Gardeners World 2025 episode 13
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🛠️
LifestyleTranscript
00:00More on that after the ultimate gardening day out.
00:07Hello and welcome to Gardeners World Live.
00:11Now, Rachel, this is a show that for me is quite unlike any of the others. This is special.
00:16I absolutely agree. Well, it's our show, first of all.
00:19It's a very friendly show and I think these are real gardeners here.
00:24You feel here that people are interacting at the beginning.
00:26Oh, look at that thing and buy. They're going shopping, apart from anything else.
00:29And somehow the show gardens do feel more intimate.
00:33And of course, we've got the A team here, Arit, Adam and Ashley.
00:38Triple A's.
00:39And they're already out exploring the best on offer.
00:42There's so much to see at the show this year.
00:45So we're going to give you just a little taste of what's coming up in the next hour
00:49and why Gardeners World Live is so special.
00:54Birmingham's central location is the perfect spot for Gardeners World.
00:58Very own flower show.
01:00It's a place for people from across the country to come together and share in our passion for garden.
01:07It's the best show. We cover every year to see Monty and the team.
01:10I love the size of the show gardens here because at home, in a new build garden, they're small.
01:16So I can basically come here, pick a show garden up, take it home and put it in my garden.
01:21And I've got the exact same effect.
01:23The gardens are brimming with inspiration and take home ideas.
01:27And we'll be following Nick Bailey as he builds his show garden, which is all about making every metre matter.
01:36It's been seven months in the planning, but finally the garden is beginning to become a reality.
01:41The floral marquee is awash with summer colour and expert growers offering advice.
01:46That is marvellous. Thank you very much indeed.
01:49No, thank you. Thank you very much.
01:51It's also home to the International Orchid Show with 31 exhibitors doing incredible plants.
01:57I brought my orchids all the way from Ecuador for the show.
02:00I'm from Taiwan.
02:01I bring a lot of Asian species to England because you don't see them in England often.
02:06We will be meeting one of the more local exhibitors as they prepare their collection for the show.
02:12This is Scaphocephalum gibberosum.
02:14I just love them because they just look like big moustaches.
02:18They're just very different, very unusual.
02:22The beautiful borders are a hotbed of creativity.
02:25And that's where many designers make their debut.
02:28I applied to build my first border just three years ago.
02:32This show has been a springboard for my career.
02:34And now I'm winning awards for Showcase Gardens.
02:37And we'll be meeting a mother and son building their first ever border
02:42with a design that combines both Welsh and Arabic roots.
02:46I see the garden as like an exhibition of my faith.
02:50So why not have an Islamic garden?
02:52With plants that can thrive in this environment.
02:56Gardeners World Live is truly the people's show.
02:59It has something for all of us.
03:02At Gardeners World Live this year, the show gardens are doing a fantastic job at demonstrating, first of all,
03:07different styles of design, traditional, more contemporary.
03:12But also they're carrying very different atmospheres.
03:15And for me, that's what gardens are all about.
03:17And for me, that's what gardens are all about.
03:18I mean, when you look at this one, first of all, it looks obvious.
03:22Lovely sort of zig-zag path leading to a big focal point.
03:28gardens are doing a fantastic job at demonstrating first of all different styles of design
03:33traditional more contemporary but also they're carrying very different atmospheres and for me
03:40that's what gardens are all about i mean when you look at this one first of all it looks obvious
03:45lovely sort of zigzag path leading to a big focal point at the end and you're traveling over this
03:51water so there's a sense of sort of calmness but then you look a little bit closer and it really
03:56starts to sort of reveal itself and you realize it's not just about human beings it provides for
04:02wildlife the lovely bit though at the end each run of path there's a little focal point now i've
04:08stepped down feels slightly different there's a boulder i can sit down the eye line completely
04:15changes i'm now immersed and i feel very different to i did up there then there's these lovely little
04:21bee posts so those solitary bees are provided for and then you've got the planting the gravel
04:27underfoot so there's a texture you know you look at this as a design it's quite classic but then there's
04:33a really good diversity of trees and then there's layers of shrubs and then there's herbaceous planting
04:39but then you've got that main feature of the water it's a cracker
04:56what did i say about atmosphere yes this feels very different it's rugged it's this sort of winding path
05:03that you sort of slowly move through the space you know one of the lovely things here is this was
05:09all built by students and it's great that the show young landscapers gardeners you know people
05:15cutting their teeth in the world that i love but if you look closely in every single one of these
05:21gardens there is stuff to take home look at that behind me yeah lovely little border but for me
05:28the fantastic bit is all the different flower shapes we've got achilles in there we've got
05:33poppies we've got salvias we've got geoms all those different shapes and forms create this sort of
05:39wonderful tapestry so you know you come here you take a photograph of that and that inspires some
05:47planting in your own garden
05:49there you go that was fun what a great reminder though when you're creating a garden you know how
06:06do you want it to feel do you want that moment of calm lively place to entertain this is all about kids
06:12and you can see look at the primary colors you've got the salvias the dahlias you know the geoms
06:17they're in gyms so there's these different shapes and forms but those primary colors really put a
06:22smile on your face but also what i love as well is designers come up with cracking ideas look at these
06:30i peep down they're tiny little people so as you look through they perfectly frame the planting and
06:37obviously everyone's going to be slightly different what i think is great about these show gardens is
06:43yes some of them you can literally pick up transport put in your own backyard but the others that not
06:49necessarily jump out at you as something you would do are still full of great ideas that we can take
