they can.
00:10:20Well firstly, congratulations on a magnificent stand.
00:10:26What was your intention with creating this?
00:10:28So we want to elevate the humble vegetable to inspire people to grow as much food as possible for themselves.
00:10:34Because we don't think it doesn't get a lot of coverage.
00:10:36Usually at Chelsea there's not many people there.
00:10:38So we wanted to make sure that it was accessible to as many people as possible.
00:10:42So what makes something an heirloom seed?
00:10:45Basically it's just a plant that has a history, often 50 years or more.
00:10:49We even have some varieties that are thousands of years old.
00:10:52And that's what gets people really excited.
00:10:54They want to know the history of the plant.
00:10:56They want to know what it's like to grow it.
00:10:58And that's what we're trying to do.
00:11:00So it's a plant that's been around for 50 years.
00:11:02And it's a plant that's been around for 50 years.
00:11:04And it's a plant that's been around for 50 years.
00:11:06And it's a plant that's been around for 50 years.
00:11:09And that's what gets people really excited.
00:11:11They want to know the history of the plant that they're growing.
00:11:14And these varieties have been saved and grown by people for so long just because they taste amazing.
00:11:20There's obviously loads of veg here, but what's going to happen to it when Chelsea ends?
00:11:24So we're working with the most amazing charity this year called Seeds for Growth.
00:11:28And they basically are a charity that work with social housing communities.
00:11:32And they encourage them to grow their own green spaces.
00:11:35So the whole lot will go to them.
00:11:37And then anything that's already harvested is going to go to food banks.
00:11:40So we're really proud that everything will go to a really good place.
00:11:43I think you should be proud of all of it.
00:11:45It's a really, really lovely stand.
00:11:47Oh, thank you.
00:11:48It's beautiful. Well done.
00:11:54Hostas are incredibly popular, not only here at the show, but in gardens up and down the country.
00:12:01And even His Majesty the King is a fan.
00:12:04Well, we were lucky enough to have the opportunity to visit his very special national collection at his home in Highgrove.
00:12:14There are thousands of varieties of hostas.
00:12:17Some of them have absolutely tiny leaves and some of them have leaves that are two, three foot long.
00:12:25I'm Chris.
00:12:26And I'm Ollie.
00:12:27And together we run Sienna Hosta, a specialist hosta nursery based in Surrey.
00:12:32The garden team at Highgrove contacted us about nine years ago to see if we could come and have a look at their collection
00:12:40and see how it could be improved and what new varieties we could add to make it even better than it already is.
00:12:46Not only was it a huge honour, it was somewhat terrifying at the start to be asked to come and look at such a prestigious collection.
00:12:55His Majesty is the patron of the British Hosta and Hemerocallis Society.
00:12:59So he's not unfamiliar with hostas.
00:13:02So it was a bit of an undertaking when we came here for the first time and saw how many beautiful plants there were here.
00:13:08The garden team at Highgrove are brilliant.
00:13:11They're all really passionate.
00:13:12We've worked with Ryan, who manages the Stumpery.
00:13:16I'm Ryan Bowden, and I've been a gardener here at Highgrove for three years.
00:13:20We're here at the Stumpery Garden.
00:13:21It's a traditionally Victorian style of gardening, which was used to showcase ferns and other woodland plants.
00:13:28The Stumpery has a real personal feel for His Majesty.
00:13:31There's a lot of significant structures that are here.
00:13:34We have the childhood treehouse of Prince William and Harry.
00:13:37And then as we move through, we have Temple of the Worthies, which is a memorial to the late Queen Mother.
00:13:41She's somebody that he's always credited as being a deep influence on his love of the natural world and gardening,
00:13:47and especially his appreciation for trees.
00:13:49So the Stumpery has been created with the roots and the bottoms of the trees that are then lifted,
00:13:55turned over to kind of expose all the roots and the architecture.
00:13:58A lot of the stumps here at Highgrove have come from other estates, such as Sandringham.
00:14:02And that was as a result of the hurricanes that kind of swept through the UK in 1987.
00:14:07And they were bought here in 1996 and was part of the redesign with His Majesty.
00:14:11His Majesty is very much interested in kind of the planting that goes in, the selection.
00:14:17You know, we may create move boards for him to prove the whole garden is His Majesty's vision.
00:14:21So we're just here to maintain that and make sure that kind of vision is carried forward and his legacy is maintained.
00:14:28So here we're planting Epamediums, which is kind of a traditional woodland plant.
00:14:33Just try and create that naturalistic woodland style.
00:14:38We work really closely with Ollie and Chris, and they help us look after the collection here
00:14:42and kind of identify areas that might be suitable for a new hosta to kind of expand and boost the collection.
00:14:50Yeah, this looks like somewhere we might want to add a few more in.
00:14:53They're coming slowly, aren't they?
00:14:55Coming through, yeah. There's a few patches on this side.
00:14:57So we might need to think about what we're going to put in there.
00:15:00Slugs and snails are a problem in every garden. This is no exception.
00:15:03But interestingly, because it's a collection of giant and large leaf hostas,
00:15:08you see the slugs and snails sometimes halfway up the stem, sat there perched, but the leaves are untouched.
00:15:15The advantages that a lot of giant leaves have are the leaves are really waxy and thick, and they're just not as tasty to the slugs.
00:15:23So here we have hosta Choo Choo Train.
00:15:25So it has nice, long stems. They're away from the ground.
00:15:29The leaf is up here, and your slugs and snails are going to be down here.
00:15:32So slugs and snails are less likely to come up to the crown.
00:15:36If you're growing hostas at home and you want to put them in the ground,
00:15:40giant and large leaf ones are a definite go for.
00:15:43It's the miniatures that are close to the ground that get eaten the most.
00:15:47They're better off in a pot.
00:15:49So we use a garlic wash, which is perfect, and we'll just apply that.
00:15:52Just usually maybe a weekly application.
00:15:54Obviously, being a fully organic site, we've got a lot of predators that come in and do a lot of the work for us.
00:15:59But then it is inevitable you're going to get some damaged leaves.
00:16:02You can't have this many plants in a collection in the ground and not expect a few homes.
