Gardeners World S51e20 17-08-18
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00Hello, welcome to Gardener's World.
00:08Now, as you can see, I'm not at Longmeadow.
00:10I haven't got Nigel and Ellie with me because tonight is a special programme looking at
00:16the influence of Southern Asia on our gardens.
00:20As can be seen here at this wonderful Hindu temple in London, the conjunction of British
00:25and South Asian horticulture is changing the way that we garden.
00:33We shall be meeting people who have created gardens based upon their roots and culture
00:38of the Indian subcontinent.
00:40What I remember from my childhood is my mum's beautiful saris and I have now started to
00:47bring that colour into my garden design.
00:53Carol will be looking at some of the South Asian plants that have become common in our
00:58garden.
00:59Lots of these plants are stalwarts in our beds, borders and rockeries.
01:04We're paying a visit to the orchid unit at Kew, where Bala Kampali is doing important
01:10work.
01:11I love my job because I can always say that when I come to work, I can always say this
01:17is my office.
01:19Francis and Nick are talking to allotmenteers.
01:22Wow, so this is your bottle gourd set up.
01:25Tastes fantastic when it's fresh off the plant.
01:28But first I am here at BAPS, Swaminarayan Mandir, in Leeston.
01:53This mandir was completed in 1995 with all the extraordinary stonework carved in India,
02:01shipped over to London and then assembled in situ.
02:05A mandir is a Sanskrit word meaning to still the mind as well as a temple.
02:13And that process of stilling the mind is very important.
02:15The design of the temple and the gardens that surround it are all part of a process of sloughing
02:20off the busy world around you and then slowly, as you get closer and closer to the centre,
02:27reaching a state of spiritual and mental calm.
02:39To find out more about the interplay between the building and the garden, I'm meeting a
02:43temple volunteer, Sunita Patel.
02:46Tell me how the garden relates to the mandir in its whole.
02:54The gardens are absolutely part of the experience.
02:57When you walk in the front gate, the first thing you see is the gardens.
03:02It automatically starts to calm you, starts to bring a bit of peace within you.
03:09And then you walk up to the mandir and you're completely in awe of what you see.
03:16It's almost like you're being elevated to a higher kind of knowledge.
03:21So when you get to the top, you forget absolutely everything that you've done up to that point.
03:26You leave the world behind you and you enter something far greater than yourself.
03:37Is there any significance in the way that the paths have been laid or the fountains or whatever?
03:43So the formal gardens have three interconnecting walkways.
03:47One of the bigger shapes there represents the sun.
03:50The medium-sized one represents the earth.
03:53And the smaller one represents the moon.
03:55And they're there really to show us our connection with nature and also the universe around us.
04:02Nature is such an important part of Hinduism.
04:05And one of the great things about this garden is it's a perfect blend of east and west.
04:11It's classically western in its parterre style.
04:14But it's also traditionally Indian as well in some of the designs that we have.
04:20You'll have noticed some Indian motifs in the garden.
04:24One of those is a lotus flower.
04:26The lotus flower is really important, isn't it? Tell me why.
04:30The lotus flower is such a beautiful flower because of what it represents.
04:35So the lotus sits on top of water, surrounded by impurities.
04:40And yet it remains completely untouched by them and completely pure.
04:44So we almost need to live like a lotus.
04:48We're surrounded in the outside world by so much materialism, bad influences, vices,
04:55which we can so easily get sucked into.
04:58But we need to strive to live apart from that and sit above the water like a lotus
05:04and remain untouched by it all.
05:06I like the idea of being a lotus flower.
05:09Yes, yes.
05:10It's very beautiful.
05:20What I find fascinating about this garden is this mixture of western and Hindu,
05:27of British and Indian.
05:29So you have the parterre and nothing could be more western than that.
05:33But it's not geometrical, it's not symmetrical.
05:36Instead you have a snaking pattern infilled with this incredible burst of colour
05:43from the dahlias and the begonias and the cosmos and the pansies.
05:47And anybody who has been to India knows that colour is such a central part of Hinduism.
05:53And yet the whole thing comes together with a quiet grace
05:59that is completely at one with the spirituality of the mandir.
06:10Later on we'll be seeing how flowers are used in the rituals of the temple
06:14and also seeing how the lotus, the symbol of the lotus,
06:17is actually a really important part of the structure of the building itself.
06:23But it's not just these dramatic pieces of architecture
06:28that represent the South Asian influence in our gardens.
06:33Now we're going to hear from the first of three people
06:36who will be giving us a personal insight into what gardening means to them,
06:41starting with Sunil Patel.
06:49My family are from the north-west of India and it's very agricultural there.
06:55And the rural gardens are kind of jungly.