06:56home just to make our spaces maybe a little bit better
07:02i love the way that at this time of year there's a whole new palette of color and plants adding real
07:14zing to our gardens and it's not too late to be thinking about what you can plant now to extend that
07:21flowering season into late summer and early autumn and arid and ashley are in the full marquee
07:28delighting and discovering the extraordinary range of wonderful plants to be found
07:40actually can you believe they've actually let us in i can't this is like plant heaven every
07:44plant you can ever imagine is in this room with us now i know what you're like because you want to
07:48take in the detail you've got your gardening head on what you're looking for yeah i think i'm looking
07:52for the right plant for the right place and i want to see new plants ones that we could maybe use in
07:57future gardens okay yeah and i guess as a designer you're looking for the right combinations and
08:02extending that flowering season yeah yeah i love looking at that i love looking at the displays and
08:06of course there's the individual plants but it's how do you put them together colors textures you know
08:12different shapes all right let's see let's see what you come up see in a bit
08:15look at this the color is absolutely stunning iris water waltz but i love the shape of the flower here
08:31all of these lovely scallops around the outside a real showstopper in a very sunny border
08:46this galenia has caught my eye because you don't often see a pink one it's so delicate and it has
08:52this beautiful chocolate foliage and then i couldn't help but notice this asa viper which has this
08:57incredible leaf and the bark imagine that in the winter that has beautiful white stripes that will
09:02provide winter interest for you there's also a little alcamilla which is so cute has the cutest little
09:08leaves absolutely love this adenifora which has a beautiful fade from purple to white it is really
09:16similar to campanula and will be perfect for woodland edge dappled shade
09:19now this is really pretty i love how this nautia is bouncing across the top of your layer here
09:34really really pretty tiny little button shapes now completely different to that great big blousy iris
09:39but it works so well it's very very ephemeral i really love this type of planting i think ashley would
09:44like this here we have a selection of plants would be perfect for a sunny border you've got this
09:50mellow yellow verbascum you've got this beautiful steeper which is knitting everything together so
09:55this is a great combination if you've got a gravel garden or you're looking for drought tolerant planting
10:00i really weren't joking you were quick i told you i absorb very very quickly but i've just come here
10:10because this is where the new breeders showcase their new plants and it's so lovely that everybody
10:16can see the plants of the future incoming but look at this one this is the new heliampus and i just think
10:21it's lovely and the leaf on it is slightly glaucus it's got a texture on it as well i love how proud it
10:27is on the stems that is so nice this one caught my eye okay this is a rapaelepsis so it's an evergreen
10:34shrub so great for winter structure and i think it would look so nice mixed among other perennials
10:39very good shrubs get onto play don't they
10:51i'm in absolute seventh heaven amongst all these perennials i mean just look at the range of colors
10:57and shapes but i think best of all so many of them are suitable for attracting pollinators and
11:02that's really important to me well every year at gardeners wild live they ask a designer to create
11:08a headline garden and this year the honor has gone to our very own nick bailey
11:17it's been seven months in the planning but finally the garden is beginning to become a reality
11:23the design is broken up into 196 individual square meters and is rooted in sustainability
11:29and i want to prove that you can create an entire garden including the hard landscape using nothing
11:35but plants now we just need to pull it all together it's been a pretty full-on eight days very very long
11:45hours and then of course have been months of sleepless nights in advance of doing this but genuinely
11:51thrilled that in just a few days time people are going to be able to see all the incredible efforts
11:56that have gone into putting this garden together
12:02central to my design concept was to make sure the garden works from whichever direction you approach it
12:10typical show gardens you only get to see one or two sides this is designed so you can see in from
12:14every side and so you've got different dynamic views as you move around the site got all of these kind
12:19of pitched roofs which should interact with each other this is the veg garden but then we move
12:24into the brassicarium which is a protected area coming around this side where you can now get the
12:29full frontal view of the roofed barn doing its thing there of course there are the ponds underneath
12:34as well which kind of embody that sort of single meter space so coming through here you've got this
12:39big central line which takes you through the garden with these beautiful clay pavers we've only seen
12:45two sides of the garden but there's more if you come around here you suddenly get a whole different
12:49set of vistas looking into the roofed barn over here looking through the trees and those layers we've
12:56then got the the multi-occupancy birdhouse but also a pergola effectively that gives you an arch or an
13:03entrance way into the garden and then this is our potting shed so treated in the same way in terms of
13:08roofs and materials as everywhere else but there's even more coming through here this is where all the
13:12hazel will be growing with the beautiful meadow going underneath and then coming through here
13:17there's even more lots of stuff on the ground here but um compost heaps just here people will be able
13:22to get and see all of these different views and you can see how the vista is shifted again so i'm hoping
13:27it makes it really exciting for people they can truly get to every single angle in the garden
13:34obviously we'll have to burn some of those or cutting with scissors oh yeah just to tidy it up yeah but
13:38that is looking great sustainability is truly at the heart of this garden and not just as a concept
13:47but as a practical reality every single element has been chosen with a purpose basically to demonstrate
13:54that it's possible to garden while being incredibly kind to the planet as well i love the fact that we've