00:16:09One problem that hosta collectors can have is reversions.
00:16:13Now, a reversion is when a variegated variety, such as Golden Meadows,
00:16:18tries to go back to its solid form, which is Seboldiana elegans.
00:16:22It's really important, if we want to maintain that two-tone colouration,
00:16:26that we divide off the blue stem that's coming up here.
00:16:31It's really important that when you divide out your reversions,
00:16:34you take out all the stem down to the roots.
00:16:37So this piece can now be repotted.
00:16:39It will grow as its own plant independently and stay blue.
00:16:42And then Golden Meadows here can be repotted, and it should retain its colouration now.
00:16:48This is kind of the flavour of Chelsea, isn't it?
00:16:51Yeah, this sort of path.
00:16:52And the way it comes in.
00:16:53Yeah, the kind of banked-up sides with the tree stumps is kind of what we're going for.
00:17:01Chelsea is super stressful anyway, and here we are with a new dimension of stress,
00:17:07working with the King's Foundation for the display.
00:17:11We hope that our little mini-stumpery has a nod to the Highgrove one,
00:17:16that in a way it's recognisable.
00:17:18So at Chelsea we've got a nice collection of tree stumps,
00:17:21which we'll be raising up like they are here at the stumpery,
00:17:24and we'll have a nice path, walkway through the middle of the display.
00:17:28The run into Chelsea is always so stressful.
00:17:31I think every year we look at the plants and we worry madly,
00:17:34are they going to be okay? Particularly this year, because it's been so cold and dry.
00:17:39Fifth year this year at Chelsea.
00:17:41We've been very fortunate to get four golds so far, and we're hoping this year will be our fifth.
00:17:48We hope that our display at Chelsea will do the Highgrove team and His Majesty proud.
00:17:59And here it is, the display by Sienna Hoster.
00:18:02Chris and Ollie, welcome.
00:18:04What a magnificent display.
00:18:06I would say you have got that mini-stumpery here.
00:18:09Do you feel that it went well? Has it come out how you'd like it?
00:18:13It really has. I think we're all really pleased with it.
00:18:17It was a really good team effort this year.
00:18:19We're really, really pleased.
00:18:21It's come together really nicely.
00:18:24It's been really well received. The public seem to love it.
00:18:28It has a really nice, calm feel about it, so we're super happy with it.
00:18:33It's quite a responsibility, isn't it?
00:18:35Representing not only yourselves, but that representation of the garden at Highgrove.
00:18:41Do you feel that that's been achieved?
00:18:43We think we've kind of captured the essence of Highgrove here.
00:18:47Visitors definitely seem to be enjoying walking through and being lost in it a little bit.
00:18:54That's wonderful.
00:18:55Did you get a visit from the King as well?
00:18:57He called by, which is always a great honour and a privilege.
00:19:02Super special for us.
00:19:04It's a special moment, isn't it?
00:19:06Can you tell me a bit about some of the plants?
00:19:09Because they are absolutely magnificent.
00:19:12Pick out a few favourites.
00:19:14We tried to use a mix.
00:19:16Obviously, at Highgrove, it's not just hostas.
00:19:19There's a lot of other plants there.
00:19:21We've just used hostas, so we've used a mix of shapes and sizes to give that effect of the other plants that are at Highgrove.
00:19:28There is a good smattering of large and giants.
00:19:32Over there, we've got hosta sagae, which is a nice old classic.
00:19:37It gets huge, so that's a lovely one.
00:19:39We also have a royal standard just around the corner here, which is a fantastic one, keeping with the royal theme.
00:19:47It also has a lovely white fragrant flower, so it adds that nice extra dynamic.
00:19:52It's interesting how some of them have that very spreading shape and then others are more upright.
00:19:57That's the beauty of hostas. There are so many colours and textures.
00:20:01We try to bring a little bit everywhere and really show the public quite how different they can be.
00:20:10What is it you think, because everyone loves hostas, why is that?
00:20:14What is it that appeals to you?
00:20:16I think it's probably the diversity of the plants.
00:20:19There are so many different types, some with tiny leaves, some with huge leaves.
00:20:24It's a great plant in shady conditions, so where you've got a difficult location in the garden, it's a plant that will perform there, which is lovely.
00:20:34I feel they appeal to collectors as well, like the king.
00:20:37Once you've got one, you want lots of them.
00:20:41There are so many clients who say, I've got one or two, and then they come back and all of a sudden they have 22.
00:20:47Hostaholics is what it's been coined as.
00:20:50I can understand it. Thank you so much. I think the display is wonderful.
00:20:57The Stumpery at Highgrove House is a place of retreat and reflection for the king.
00:21:02Gardens can be just that for all of us.
00:21:05Monty has been to look at one that will enhance the quality of life for many as they experience difficult times.
00:21:17This garden is the Children with Cancer UK A Place to Be.
00:21:22It's been designed by Tom Clarke and Ros Coots Harwood.
00:21:26Now, the point of the garden is that it is a sanctuary haven for young people affected by cancer, as well as their families, of course.
00:21:34And so it's trying to do a number of different things.
00:21:37It's trying to create a safe space where children, and they could be very young, feel happy and can play,
00:21:43and away from all the stress and strain of being treated for cancer and the hospital environment.
00:21:50And to get that balance of between being fun, which you have the monorail,
00:21:55which they can whiz round, they can get on that end, come round into this space here,
00:22:00as well as maybe somewhere where they can just, like anybody else, smell the flowers, feel calm, maybe just sit for a bit.
00:22:08It's very cleverly done, because those are two things that don't necessarily go together.
00:22:13And the point of that is it reaches this space here, where fundamentally they can be semi-private.
00:22:20They can see out, they can see the world, you can see enough of them to know that they're safe, but it feels enclosed, it feels safe.
00:22:28And for a garden to attempt to do this, they're taking on a lot.
00:22:33And clearly, if a child's got cancer, it's every parent's nightmare.
00:22:37But to make a place that is fun and to make the child feel that this is not a disaster.
00:22:43And I can speak with experience here, because I had cancer when I was a child, and I remember being treated.