06:58There's ornamentals mixed in with edibles
07:02and it's just a tropical mess, you could say, and I loved it.
07:07It's almost an Indian version of cottage-style gardening.
07:11Childhood holidays and memories of going to India
07:15and the tropical environment has made its way into the garden.
07:21I love having lush, full planting that's dense
07:26and the plants are all crammed in together and jostling for space
07:30and I will plant things far too close together
07:33just to get an abundant look that's spilling out of the borders.
07:37The impression I want to give is a garden
07:40that is just on the tipping point of going completely out of control.
07:44It's a feeling of abundance and lushness
07:48that I think does hark back to seeing tropical environments.
07:52It's just about having a really beautiful garden
07:55that people can stand and look at and go, wow!
08:09That sense of pride and joy in the plot or green space
08:13that a gardener creates
08:15isn't just limited to growing ornamental plants.
08:18On allotments all over the country,
08:21plants and crops have been introduced by growers
08:25from all over the Indian subcontinent.
08:28Nick Bailey has been to Birmingham, to the Walsall Road allotments,
08:31which I remember visiting myself some years ago,
08:34to meet some of these growers.
08:37The allotment, it's the perfect escape
08:40from the hustle and bustle of city life.
08:43A patch of land where you can grow fruits and vegetables,
08:47meet local people and bring a bit of countryside close to your front door.
08:54There are 104 plots here,
08:56with 11 of those belonging to people with South Asian origins.
09:00Jazz only came to allotment growing two years ago,
09:04but it's proving to be a successful vegetable grower.
09:07I love cooking and working with food,
09:10and this is what inspired me to take on allotment and grow my own food.
09:13Now, I understand your parents were born in Bangladesh.
09:16Are these the sort of things they would have been growing back at home?
09:19Absolutely. Most of the stuff I grow now, bottle gourds, blah, blah beans,
09:23is what we've been brought up on, and obviously feed that to my children,
09:27which they'll carry on the culture as well.
09:30Wow, so this is your bottle gourd set-up.
09:33Gardeners might not have come across this before.
09:36Actually, it's related to squash and pumpkin courgettes, isn't it?
09:40That's right, yeah, it's the same family, but we haven't heard of it
09:43because we're not used to it in our cuisine in England,
09:46but because I've been brought up with it,
09:48and it tastes fantastic when it's fresh off the plant.
09:50I must tell you, I've tried to grow them in the past,
09:52and I have failed monumentally.
09:54You've clearly got it right, there's lots of fruit on here.
09:56Where did I go wrong?
09:57Well, this is how they grow them in Bangladesh.
09:59Instead of timber, they use bamboo.
10:01It's about four and a half foot off the ground
10:03because the plant probably extends about six metres,
10:05and most of the fruit grow in the middle of that,
10:07and the gravity pulls them down and makes them fat.
10:10It's like putting water in a balloon where it hangs down,
10:13and that's the secret.
10:20It's fantastic to see that you've got this growing here.
10:23Now, I know it as Colocasia esculenta.
10:25It gets called taro as well,
10:27but I think there's another common name for it in Bangladesh.
10:30We call the fruit muki,
10:32and the leaves, we call them husu, and you can eat both.
10:35So how did you grow these?
10:37I bought them from the shop, and they look like this.
10:40And we left them in the dark for about a week or two,
10:42like cheating potatoes, and they sprouted up.
10:45And I dug about a foot deep, put some manure in,
10:48and I just left them, and I forgot about them,
10:50and they've come up.
10:51Normally at this time of year,
10:53you'd expect them to be sort of up here with leaves of this size.
10:56So I think when you go for it next year,
10:58if you do them a bit more shallow,
11:00then I think you'll get a really good result.
11:02Well, I think you've done amazingly well
11:04to grow so many of these tropical plants here in Birmingham.
11:07Thank you very much, Nick.
11:12A vast majority of the South Asian community
11:15have farming and agriculture in their blood.
11:18Look Bir and Ravinder,
11:20a Sikh couple who grew up in the state of Punjab in rural India.
11:24Back there, they would have farmed land to sustain their families.
11:31Sat Sri Akal. Sat Sri Akal.
11:33Sat Sri Akal. Sat Sri Akal.
11:35Does having all of this here remind you of being back home in Punjab?
11:49I see all sorts of exotic and unusual things.
11:52How are you managing to grow them here?
12:09So I've tried growing chickpeas in London,
12:12but I found each individual plant
12:14I was probably only getting six or seven peas from,
12:17and all three of yours are absolutely smothered.
12:19So what was I getting wrong?
12:21Are these vegetables a big part of your lifestyle and faith?