14:01been able to construct this garden basically completely from plants so the barn i'm stood in at the moment is
14:08made from douglas fur it's been treated and kind of burnt down this is known as uh sugiban which
14:13sounds very exotic kind of japanese technique i looked up the words it actually just means burnt
14:17plank but uh it's a great way of preserving timber next plant-based material is the hessian just here so
14:22this is a tropical grass actually that's used to produce this really kind of long wearing lovely
14:27material talking about grasses next material over here again plant-based this is bamboos fantastic product
14:34works as a superb cladding the guys have really kind of struggled to cut it because it's
14:37so dense it's an amazing material and then finally our one concession to a non-plant-based material are
14:43the clay pavers down there of course there's so much better for the environment than concrete or anything else
14:51it's great to see the buildings taking shape but the key to a successful show garden is always the
14:56plants you know i was saying with these bismachias that they're not great at the base
15:02so what i was thinking is we could try and run it through the angelicus yes using a few different
15:11kind of planting palettes in the garden in terms of colors and tones and textures and so what i've
15:16tried to do is go for the kind of color wheel opposites thing by pairing kind of blues and oranges
15:21but subtle tones and versions of those so i've got the napita which has got sort of violets purples burgundies in
15:27there but an overall kind of pale blue theme i've got this veronica which is slightly heading towards
15:32violet but there's blues in there as well and then the idea is that they contrast against this lovely
15:37gm called tempo orange and then we've got this fantastic carix testacea which again is doing the orange
15:48i'm using 20 trees in my garden and they need to look their best
15:52so i've learned from a bitter experience having created a few show guards to get these giant trees
15:59this is about six meters tall stand it up looks beautiful two days later you realize there's a
16:03dead leaf six meters high in the air major problem so what i'm doing here is just going through and
16:09taking out any little bits of damage any bits of yellowing foliage that will bug me down the line
16:14it's a lot easier to do you know it might sound a bit strange but i'm actually saving all of these
16:19kind of half dead leaves because behind me are two compost bins which are going in the garden
16:23and we need them to look as authentic as possible so we're actually saving all the dead plant material
16:27as well as the livestock
16:35all right let's put it in right and this way a bit all right two right
16:39the hole's too small is it
16:47can't do it you just need to dig a little bit where your foot is don't you
16:51no i think that's going to work i think it's going to work a few tweaks to do uh the hole isn't
16:59quite big enough happen sometimes just going to take a skim off the edge that will slot in literally
17:05it feels like it was made for that spot it's just kind of sitting in that wedge
17:09and it's the kind of i guess it's the glue that holds those buildings together and then it links
17:14across to the one on the other side there's a dead bit up there though
17:21i'm going to be balancing on a ladder shortly
17:23it's only seven days now until the show opens to the public and we are slightly behind it does
17:35happen with most show gardens but the good news is that all of the hard landscape is done so our
17:41birdhouse is up the roofed barn is complete the burnt out barn is doing its thing and our potting
17:47shed is done as well along with the bonds so it's down to the planting team now to get the
17:52two thousand or so plants we've got into the ground nicely settled and hopefully looking beautiful in
17:58time for the show to open
18:08well nick i know he loves plants but the fact that he's taken them through to his hard landscaping
18:13materials i think is absolutely genius it's such a brilliant way to bring new innovation into a show
18:19garden and we will be revealing his finished garden later in the program
18:28what we love about this show is that we all get to come together and talk about our favorite subject
18:34gardening whether it's reveling in beautiful flowers or solving some gardening conundrums
18:40that looks almost as good as the garden almost as good oh my goodness
18:53i've come to their sweet william i tried growing them a couple of years ago but it wasn't that
18:57successful it's got loads of buds this one so it's a really lovely plant deadhead them it'll keep
19:02flowering throughout the summer and you can also give it a liquid feed that will keep it producing healthy
19:07flowers i have got dry sandy soil in a shady position i've got an eight foot high north facing wall so
19:17let's go see if we can find you two some plants that deal with that shady conditions question go on
19:24can i tag along of course you can we're gonna go in there come on let's go
19:27let's have a smell yes i'd like that okay that's one let's go over this way shall we
19:40if we come around here look look at that oh i really like that it's a tiny little collection
19:45some of those will work in semi-shade some of them will work in shade so really what it is is finding
19:51the plants that will work roughly in the conditions and then finding the variety that will work for you
19:56does that make sense so once we've covered all the ground yeah now we want a few little gems all
20:02right so this is called dysbora for me they're a really hard-working plant and the coloration of
20:10the leaves do you get different ones some are dark some are lights does that help yeah that's
20:14i'm happy yeah really really good yeah yeah lovely day yeah thank you thank you bye bye
20:34the beautiful border section of the show is great for small space inspiration and there are 26 different
20:41designs this year all centered around the theme of cultivating connections and now it's kicking off our
20:47tour well looking at this border it's a real feast for pollinators there's penstemons and peters
21:01lavenders salvias these blocks are great in the border as well because they give out a slight scent
21:07and that paler color means that at dusk they can still carry on attracting in things like moths to
21:12pollinate and there are also some really nice sensory elements in this garden as well so this herb border
21:18here for example it's really great entry plant for children to have in a space where they can come out