00:22:48I didn't really know what was going on.
00:22:50But clearly, with hindsight, for my parents, it must have been a nightmare, it must have been awful and worrying.
00:22:55But somehow, you mustn't let the child feel that.
00:22:58So it's very moving for me to see a garden that has fun, has water, has a train, has plants,
00:23:05all done for children in order that they may enjoy themselves.
00:23:09And of course, this has to be sustainable.
00:23:12When you're at Chelsea, you're making a showpiece.
00:23:15This is a one-off, this is something that you're making a show.
00:23:18But actually, to make it work and to plant it so it can last and it can endure,
00:23:23whether it be for treatment or at different times of year, that takes real skill.
00:23:28Now, one of the designers, Tom Clark, is here, so I'm going to talk to him.
00:23:31Tom, it's nice to see you. Congratulations on your garden.
00:23:35Tell me, how did you get involved with this? What was the inspiration?
00:23:38So I've been working with Children With Cancer UK, the charity, for a couple of years now,
00:23:42building a retreat in North Yorkshire, where affected families can escape the rigours of their treatment
00:23:48in that clinical setting and have a holiday in a green space.
00:23:51So you've been working on a project like this, you've brought this to Chelsea.
00:23:54Now, obviously, the question is, where is it going to go after Chelsea?
00:23:57Is this going to be totally dismantled?
00:23:59No, the whole garden is going to go back up to the retreat and be separated into different spaces.
00:24:04And how will that work?
00:24:06How will that work? So the monorail in a nest is going to go centre stage,
00:24:09where the families will be staying, and then quite a lot of the planting and trees and shrubs
00:24:13will be going into different parts of the garden that already exist.
00:24:17And why will you not be putting it as one garden?
00:24:21Just because the centre of the area does no soil.
00:24:26So the hard landscaping elements will go there and the planting will go elsewhere.
00:24:31And what have you learnt from doing this?
00:24:35A lot, really. Probably more than I can say in a few moments.
00:24:39But I've had a fantastic time and it's been an amazing experience.
00:24:43Well, thank you for doing it, and it's fantastic.
00:24:46Well done.
00:24:50All week, Adam's been exploring this year's planting trends to help inspire you
00:24:55to try something new in your garden at home.
00:24:58Well, tonight, he's exploring a style that has a long-standing history at the show,
00:25:03but this year has taken on a very modern look.
00:25:11I would say rock gardens are well and truly back.
00:25:15It's versions right across the showground.
00:25:19Also, they make me feel slightly old because I can remember my dad as a landscaper
00:25:24and me going around different people's gardens and helping him create them.
00:25:29But ultimately, what is a rock garden?
00:25:31Well, actually, it's a take on a mountain.
00:25:36There's 70-odd concrete blocks right across here.
00:25:39Some you can walk on, work your way up through the space.
00:25:42Others work as planters.
00:25:44And they're great for alpines if you think how they grow, where they grow.
00:25:49They love free-draining conditions.
00:25:51They're very small.
00:25:52They'll deal with the heat.
00:25:54They don't want to be soaking wet over the winter.
00:25:57But what are alpine plants?
00:25:59Well, so many we're going to know.
00:26:00So here I've got things like dianthus, sedums, thymes, campanulas.
00:26:05But in reality, they're all miniaturised versions of the plants we grow that are larger in our gardens.
00:26:15Yes, I still am on the Chelsea showground.
00:26:18I haven't been transported to South Africa.
00:26:21This is absolutely incredible.
00:26:23But I'm here because another group of plants that will do incredibly well in those conditions are the succulents.
00:26:30So, fancy?
00:26:32Let's put a bit of that down the end of the garden.
00:26:34I think in reality, if you are going to create yourself a rock feature,
00:26:38look at, first of all, where you're going to take your inspiration from.
00:26:41You know, what sort of plants, what conditions do they need?
00:26:44And they vary massively, because at the top of the mountain, things tend to be a little bit sparse.
00:26:48They're dealing with more extreme conditions, which means, though, they're tougher plants.
00:26:52Whereas we get down the bottom here.
00:26:55And you're probably looking at that, like me, and thinking, well, that's all very nice,
00:26:58but that will not work in my garden.
00:27:01There is some wonderful succulent plants that will.
00:27:10So, if you do want to have a go at creating a South African rockery or a South African rockery,
00:27:16I've got some great ideas for you.
00:27:19So, if you do want to have a go at creating a South African rockery,
00:27:23or somewhere from that part of the world, Aeoniums.
00:27:28Down south, you're getting away with them, you can grow them.
00:27:31And then we've got the little Echeveria down here.
00:27:33That, for me, does really well.
00:27:35Deals with the cold conditions as long as I keep it dry.
00:27:39So, if you think about creating your rockery,
00:27:41what you could do is plant the plants that you know that are going to see the season,
00:27:46and then plunge pots in.
00:27:49You know, lovely terracotta pots, they can come out in the summer,
00:27:52they sit in your display, they become the gems.
00:27:55Then in the winter, we pull them up, take them back indoors.
00:28:00So, if you want to get on that rockery train,
00:28:04just think about the landscape that's going to inspire you,
00:28:07and then just do a little bit of research.
00:28:09But more than anything, go and have some fun.
00:28:13I found that really interesting.
00:28:16Adam has discovered so many different types of planting style.
00:28:19It shows that the show is, you know, there's so much to see and emulate.
00:28:24There is a lot to see and emulate at Chelsea,
00:28:27but, you know, what I find extraordinary,
00:28:29and it happens every year,
00:28:31is there is a kind of harmony and sort of sympathy
00:28:37of colours that run through from garden to garden
00:28:40and display in the pavilion, and out the pavilion, and out the other side.
00:28:44You see these same colours being picked up.
00:28:46And this year, there's the lovely deep plum colours and burgundies,
00:28:52and also that slightly smoky grey, that bacteria you see there,
00:28:56with touches of orange.
00:28:58And that's happening, it's happening everywhere.
00:29:00Yes, I mean, for me, there's also a little bit of that paler apricot colours,
00:29:04like the inside of a cantaloupe melon.
00:29:07There's sort of this lovely soft orange.
00:29:09Yeah, I'm always looking for apricot.
00:29:12There's the magical colour.
00:29:14Jolly difficult.
00:29:15Very true.
00:29:16Well, there's lots more still to come tonight
00:29:18from the RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2025,
00:29:22an event supported by the Newt in Somerset.
00:29:25I will be talking to the artist and designer, Yinka Iluri,
00:29:30about how plants have inspired his work.
00:29:33Jamie is exploring some of the new plant launches
00:29:36that we'll all be craving in our gardens for years to come.
00:29:40And Carol is, thankfully, determined to make our lives easier
00:29:45and celebrating, as a result, low-maintenance plants
00:29:50that are still guaranteed to deliver.
00:29:52And Arit's been exploring a garden that's looking at how technology
00:29:57could save us precious time in the future.
00:30:01Now, talking about time,
00:30:02there's no question that we all seem to be becoming time poor.
00:30:06It's easy, as a result, to look for quick fixes.
00:30:10But, thankfully, there are still people taking the time and trouble
00:30:16to create things that will last.
00:30:19And I went to discover examples of really good craftsmanship
00:30:23here at Chelsea.
00:30:26There is a tendency at Chelsea to give plants the biggest attention,
00:30:31and that's not surprising.
00:30:32However, one of the first things I'm always looking for
00:30:35are the incredible objects made by hand, made with skill,
00:30:40with supreme craftsmanship.
00:30:42And when I saw this garden, which is the Hospice Garden of Compassion,
00:30:47designed by Tom Hovland,
00:30:48immediately these seats drew my attention.
00:30:51Now, the story behind these is that they are made from a wind-blown oak.
00:30:56Now, that means it didn't die, it was blown over when still alive.
00:30:59And the wood has been carefully cut and crafted to make these seats,
00:31:05and they will last for hundreds of years or more,
00:31:08meaning that the life goes on.
00:31:10And I think, combined with the whole idea of the hospice movement,
00:31:14the idea of that is moving and beautiful, as well as the object.
00:31:22This is the building at the end of the Alanade Intelligent Garden
00:31:28designed by Tom Massey and J.M.
00:31:30The craftsmanship breaks outside our idea of what craftsmanship is,
00:31:35which tends to be very much around handcrafted techniques
00:31:39that haven't changed down the centuries
00:31:41and have a kind of whiff of nostalgia about them.
00:31:44This is utterly modern.
00:31:46Now, it's all based around ash,
00:31:48and obviously we're all dealing with ash dieback.
00:31:50So in the floor here, you can see a streak of the dieback
00:31:54where the wood is starting to rot and be affected.
00:31:57So they've used that for the floor, it's not load-bearing.
00:32:00So these here are structural, very much unaffected wood,
00:32:04because it needs to be strong.
00:32:06And the bit which I find most fascinating are these noggins.
00:32:10Now, a noggin, if you don't know,
00:32:12are cross timbers that go between rafters to stop them twisting.
00:32:16And you very rarely see them in a building
00:32:18because they're usually hidden by the ceiling
00:32:20that lies underneath the rafters.
00:32:22Although they're completely structural,
00:32:24I think they're very beautiful
00:32:26because they are continuous pieces of wood.
00:32:28They look like a long, thin ribbon of ash,
00:32:31and they fold and wave rhythmically like a helix.
00:32:35And when they are stretched, if the building starts to pull apart,
00:32:39they become as strong as iron.
00:32:43So as well as beautiful, they're completely practical and effective
00:32:47and serving the same function that would have existed
00:32:50in a building that was created 2,000 years ago,
00:32:54but with all the developments of modern technology.
00:33:04Now, I've got here another example of this combination
00:33:09of skills that can only come from the human hand
00:33:13with techniques that are really very modern.
00:33:16This is the songbird survival gun designed by Nicola Oakey,
00:33:20and it features on the front these cutouts in metal
00:33:23of songbirds that are on the red list.
00:33:26They're endangered. An artist has drawn them,
00:33:29but then they're cut out using a plasma cutter,
00:33:32which essentially is using compressed air.
00:33:35So you have this filigree of metal in the circle, really dramatic,
00:33:39obviously the light coming through it, using high technology,
00:33:43great human artistic skill, and also carrying a message
00:33:47that these are birds that we really need to encourage in our gardens,
00:33:51otherwise we're going to lose them.
00:33:57Finally, I am going to shamelessly include something from my own garden,
00:34:02and it is what I call the Ned Vane, the weather vane up on the top.
00:34:06I drew it out. It's actually a combination of Ned and Nigel.
00:34:09And then it was cut with a hacksaw on metal, painted gold,
00:34:14and as a weather vane, a golden retriever
00:34:18to celebrate all the lovely dogs I've had in my life
00:34:22and the craftsmanship that made it.
00:34:33Now, there's one garden here at Chelsea
00:34:35that showcases the use of technology to help community spaces
00:34:39to withstand a host of extremes.
00:34:42And a few weeks ago, Arit went to meet the designers to find out more.
00:34:50It's no secret that green spaces in our towns and cities
00:34:54are vitally important, not only for our well-being,
00:34:58but also for the environment.
00:35:00But to create a park that over time will flourish, that is challenging.
00:35:06Opened in 2022, this six-and-a-half-acre public park
00:35:11is home to 150 trees, 120,000 shrubs and plants,
00:35:16and even has space for a kids' play park.
00:35:21This is Mayfield Park, Manchester's first new park in over 100 years,
00:35:27but it's a park for the future.
00:35:29Mayfield Park is an incredible example
00:35:32of how inner-city, disused industrial spaces
00:35:36can be redesigned into thriving green spaces.
00:35:40And it's this park's transformation
00:35:42that has inspired garden designers Tom Massey and Jayanne
00:35:46to bring their own urban forest to the Chelsea Flower Show.
00:35:50You two love a challenge, don't you?
00:35:53You love a challenge, and I want to really know
00:35:56where the inspiration has come from in this park, Chelsea.
00:35:59So one thing is reclaimed materials that we're both really interested in.