21:24pick the herbs and taste them and then as i come around here i can see a firm favorite for a sunny border
21:32and that's this lovely stack is byzantia here and this is lamzy which is really good for drought
21:37tolerance but also so soft to touch which again is great for children to be able to come and see in the
21:43garden the great thing about this border is so many of the plants are easy to look after cut and come
21:49again so you can get flowering going throughout the whole season so it's good for pollinators but also good
21:54for people too i think the word that comes to mind when you see this garden is wow because it's such a
22:08burst of color and it's inspired by the super bloom events that you get globally in very arid places
22:15when all the flowers just come into bloom and make these incredible displays and also the designer comes
22:21from the east sussex coastline and you feel that sort of seaside effect going through and the plants
22:26are actually growing through sand lots of things that are familiar like the california poppies in two
22:32different shades of orange which are really lovely and then giving some height with the mallows we've
22:38got the agapanthus coming through there's a verbena through there and then on these weathered boards
22:43we've got the black-eyed susan just sort of wending its way up so you've got lots of lovely height which is
22:49great lots of wonderful plants and i particularly like those little dried flowers there they're sort
22:55of everlasting flowers and they dry and you can use them for flower arranging and so on through the
23:00year it's fantastic the main thing i think that really hits you is the color
23:05slugs can be a real problem for gardeners but this garden showcases how you can create
23:18a slug resilient space by choosing plants like these grasses geom and you've also got verbascum
23:25with hairy tough leaves that is something that slugs don't enjoy as much as the fat juicy hostas and
23:31dahlias also think about cultivation techniques in your garden this one uses a straw mulch and slugs
23:39won't like crawling over that so much over time it will break down and also feed your plants to create
23:44healthy resilient plants in your garden and one of the best things you can do is have a water feature
23:51in your garden something that wildlife will be attracted to birds and amphibians and mammals will
23:56eat slugs and remove them from your garden without you having to do the hard work but remember not
24:02all slugs are enemies they help to break down dead plant material feeding our plants and they are an
24:08essential part of the ecosystem
24:15i do think that the beautiful borders are more beautiful than ever they're really stunning this year
24:21now the show gardens on the borders are always showing something new they're giving us excitement
24:27they're making us think it's that freshness that is so appealing but actually one of the things that i
24:34love about the floral marquee is the familiarity you see old friends faces that have been showing here
24:41for years and years and obviously they're bringing new plants but this year we were sent a film
24:49by a nurseryman from evesham who is preparing to show here at gardeners world live for the very first time
25:01hello gardeners world i'm stephen from growing crazy and we're getting our pelargoniums ready for gardeners world live
25:09so my passion for pelargoniums started when i was about 13 years of age
25:14i got a job working for the national pelargonium collection which had been started and established
25:21by hazel key in what was then the largest of collection of pelargoniums under one roof
25:27as time went on i probably became the annoying teenager asking what's that one what's that one
25:35why did you get that how did that cross with that and i'm sure you know as annoying as i were hazel never
25:40showed it she was curious i think by the passion that i showed for the plants for the last 25 years
25:48or so i've worked in i.t project management and taught business strategy but that all changed
25:55the key family had sort of let me know that they were looking at winding up the business it was at that
26:02point i suddenly thought i need to save that one oh i need to keep that one
26:07i think my collection now is between five six hundred or so plants
26:14five months ago i decided to follow my dream take the leap and make it a full-time business with the
26:20help of my partner harry and my mom diane with lots of support from family and friends
26:26when stephen told me he was thinking of giving up work full-time
26:29i actively encouraged it what i didn't expect really was that i would be working full-time too
26:35on the class
26:39what are you doing mom
26:42label it up steven why are you doing that
26:46somebody didn't label up when they've got it up
26:48did they steven no they didn't mom
26:53we've come to take a look at what plants we could take with us to the show
26:58this is copthorn copthorn is a scented pelagonium but it has these large blooms on it that flower all
27:07summer long this is charity it's a scented leaf pelagonium that's primarily grown for its foliage and
27:13you can really see why another variety we would love to take with us is crocodile not only does it have
27:20these lovely flowers but it's got this really interesting featured leaf where it's got the nice
27:25veining through it it's four days until showtime so i'm hoping all of this flower is going to last
27:36i've loved the buzz of the flower shows ever since hazel took me to chelsea flower show to help out on
27:41the stand over 30 years ago we did hampton court and also we went to the very first
27:49bbc gardeners world live which is a real experience so it's kind of nice to sort of come back to
27:55where it all started really
28:01steven i can't believe that you were worrying whether you had the right quantity of plants i mean it looks
28:06absolutely perfect thank you yeah it's been a a bit of a job but we managed to you know jam-pack
28:12lots of color and lots of variety into this it's really a celebration of all the different varieties
28:17that was the aim we really wanted to sort of show off the diversity of all the plants that we've got
28:22and all the different varieties and all the different groups that are available well i think
28:25you've definitely done that thank you now might this be crocodile because i think i recognize that
28:31mottled leaf yes it's fantastic uh really unusual sort of leaf i'm not a big fan of the flowers um i
28:37do have to keep the flowers on at home because my partner does like them but i'd rather take them off