00:36:02Throughout this park you can see there's all this texture,
00:36:05all these materials that have been salvaged from the buildings adjacent.
00:36:08So we're doing a similar thing, we've collected all sorts of materials,
00:36:11but the real heroes of the garden this year are the trees.
00:36:14I know that obviously, Jay, you're the architectural,
00:36:17structural part of this duo.
00:36:20How does that work for you in terms of melding this all together?
00:36:24Last year when we did the WaterAid garden,
00:36:27the architecture was quite large,
00:36:30but this year we wanted to really focus on the messaging,
00:36:33how the trees and the urban garden could actually work
00:36:36within quite a small plot of land.
00:36:39We do a lot of work in cities and try to find every single spot
00:36:42to make it more green and more soft
00:36:45and bring the nature back into our cities.
00:36:48Pollution, extreme temperatures and poor soil quality
00:36:51are what trees are up against in city parks.
00:36:54To give them a better chance, Tom and Jay are planning
00:36:57to showcase AI technology on their Chelsea garden
00:37:00for a longer term solution.
00:37:03Have you got the plans with you? Yeah.
00:37:06So like in Mayfield Park we've got all sorts of reclaimed materials.
00:37:09We've created this quite dynamic, quite topographical landscape
00:37:13and as you can see it's full of trees.
00:37:16What we're doing here is we're giving the trees more of a chance to survive
00:37:19by using sensors and monitoring to really understand
00:37:22what they're encountering.
00:37:25What we're doing is using artificial intelligence,
00:37:28its power to recognise a pattern, so to understand all this data
00:37:31to give us much better predictions
00:37:34of how the weather and the plant is changing over a period of time.
00:37:37So there is a little device that we'll put on the tree
00:37:40that monitors its sap flow, its dryness, its growth
00:37:43and there will be data from the soil
00:37:46and also we're working with the Met Office about the weather data.
00:37:49Shall we go back to the park? I'll demonstrate a sensor and show you how it works.
00:37:52Yeah, brilliant.
00:37:55Small and discreet, it only takes Tom a minute to install one
00:37:58on one of the trees in the park.
00:38:01This is it? Yeah, this is it. This is a sensor.
00:38:04So what this is doing is it's measuring rock and lean
00:38:07so if the tree's moving too much in the wind, if it's unstable
00:38:10it would alert you to that. Humidity, temperature.
00:38:13The trees on the garden at Chelsea will literally say
00:38:16I need some water or don't water me because it's going to rain
00:38:19for the next two weeks. When I'm at Chelsea, how will I
00:38:22see that data? Is it through an app or screens or printout?
00:38:25So you scan a QR code and then you can actually
00:38:28see all the trees in the garden. You can click on a tree
00:38:31and you can have a conversation with that tree. It just gives you this
00:38:34really intuitive and in a way quite playful
00:38:37way to interact with the garden and get a much
00:38:40better and more detailed insight as to how that tree
00:38:43might be faring. Well, I have to say I can't wait
00:38:46to see it at Chelsea. I'll be coming straight to the garden
00:38:49and looking at those readings. Yeah, come and have a chat with our trees.
00:38:57And here it is, the Avanade
00:39:00Intelligent Garden designed by Tom Massey and
00:39:03Jay Han and what a garden it is.
00:39:06I have to say I'm completely blown away by
00:39:09the planting because I wasn't expecting it to be this
00:39:12lush. I was really thinking that there was going to be
00:39:15more wildflowers and much more
00:39:18tortured planting. This is really lush and
00:39:21incredibly dramatic and I think bringing this amount of
00:39:24colour into an urban setting is what's needed. There needs to be
00:39:27joy because obviously there was a lot of recycled
00:39:30material there but they've echoed that here so I can
00:39:33already get a sense of the concrete slabs that are going to
00:39:36be there. These raised concrete beds
00:39:39but also I really, really love these
00:39:42reclaimed timber benches. I think they're going to actually work
00:39:45really, really well. The designers have done a great
00:39:48job at bringing Pigeon Triangle to
00:39:51Chelsea but also giving it a complete uplift so
00:39:54I can't wait to see the two things marry together.
00:39:57Tom and Jay, I have to say
00:40:00congratulations on the gold medal. Well done.
00:40:03Absolutely brilliant. So Jay, is the technology
00:40:06working? It's working amazingly
00:40:09actually. The more than we ever expected.
00:40:12Oh well that's brilliant. And so Tom I can see you've got that there.
00:40:15How exactly does it work? So what we're doing
00:40:18the trees in the garden, well 12 key trees
00:40:21are building a picture of the garden so you'll see little sensors on
00:40:24the trees as we saw at Mayfield Park. Those are
00:40:27sending live data to the pavilion. In the pavilion
00:40:30is an AI hub basically.
00:40:33The AI has been trained as an expert on each tree so it's got
00:40:36very specific information. It knows how much they should be growing, how much
00:40:39water they need, what kind of conditions they prefer.
00:40:42It uses the incoming data, so the live data coming
00:40:45in, compares that against its training data and then it
00:40:48can give insights and say actually these trees aren't growing
00:40:51as expected or the humidity's too
00:40:54high, the soil's not moist enough. So it gives you a really
00:40:57good picture and a dashboard showing how
00:41:00the trees are faring. So if I want to choose this
00:41:03Betula nigra here. Yeah so you click the Betula, press general
00:41:06information. So it gives you some information, flowers and fruit, bark, stems
00:41:09leaves, a picture so you can identify it.
00:41:12The tree is growing happily, so it's growing 42 microns a day
00:41:15which is within its normal limit. Taller than me.
00:41:18Humidity is at a good level,
00:41:21temperature is fine for the tree and it's not leaning
00:41:24so it's not rocking in its root. So how's the willow?
00:41:27So you can see, so what this shows you, the red trees
00:41:30are the ones that are a bit less happy. So press the willow.
00:41:33So the willow is not growing very fast which is kind of as expected
00:41:36low water, it's shutting down a bit. It's only growing 4
00:41:39microns a day which is low. So you can
00:41:42essentially, how would you address that?