28:41and show off the leaves and you need to keep the peace oh yes now i know it's like asking who your
28:49favorite child is but do you have a favorite amongst all of these i think probably this week it's got to
28:55be the stenopalatum this really is uh something a bit different it's a species pelargonium it has
29:01these lovely sort of waxy ivy leaf kind of leaves but it has a really nice upright habit to it which
29:07makes it a really great plant and then just those flowers yeah the flowers are extraordinary aren't they
29:12the shape is really eye-catching so if you're going to buy a plant here at the show and it's the first
29:17time you've grown a pelargonium what are your top tips top tips probably first thing is to sort of
29:23think about the compost go for the best quality compost that you could afford and then do regular
29:28feeding we through the season when they're in flower would be feeding them with a good tomato feed
29:34i can't believe that it's only five months that you've been doing this full time it's extraordinary
29:40will you be coming back next year hopefully yes i'll ask you at the end of the show yes
29:53at this time of year of course it's natural that we are relishing and wallowing in all the wonderful
30:05flowers but you must have lots of foliage if you want to achieve peace and harmony in your garden
30:12which is so important and this stand ferns and foliage has three plants that really exemplify that
30:19you've got ferns you've got aces and hostas and all three will thrive if you give them the right
30:26conditions so for example for the tree ferns they must have moist air but if you spray them every day
30:32they're pretty adaptable aces are fine as long as you can keep them out the wind and also give them
30:39good drainage well i have real problems with that at long weather however hostas love it and i love
30:45hostas too and the secret to hostas to make them slug free is give them plenty of moisture give them
30:51some shade and also give them some room to grow and one of the things i'm noticing this year as i'm
30:56walking around the show is i'm seeing lots of gardens and displays that are inducing that kind of green calm
31:15all the beautiful borders are really good but this one is interesting because it's doing an awful lot
31:20it's providing free seats different types of colorways but all of them are aimed at providing
31:26a space for people just to stop relax and be at peace and i particularly like this corner it's very
31:34simple you have this hardy geranium mrs kendall clark which has got this lovely powdery slightly lilac-y color
31:42the philitrum which is topped off with that gentle lilac but also has these incredible rich deep stems
31:49and then the ferns and the foliage and the little grasses around it it's simple planting but the point
31:55is it's gentle and sometimes even in the middle of summer you need that subtle but gentle planting both
32:04of flower and of foliage to find the peace that is so important within yourself
32:20now i've come to this garden which is right on the edge of the showground but it's really worth
32:24the visit it's called a garden of reflection and i like its story it has been made specifically for a
32:30secondary school in wargrave near reading now in my experience getting secondary school children
32:36to engage with gardening at any level is an uphill struggle but this garden does it very creatively
32:42because it's not just creating a space full of lovely plants much more importantly it's creating a
32:48safe environment where they can let the plants and nature come to them and they can engage with it
32:55on their own terms and going around the show this year i'm seeing more and more examples of plants
33:00and of inspiration of how you and your garden can create those calm quiet retreats
33:14the beautiful borders are great for inspiration but they also provide the perfect springboard for
33:19aspiring designers to take their first steps a few weeks ago we met a family in swansea who are
33:25combining their many talents to create their first ever border the first time i came to klein park i was
33:39maybe three or four and i just thought i'd entered a magical world it was like a fairy tale so obviously
33:45i wanted my kids to grow up in klein so over the years i brought them to the park and i feel that if
33:51you let children be in nature then they'll look after it and take care of it which is very important
33:56to me as a mother of seven i've uh i've done the apprenticeship for nearly three years now in klein
34:03i've learned to experience here and to me flying is an amazing park
34:06my name is omar yousef i'm emma yousef i'm his mum we're collaborating for a garden of will
34:14live it'll be a paradise garden with arab and welsh theme and the name of the garden is calon
34:21land which is a pure heart in welsh my inspiration was klein but the most inspiration for me was my
34:30garden that inspired me to learn a lot about plants me and my mum we make a good team my mother's
34:39responsible for designing the garden i'm gonna help with uh putting it together i will be giving the
34:46horticultural plant knowledge so i say what about this and he says no mom you can't have that or he
34:53says yeah amazing why don't you incorporate such and such with it so the inspiration was actually the
34:59theme this year which is cultivating connections as i'm from mixed heritage and islamic faith there's
35:06so many connections but all these things are beautiful elements and i wanted to combine them
35:11into a garden i see the garden as like an exhibition of my faith and my journey and my welsh and arab
35:19heritage so why not have an islamic garden with plants that can thrive in this environment
35:26and it's nice to show um people about both heritages what plants are growing in iraq and
35:32uh wales it's a welsh border we we love wales very patriotically welsh he speaks welsh as well
35:40so yeah it's shocking paradise gardens is whatever you think paradise is for me paradise is just going to
35:48be lush green lots of color lots of water the ton of birds anything that's soothing to your soul
35:55so the color scheme for canal land is white serice color and purple i'm growing the cyrus cyberica
36:08because they've got a lovely purple color and it's got an amazing height and it grows so quick only takes
36:14about two months for it to fully develop and have nice flower and it's a spectacular plant
36:24water has a very important role to play in paradise gardens water is the life force of all creation
36:30it mentions in the quran four rivers in paradise of wine honey milk and water
36:36water generally islamic gardens are split into four because of the rivers so i feel that it should be
36:44incorporated in any garden um soothing for the soul no matter where your culture or garden is based
36:57so we wanted to find a space where we wanted to plan this garden so i've cleared this area this
37:02was brambles before i've cultivated it and now the plan is basically to put all the plants along here
37:08just to see the mock-up of the garden before the show
37:26this is mint it's the same variety that they have in a rock
37:29i've put this in my garden because it's a five senses garden
37:33obviously you can have this in tea you put in salad so it's taste and also it gives off a lovely scent
37:41that i'm hoping will tie in with the smell of roses and jasmine
37:49we're a family of nine my husband and myself have seven children almost the oldest
37:56uh the youngest is three they've all been getting involved in helping with planting and planning and
38:02mosaics i thought i'd take this opportunity um to get my children to help me make some mosaics
38:11i think it's a really nice idea for them all to have contributed to this mosaic that is going to be
38:16the central feature of the garden my inspiration is celtic knotwork also i like geometry which is
38:23islamic patterns what we're making right now is a celtic heart um because the garden's called
38:31cal and lan which is pure heart
38:38these plants the irises the salvias the digitalis they were part of my journey when i was inclined
38:45i thought why not grow them for the boarder
38:47it's going to be an exciting experience really good for the kids they're all taking part in it
38:57they're all it'd just be fantastic for them to see what i can actually do i quite like the idea of
39:03people seeing my tiny little border and thinking that's a full-on garden i think everybody needs a
39:10bit of paradise in their life because life is hard for people and when you go into the garden and you
39:16sit amongst the green and the different colors and the birds and the bees and the sound of nature
39:22your heart is at rest you're at ease you feel a sense of peace it doesn't matter what faith you're
39:28from this is the beauty of gardens it has the same calling to everybody
39:32emma and umar all of that hard work is paid off you are now at the show so
39:48how is the experience emma it's been an amazing experience lovely people seeing all the celebrity
39:54gardeners and the mentors from my son really um i'm so glad i did it and brought him to the right
40:00place so he could see that anything is possible so how's your family reacted to seeing this lovely
40:06garden here totally amazed my little one who's four he came and he ran on the garden and plunked
40:12himself on the chair and my son was like he's not supposed to go in the show gardens i was like
40:16it's my garden he can do what he wants so he was wow mummy's garden and then my daughter she's
40:22going to be doing architecture yes so she was wowed by it so all i want from life is to inspire my
40:28children and i feel i've achieved that oh well done and you've only just finished your apprenticeship as
40:34well um so to see all your wonderful plants how are you feeling it's just amazing to show plants i've
40:40got um fox gloves irises all sorts of plants from wales and iraq and it'll just be amazing to show
40:47people uh what you can do in such a small space yeah um and it'd be amazing to show the pollinator
40:53flowers too exactly and i understand that you're going to have this relocated so where's it going
40:58on to they'll be relocating the swansea the waterfront i'm hoping that many people can enjoy it and see
41:04it and it's such a privilege and it should take pride in place in wales because it's influenced by
41:10the welsh heritage all the slabs are celtic designs obviously it's a fusion of a few different cultures
41:17but there's a big welsh influence on the garden well i think it's really great to see that fusion
41:23i have family in wales so i hope to be able to come and see it at the waterfront at some point
41:27that'll be amazing amazing send them so well done well done
41:40this garden is based on a new build in one corner maybe the garage takes out a chunk of the garden
41:52then you've already got a shed if you're lucky and then they're left with this slightly awkward space
41:58you still want all the things we want from our garden you want to relax maybe you want to provide
42:03for wildlife well this does it really well simple small trees work through the space they just start
42:09to soften and bring the garden down to this level but on the way you've got these raised beds but
42:15all of those is reflected in this central water feast the whole thing glues together but it's not that
42:21classic look out the window strong lines you know it's all these overlapping shapes that sit really
42:27comfortably and then the planting is a mix of the softer wilder leery meadow right into the good old
42:36ornamentals and the last thing the materials they're all reclaimed you know they're imagined to be
42:42collected off the building side so however intimidating that little blank space outside the
42:49back door might feel a little bit of thought you two could have something like this
42:54and i'm really loving this garden it's got everything you could want in a relatively small
43:07space very much a garden of two halves so on this side this is the shady bit and all these shade loving
43:12plants things like the hostas and ferns the heuchera and it's punctuated by these yew balls which just
43:18gives it that structure and if you haven't got space for a tree well this is a perfect solution it's
43:23silver birch which is grown multi-stemmed from the base and then they've clipped it a little bit
43:28higher up so you can use all of this space underneath the planting which is fantastic
43:33and then on the other side of this path which is very smart it's made of burnt scaffolding boards
43:39and they're then oiled and it looks really expensive but actually isn't so a really good tip
43:45and then this side all of the sun lovers so they're growing through gravel which is a great mulch
43:50to help sort of retain moisture but also keeps down the weeds and sets them off beautifully things
43:55like the salvias you've got alliums here still going and it's lovely this sort of palette of beautiful
44:01soft mauves i think what i really like is that you could imagine you could just pick up this whole
44:06garden in its entirety pop it down into yours and be very happy indeed