00:41:45You could just give it a bit more water but you could ask the tree
00:41:48what do you need? And the tree will think
00:41:51I need regular watering and care to help me establish
00:41:54my roots better. The recent data shows that I'm currently experiencing
00:41:57low growth and it's essential to ensure I have the right moisture levels in the soil.
00:42:00So it's quite detailed really.
00:42:03It just gives you a kind of responsive way to care for your garden.
00:42:06You still need to go and check it and you would always rely
00:42:09on your intuition as the gardener or the custodian.
00:42:12But it gives you this dashboard array, it's just quite useful
00:42:15to know, so we can come in in the morning
00:42:18see the trees that are red, the trees that are green and the trees
00:42:21that are amber and just spend a bit more time with the trees that are showing
00:42:24red indicators, making sure they have what they need.
00:42:27Which is great and we hope therefore that gardeners are going to
00:42:30embrace this in the future. Well we hope so
00:42:33and our city really needs it
00:42:36at the moment with the climate changes and all the changing
00:42:39the atmosphere around it. It's quite difficult
00:42:42to predict how the trees are behaving in different locations
00:42:45and this very discreet technology
00:42:48can help us go a really long way of
00:42:51making our city more greener and healthier.
00:42:54Well I have to say it's brilliant that you've brought it to Chelsea
00:42:57I mean obviously you've got best construction
00:43:00so I'm assuming the whole of this build, every part of it
00:43:03the technology as well has been recognised so
00:43:06well done to you guys, well done.
00:43:12Well it remains to be seen how much technology
00:43:15is going to help or possibly even hinder
00:43:18our lives in the gardening, although I have to confess the more hands on
00:43:21it is the better I like it. Anyway
00:43:24now it's time to go into the Great Pavilion
00:43:27where Carol is championing plants that give
00:43:30maximum performance for minimum fuss.
00:43:33There are some plants
00:43:36that are really fussy,
00:43:39ill drama queens. On the other hand
00:43:42most plants are very accommodating
00:43:45and I'm going to look at lots of border stalwarts
00:43:48that you can just put in and we'll get on with it
00:43:51all on their own. Plants to give you colour
00:43:54and interest for months on end.
00:44:03A strand here of cottage garden
00:44:06favourites. They're surrounded by
00:44:09papery bracts which means that those
00:44:12flowers last and last for ages
00:44:15and ages. If you want further flowering
00:44:18though you can cut them back to the ground and they'll
00:44:21re-flower for you. They really really do
00:44:24earn their keep. You can let them
00:44:27sell seed to you and you'll often get extra plants
00:44:30that way. Another true stalwart
00:44:33is the salvia nemerosa.
00:44:36Now there are lots of salvias. Many of them come from
00:44:39Central America and they're a bit on the tender side
00:44:42but these are a Eurasian group of salvias
00:44:45totally hardy and
00:44:48you get flowering right the way through May,
00:44:51June, July and way on into the summer.
00:44:55The very famous
00:44:58lady gardener Marjorie Fish
00:45:01once said, when in doubt, plant a geranium.
00:45:04Sound advice indeed.
00:45:07Now there's one on here which is a
00:45:10true border warrior. It's a geranium
00:45:13called Derrick Cook. It flowers
00:45:16and flowers and flowers with these great big
00:45:19pale pale flowers. Stands out really
00:45:22beautifully.
00:45:25How can you add an extra touch
00:45:28of pizzazz, of glitz and glamour?
00:45:31Well, by using bulbs.
00:45:34Alliums are the number one candidate.
00:45:37Really straightforward, easy to grow.
00:45:40This is Violet Beauty with these large sort of drum heads.
00:45:43Or you could try something smaller,
00:45:46Allium spharicephalum. Really cheap, really easy
00:45:49and they will come back year after year
00:45:52after year.
00:45:55People sometimes ask, part of my border
00:45:58is in the shade. What can I grow there?
00:46:01Try some martigan lilies. So elegant,
00:46:04so gorgeous, exquisite.
00:46:07They almost look as though they should be tender
00:46:10but not a bit of it. They're as hardy as can be
00:46:13and they'll come back year after year.
00:46:16By carefully choosing great plants
00:46:19that you know are going to earn their keep
00:46:22and adding bulbs for those crescendos
00:46:25here and there, you're guaranteed
00:46:28colour and interest right the way through
00:46:31from spring to late autumn.
00:46:39This week we're looking at some of the design
00:46:42and planting combinations that can inspire us to create
00:46:45our perfect garden. And if you're looking for a garden
00:46:48to escape to, then the Addishaw Goddard Freedom to Flourish
00:46:51Garden could be just the one
00:46:54for you. And well, here it is
00:46:57and it's certainly the one for me.
00:47:00It's very much rooted in the
00:47:03Norfolk landscape. There's a saying
00:47:06there, colloquialism, slow you down
00:47:09and that is the intention with the design here.
00:47:12And everything is from that area, inspired by that area
00:47:15so we've got these incredible gabions creating these
00:47:18walls which envelop the garden
00:47:21filled there with stone and then at the very top
00:47:24Norfolk water reed and that was really crucial
00:47:27to the local economy. And then we've got these steel walls
00:47:30representing the seawall
00:47:33really to keep back the land
00:47:36and literally stop it drifting off into the sea
00:47:39and this wonderful boardwalk
00:47:42and if you look at the boardwalk closely
00:47:45it's got the scars left by limpets
00:47:48all over it. You can see the little sort of suction masks
00:47:51it's really wonderful. The planting too
00:47:54just has the plants that are just
00:47:57so happy in these sort of coastal conditions
00:48:00which are actually very challenging. So we've got things like
00:48:03sea kale, cranberry maritima and the sea thrift
00:48:06they're both native plants but there are others here
00:48:09that also cope really well with those sort of growing conditions
00:48:12things like the euphorbias
00:48:15we've got verbascums, everything here
00:48:18is just designed to enjoy those sort of
00:48:21coastal growing conditions. If you've got a seaside garden
00:48:24this is the planting plan for you.
00:48:27I also love the colours
00:48:30because they're so relaxing. The atmosphere
00:48:33that they help to create. These soft peaches
00:48:36in these beautiful little California poppies
00:48:39over there. Everything is soft blues
00:48:42that suggest the sea really
00:48:45and the other thing here that's really clever
00:48:48is that there's water and it very
00:48:51very slowly rises up, stays
00:48:54for a minute or two and then it subsides again
00:48:57so it's mimicking the natural
00:49:00movement of the tide.
00:49:03You can almost stand here and smell
00:49:06the sea. It's got that much sort of atmosphere
00:49:09to it. It's absolutely wonderful
00:49:12and if you can relax in a garden like this
00:49:15that's priceless.
00:49:24My guest tonight is an artist
00:49:27and designer who's visiting Chelsea for
00:49:30the first time. Inspired by his Nigerian
00:49:33heritage his creations range from everyday
00:49:36products to major public installations but always
00:49:39put in colour front and centre.
00:49:42He is Yinka Iluri. Now welcome to Chelsea
00:49:45Yinka. Hi Mons. How are you doing? You okay? I'm fine.
00:49:48What's your response to Chelsea? This is your first visit.
00:49:51Well I've always heard about it but it's actually my first time actually coming here
00:49:54and seeing these incredible installations, flowers, the colours
00:49:57the energy. It's really
00:50:00infectious and I'm honoured to be here. Thanks for having me.
00:50:03It's great that you've come. Tell me
00:50:06first of all, are you a gardener? I wouldn't say
00:50:09I'm a gardener but I respect gardens and respect gardeners
00:50:12and gardening but
00:50:15I'm a tiny gardener.
00:50:18Do gardens, you say respect
00:50:21gardens, do they influence how you design?
00:50:24Because I know colour is really important. That's right. I've seen your work
00:50:27which is fantastically colourful and strong.
00:50:30Plants are colourful. They are.
00:50:33Within my work, my work is centred around community and joy
00:50:36and people and storytelling.
00:50:39During the pandemic I designed this pavilion called In Plants We Trust
00:50:42which was all inspired by Kew Gardens
00:50:45and Clifside Park and using all these incredible
00:50:48kind of colourful flowers and plants to really inspire
00:50:51us, give us a sense of hope
00:50:54and joy in our everyday lives. So I have used it
00:50:57in my work from time to time because I always feel I get a sense of peace
00:51:00and calmness when I'm in a flower garden or a park
00:51:03in a public space. You mentioned Clifside Park
00:51:06you grew up on Essex Road. That's right. Now we were talking earlier
00:51:09I used to live just off Essex Road, North Church Road.
00:51:12I do actually, yeah. Okay, so I know that
00:51:15area. Okay. It's not particularly rich in colour
00:51:18there. No. But how did that relate to
00:51:21the Nigerian, your Nigerian heritage?
00:51:24I think for me it was seeing the incredible Nigerians wearing the
00:51:27Swiss Royal Aces, the Dutch Rijksprinz, their incredible rich
00:51:30attire they would wear every Sunday to church
00:51:33and seeing my parents wear colours and having sort of
00:51:36floral motifs on their Jacquard weave clothing.
00:51:39So naturally I think colour was always going to be part of my
00:51:43DNA and using that within my
00:51:46narratives and my work has been ways of connecting with my
00:51:49heritage. Being born in London but also having those two rich cultures
00:51:52and trying to fuse it into my public work
00:51:55has been incredible.
00:51:58That dynamism that comes
00:52:01from that is what must be sometimes clashing cultures. Totally, yeah.
00:52:04Exactly. And getting that energy.
00:52:07It is, yeah. And so
00:52:10I know you've only had a fairly brief look around and this is your first
00:52:13visit, but how does garden design
00:52:16relate to the kind of design that you do?
00:52:19Do you see elements coming in and borrowing and sharing?
00:52:22I do, yeah. I think for me it's about the kind of curation of how gardeners
00:52:25curate their spaces and the flowers and how they sort of
00:52:28sing towards each other, how they kind of don't fight
00:52:31against each other, they sort of really respect each other and where they're
00:52:34sort of planted, the colours, the shape, how big the bulb is,
00:52:37how small the plant is, how small the flower is. I think for me
00:52:40it's just kind of how a curator would design an exhibition.
00:52:43I was really obsessed with the Japanese gardens that I just saw today.
00:52:46I think it's incredible, beautifully. Have you been to Japan?
00:52:49I haven't and I felt like I was in Japan going to a Japanese garden today.
00:52:52Well of course the Japanese have this concept of ma
00:52:55where the significance of the empty space between things
00:52:58which is, therefore it's down to pruning.
00:53:01As a gardener you can shape things, you can twist things
00:53:04which has a kind of mobility which of course you don't get
00:53:07in fixed design. No, no, exactly.
00:53:10I think, yeah, definitely I think for me within my practice
00:53:13we have, you know, we get a set brief and I think sometimes
00:53:16it can be quite structured, you know, you have a brief.
00:53:19Whereas as far as gardening, I think there's a lot more space for kind of, you can sort of
00:53:22it's a lot more fluid. It's organic. It's organic.
00:53:25There's no, you can make this, magic can happen.
00:53:28I think with architecture and design it's a lot more kind of structured,
00:53:31there's rules and regulations. There's a lot more play
00:53:34I think with gardening. I think there's definitely play within my work
00:53:37but there's a lot more play, you know. Could you see yourself
00:53:40designing gardens? Oh, I would love to.
00:53:43I mean, I've been approached twice over the last four or five years
00:53:46to design something, a pavilion within Joe's flower show
00:53:49but it didn't happen. But I could see it.
00:53:52I'd love to do it. This is wonderful. You should do something for Joe's.
00:53:55I'd love to. Yeah, we've had a few emails
00:53:58come back and forth but nothing's actually come to fruition
00:54:01and I'm hoping this is the start of something.
00:54:04Well, hopefully you'll get a chance to have a really good look around
00:54:07and just feel, A, you could bring something
00:54:10of your own magic, maybe better than anyone else.
00:54:13Well, I'm actually quite obsessed with
00:54:16there's this sort of traditional Nigerian flower.