44:21it's interesting listening to rachel talk about the sunny side and the shady side because this garden
44:28is definitely designed around weather it's for a drier part of the country but also that idea that we
44:35shouldn't use so much water in our gardens you look at it as a layout it's quite simple elegant
44:42rectangular at the top path that drives all the way around and then you've got a sunken space
44:46texture in materials it's quite lovely you're waxing lyrical aren't you just about the talk about
44:52planting so that's perfect timing i'm really admiring the planting it's beautiful i mean so
44:58well adapted as well for dry conditions all these silvery and and grey leaf foliage but i love the
45:03movement as well the grass across the top it's also i think thought-provoking because you've got a
45:08fountain yeah that of course would have been all about the water and now we're showing look what you
45:13can do without any water just planting it up it's really beautiful actually the last little group of
45:17plants for me is like the poppies that seem to deal with whatever the winter we have you know
45:23they still come up the following year yeah i mean it does always come back to that mantra doesn't it
45:28right plant right place and the gardens here show that you don't need to have lots of space to be able
45:34to do exactly that that's beautiful isn't it so where's it going to go in your garden
45:44half shade achillia needs a sunny border okay yeah so it needs full sun so it doesn't really do so
45:50well in part shades thank you so much okay happy shopping i've been and looked and i love buying
45:58plants but there's no more room in that trolley i think i can find a little bit more we've got the
46:02other trolley in the trolley i brought a house last day so we're still trying to get the garden together
46:09had to put the hydrangeas in some pots but i'm not sure where to go from there put it in
46:13dapple shade if you can it just protects it from that harsh sunlight because they can go crispy on
46:17the edges the salvia that is kind of the opposite end of the spectrum so that loves it hot and sunny
46:23when these flowers are finished you cut them down to the next set of leaves and you'll get new
46:27sheets coming and flowers just keep coming and coming and the bees love them
46:31this is the second year when gunners world live has hosted the international orchid show now there
46:46are 31 exhibitors six from overseas that bring together such an incredible range of these extraordinary plants
46:54i'm told that there is no other place in the uk that you can see such a varied range of these extraordinary
47:02plants all together so if you love the plants you have to come and a few weeks ago we went down to
47:10dorset to visit a couple as they prepared their orchids to bring to the show
47:24i'm annie and i'm simon and together we're the isle of portland orchids
47:29i love gardeners world live lots of walking people there and also lots of fantastic plants i'm a bit
47:39of a plant-holic really
47:44i first started growing orchids when i was a teenager and worked at a dorset orchid nursery
47:49weekends and school holidays so that was back in the 1970s we started growing orchids together in the
47:551990s and we came here to find a perfect place to grow orchids surrounded by the wild country that
48:03that portland is worldwide there's about 28 000 orchid species so they're an enormous plant family
48:13we've currently got about 500 orchid species and we grow them in three very distinct environments
48:19this is what we call our himalayan greenhouse so this is a greenhouse that we keep with a minimum
48:27temperature of seven degrees in the winter so it's a really cool greenhouse it's also quite bright as
48:34well if you go to the himalayas the forest there is much more open woodland so the orchids are often
48:40on trees on their own getting lots of light so we find when it comes to flowering if you can give your
48:45plants plenty of light it certainly helps this is miltonia cunniata and this is a plant that we came
48:54across in the coastal mountains of brazil i remember picnicking under a tree that was completely covered
49:00in this orchid so it's not when you see a lot but when you find a tree with it on it'll be absolutely
49:05smothered this is an odonticolossum now oncidium cristatum which is again one of those cool growing
49:14orchids i think this is colombia and ecuador that part of the world the thing that's special about
49:22orchids is their diversity and the links between the species and the amazing places they come from
49:30so we've been fortunate to travel across the tropical world it's given everything context i
49:36suppose when i thought about a tropical rainforest i always thought about this colorful place and
49:42they're just great they're so green and different greens and you have to really search for the
49:47plants a lot of the time we're in the cloud forest greenhouse this is where we grow lots and lots of
49:56the miniatures a lot of these plants are from south and central america this is a dendrobium
50:05cuspitsonii and it's from papua new guinea i do love it because it is a really tiny plant with these
50:12huge great flowers we grow a lot of mastivalias and so we've got mastivalia beachianas they're
50:23hummingbird pollinated so they're they're going look at me look at me so the birds will come in
50:29and take the nectar this is our warm lowland forest so this is where we grow all of our
50:41phalaenopsis species which a lot of people will know as moth orchids all of the plants we've got
50:48here are species and that means that they're all plants that are found somewhere in the world
50:53as wild plants hybrids are produced by people we we don't produce those they don't for us have the
50:59same stories to tell this is phalaenopsis chibi and you'll notice it's got two seed pods here
51:06so we haven't got room indoors to grow hundreds of phalaenopsis but what we can do is grow our species
51:11collection produce the seed and then sell plants as as seedlings i i think our relationships with
51:18orchids is different i think my relationship is a little bit more around the botany annie you're
51:24a real gardener aren't you and you you love the propagation and the plants orchids like to have
51:30their roots slightly restricted they don't like to be over potted really squashing down just around the
51:38plant and that's what we recommend so if you can pick up the plant buy the plant
51:48that's where it's nice and sturdy in the pot
51:53this is scaphocephalum gibberosum i just love them because they just look like big