00:54:19It's called a, gosh, a trumpet flower. It's a yellow
00:54:22it's got this name I can't pronounce actually but I think I'd love to do something
00:54:26around Nigeria and sort of florals, flowers in Nigeria.
00:54:29I'm going to hold you to that. Yes, yes.
00:54:32Thank you so much for coming now and I look forward to seeing your Chelsea garden.
00:54:35Thank you, thank you. OK, thanks a lot.
00:54:43As we've already seen, we're spoilt for choice at Chelsea
00:54:46this year with the new plant varieties that we can all
00:54:49enjoy in our gardens for years to come.
00:54:52So, notebooks at the ready, Jamie has three more
00:54:55newly launched plants to add to your wish list.
00:55:04One of the trends I've noticed at this year's Chelsea Flower Show
00:55:07is the return of flowering shrubs.
00:55:10And here on the Bahrain stand, tucked away right in the middle
00:55:13I've spotted this brand new Deutzia.
00:55:16This is Deutzia Pink Cloud.
00:55:20I love Deutzias but I only have a really small garden at home
00:55:23and normally Deutzias grow to about this size so I've never
00:55:26been able to grow them. But the beautiful thing about this
00:55:29special Deutzia is that it's a low-growing compact version
00:55:32so perfect for containers, balconies
00:55:35or smaller gardens like mine.
00:55:38What I really love is that
00:55:41the buds look utterly beautiful
00:55:44they're tight, compact little pearls
00:55:47and when the buds do open it creates this cherry
00:55:50blossom-like effect from late spring
00:55:53all the way through into mid-summer
00:55:56and it's extremely hardy. I think we'll be seeing a lot more of this plant.
00:56:05This is Streptocarpus Betty
00:56:08a fantastic new house plant that's really caught my eye.
00:56:11It's striking lilac petals
00:56:14and deep ink purple centres
00:56:17are truly beautiful.
00:56:20They grow really well in a windowsill but don't like
00:56:23that direct midday sunlight.
00:56:26What's brilliant about this plant is it flowers for 10 months of the year
00:56:29so it's going to give you so much colour
00:56:32and so much interest.
00:56:38The final plant that I'm really excited to see
00:56:41is a brand new Aeonium called Midnight Palm
00:56:44and it's been bred by Joe Jackson.
00:56:50I love the colour of this Aeonium, it's so striking
00:56:53I've never bred an Aeonium before.
00:56:56What goes into creating a plant like this?
00:56:59Well first of all you need Aeonium flowers which are actually quite unusual
00:57:02so you need two plants with two flowers, cross them
00:57:05collect the seed and sow the seed.
00:57:09To get a plant that you're happy with can take about 3 years.
00:57:12Is it pot luck as to what this is going to come out as?
00:57:15Absolutely, it's mother nature doing her work.
00:57:18So you have to do a lot I guess to end up with just one plant
00:57:21that looks as beautiful as this?
00:57:24We discard many.
00:57:27Aeoniums themselves, I've always considered Aeoniums
00:57:30to be a conservatory, maybe windowsill plant
00:57:33but would it be possible to put them outside
00:57:36on the terrace in the pot maybe?
00:57:39Definitely, they really do want to be outside.
00:57:42They make a great patio statement, wonderful colours
00:57:45you can create some succulent bowls with them as well.
00:57:48They do live very happily outside in the summer
00:57:51but you do need to protect them in the winter.
00:57:54Maybe that's where I've been going wrong!
00:57:57It's a truly stunning plant, huge congratulations.
00:58:00Well Monty, it's been another great day
00:58:03and what better way than to round off with some viewer questions.
00:58:06So here we go, first off, this is from Sheila
00:58:09and she does want to know, we planted a climbing hydrangea
00:58:12in pots 2 years ago, they're growing really tall
00:58:15but we have no flowers, what am I doing wrong?
00:58:18Nothing, nothing wrong at all.
00:58:21Climbing hydrangeas are slow to flower.
00:58:24Now as long as it's growing, I planted one about 5 years ago
00:58:27and it hasn't yet flowered.
00:58:30I planted one about 20 years ago and I had it for about 15 years
00:58:33and it started flowering after about 8.
00:58:36So I would say be patient, keep looking after it
00:58:39and in about 3-4 years time it will start flowering.
00:58:42The flowers will come.
00:58:45So I have a north-west facing shaded patio
00:58:48which has a wooden fence on one side that I'd like to cover
00:58:51to make it more interesting.
00:58:54What should I plant here in a pot?
00:58:57North-west is fine.
00:59:00There's lots you could grow there.
00:59:03Almost every clematis would be happy on that.
00:59:06Lots of roses. Morello cherries, love it.
00:59:09North-west facing is not too shaded.
00:59:12A little bit of shade does no harm.
00:59:15I would just plant what you like
00:59:18and not worry too much about it.
00:59:21Not wisteria perhaps.
00:59:24A lot of shorter roses would be good.
00:59:27Hayden, how regularly should I be feeding
00:59:30and watering my potted dahlias as they grow?
00:59:33If they're in a decent compost
00:59:36don't worry about it too much
00:59:39but I would say water once a week with a really good soak
00:59:42but no more.
00:59:45Then we water it and give it a liquid seaweed feed once a week.
00:59:48But not too strong, don't overfeed.
00:59:51That's really interesting that you only water your dahlias
00:59:54in pots once a week.
00:59:57I water them almost daily.
01:00:00We have fairly big pots
01:00:03and we give them a real soak.
01:00:06Good advice.
01:00:09I'm afraid that's all we have time for this evening
01:00:12and we hope you've enjoyed the many ideas we've shared with you
01:00:15so that you can continue gardening for the good life.
01:00:24Tomorrow evening at 7.30 on BBC One
01:00:27you can join Sophie and Adam
01:00:30and they will be revealing the winner
01:00:33of the BBC RHS People's Choice Award
01:00:36and then I will be back with Rachel and Eric
01:00:39on BBC Two at eight o'clock
01:00:42to look at the impact of Chelsea into the future.
01:00:45See you then.
01:01:15.
01:01:18.