51:57pistachios they're just they're just very different very unusual so this will be coming to gardeners world
52:04life anything with a flower on is likely to be in our exhibit one of our hopes is that our our
52:12psyllogeny knitted as will be in flower so these these are the flower spikes coming here
52:17so they look about perfect so we should have lots and lots of these
52:22we really like to talk about our displays you know lots of people are so interested and simon talks
52:28non-stop to people i think together we make a really good team
52:37the thing that gets us is every time a species opens its flowers and we
52:41see again its special little face appearing for us that's a magic moment
52:52i can see the mustache orchid has made it here that's so exciting that's such a unique shape
52:57isn't it wonderful and everybody's really really enjoying it it's like they're going wow look at that
53:02flower any what else on this display are you excited about the master valley beachianas they
53:08are just incredible hummingbird pollinated and so bright you can see that just jumping out in a
53:14forest that looks amazing i mean it's like it's been colored in with a highlighter that's how bright it
53:18is simon when people are coming here to buy orchids from you what kind of advice you've given them to
53:23match the habitat the orchid naturally grows in to the habitats inside your house so some rooms might
53:28be cooler and shadier and that's going to suit the cloud forest orchids that come from tropical mountains
53:34or you might have a brighter hotter room and that would fit the plants that come more from the lowland
53:38forests but you've got a habitat somewhere in your house for every tropical orchid not only are there
53:44so many amazing orchids on the display but the scent is it absolutely intoxicating just standing here i
53:50can smell it i'm so glad i got to meet you both and hear about your orchids thank you for showing me
53:58i think i've found the perfect small spot on the whole of this showground look above me the tree
54:17providing dapple shade i've got a boulder just to perch my backside and take a moment i've got the water
54:23moving down and then i've got the bog planting wrapping its way around then the hostas and the ferns
54:28behind me it carries real atmosphere and it's not a big space in fact i think it celebrates a lot of
54:36what gardeners world live is about this year which is making a meter matter nick's mission for his
54:41headline garden is to inspire us to transform just one meter square for the benefit of you wildlife and
54:50the planet and on that note ara is now with nick and they're about to reveal his garden
55:06nick wow it absolutely looks feels smells is amazing you must be so happy it's kind of a mad thing isn't it
55:15you know as a designer when you've kind of created something in your head and then suddenly it's a
55:193d reality it never stops being amazing let's look at the plants because now that they're here
55:23it's singing i mean you know i absolutely love color and blue and orange i'm so passionate about
55:29they make each other zing and look more radiant and more exciting you've really obviously taken on
55:34board for pollinators and wildlife throughout this garden as well yeah i've tried to do that and
55:38where we've got the sort of grassy mixes the idea is that there'll be three four five months of
55:44flowering in there so as you say brilliant for pollinators but also brilliant for those parasitoid
55:48wasps of course which balance out all the pests in the rest of the garden so it's kind of showing that
55:53even in just one square meter you can create these pollinator patches these kind of pest patches and
55:58it's a really simple thing to do but of course the water that has to be present in the garden i mean
56:03it just looks fabulous i love the idea that you just bring water into a garden it brings life
56:09immediately and you know all the stats you know it's literally two three weeks and you've got 20
56:12new species suddenly in the garden but also to be able to show that just a one square meter pond
56:17you can have a couple of different plants in there you can have a beautiful display but you i love how
56:22you've been so playful and really gone into using plants throughout the whole garden you know 100 years
56:29ago we didn't have glass steel metal and plastic in gardens and we had great gardens so why can't we
56:34go back to that everything here basically apart from the clay paving is made of plants this wonderful
56:39douglas fir the cedar the hessian on the walls the bamboo onto the ends it's all plants and they're all
56:45kind of looking after each other creating this environment we don't need to use lots of these
56:49modern materials i could literally sit here all day let's kind of go through to the back if that's okay
56:54oh look at this fabulous but look the meter comes alive massively doesn't it all of your raised beds
57:04even if you're dedicating just one square meter to growing veg you can grow nine sweet corn that's
57:10going to be at least 18 corns that's a family for a month yep four courgettes now that's probably a
57:15family for a full summer right definitely you can grow four cabbages you can grow nine lettuces you can
57:21grow four tomatoes yeah just in that small space actually you can get something really productive
57:26and this a triumph indeed the uh the famous brassicarium and of course everything wants to
57:32mess with your brassicas right it's the pigeons it's the slugs it's the ovids it's the rabbits but
57:37if you've got a structure overhead and done a mini one over there you can cover it in a mesh
57:41traditionally of course we would use plastic now there is a product that does exactly the same thing
57:45but it's made of sweet corn so it's completely biodegradable lasts for eight years then you throw it on the
57:50compost table nick it's a really beautiful garden but true to you everything plant driven
58:03it's brilliant thank you really well done thank you
58:05i'm afraid that's it for today but you can still come to the show it's open until sunday and if you
58:20possibly can i urge you to do so it's really good and next week you'll be with francis who's at a
58:27beautiful garden just outside bath and i'll be back at long meadow in a couple of weeks time so until then
58:34from all of us here at garner's world live bye
58:50who's hiding secrets family drama and a big mystery to solve in the last anniversary on bbc
58:56i play now hidden treasures of the national trust the experts who take extra care of our history
59:02here next tonight
59:07grade one
59:16grade one specific progress
59:19you