12:51We used to plant pumpkin seeds in the courtyard.
12:55We used to plant them in the allotment.
12:58It took a lot of work.
13:00We had a belder, and we used to pluck the seeds.
13:04We used to cover the bigger ones with a sheet,
13:07and the smaller ones would be covered with a cloth.
13:10How many times a week do you come and work on the allotment,
13:13and what's it brought to your lifestyle?
13:21I come here to the allotment, and I enjoy it.
13:25I do a bit of work.
13:27I plough the land, I water the plants.
13:32I'm happy here.
13:34When the crops grow, I'm happy too.
13:52When I visited those Walsall Road allotments myself,
13:55some 15 years ago,
13:57I was struck by the diversity and the range of the crops,
14:01some of which, I confess, I had never come across before,
14:04and I'm glad to see that that tradition is still going strong.
14:08But it's not just edible plants that enrich our gardens.
14:12There are new gardens being made now
14:14by those with their culture and their roots
14:17based in the Indian subcontinent,
14:20and I also went along to meet Hasruti Patel,
14:23who has made just such a garden.
14:36I've travelled quite a lot,
14:38and I believe that gardening and plants are a universal language,
14:42and everybody has their own story to tell.
14:45Now, I'm in a suburban garden in Middlesex
14:48with a garden maker who's taken her inspiration from India.
14:57This is Hasruti Patel.
14:59She's created this idyllic garden celebrating her family roots
15:03as well as her strong passion for gardening.
15:06Hasruti, what a beautiful garden you have.
15:09Thank you, Joe. It's absolutely gorgeous.
15:11It's so lush and green, but where did it start?
15:14How did this garden all come about?
15:16I bought the house about 25 years ago,
15:19and then initially I didn't do that much in the garden,
15:22but I would say the last five or six years
15:24I've started taking more and more of an interest.
15:27I've just had more time, and as I've learnt more,
15:30I've wanted to learn more.
15:32You're a big traveller, aren't you?
15:34Yes, we do travel a lot, and especially back to India.
15:37At least once or twice a year we go back to India, yes.
15:40The summers there, you think,
15:42I want to take some of this back to London,
15:44you know, the warmth and the lushness.
15:46So that's how it's grown.
15:48How would you say we garden over here as opposed to gardening in India?
15:52How do the gardens differ?
15:54People's gardens are very relaxed.
15:56Things are just allowed to grow,
15:58and they're not manicured as much as gardens are here back in England.
16:03We have our rhododendrons here, which, if you've been to India,
16:07you see them around Shimla and Darjeeling,
16:09and because it's on a slope,
16:11we've done our rolling hills of Shimla here.
16:14They're incredibly healthy, aren't they?
16:16Is this acidic soil you've got here, then?
16:18No, lots of ericaceous,
16:20leaving the leaves from the beach hedge and letting them rot down.
16:24Yeah, the leaf mould adds to the...
16:26Yeah.
16:28Yeah.
16:30And do you have to... I mean, it's been so dry this year.
16:32Have you watered these at all,
16:34or have they just got their roots nice and deeply down?
16:36We're making sure that they're well watered,
16:38because in India, this is the monsoon season, July, August,
16:42and that's when they set their buds down.
16:44And if they go dry, these buds will drop off.
16:46And I won't have any colour next year.
16:48Yeah, well, if you're doing it right, it looks great.
16:50I bet in spring it's an absolute joy.
16:52It is beautiful, yeah.
16:54So, here we've got, Joe, the bananas that we've put in.
16:56Yeah.
16:58And that really reminds me of India,
17:00because we use them for cooking,
17:02for prayers and puja and things.
17:04And most houses in South India
17:06have a banana tree in the yard.
17:08Most of them do.
17:10When you say cooking, do you actually eat part of the banana?
17:12No, you don't eat the banana,
17:14but you use the leaf as almost like a fork,
17:16and then you put it in your mouth,
17:18and then you eat the banana.
17:20Oh, I see.
17:22So, you use the leaf as almost like a foil,
17:24so for steaming vegetables and things,
17:26you make a pocket out of it,
17:28and you can use it for that.
17:30I'm going to show off now,
17:32because I've got one of these in my garden.
17:34Have you?
17:36But I've released it out of the pot,
17:38so it's in the ground, and they get enormous.
17:40And the leaves are twice as big as your leaves.
17:42And I've actually had fruit on it.
17:44I've had bananas on it.
17:46Have you?
17:48Yeah, tiny little bananas.
17:50So, you're putting one out into the garden.
17:52Well, there is a long-term plan of doing that,
17:54of putting them into the ground, yeah.
17:56And they're just fabulous architectural plants, aren't they?
17:58Exactly.
18:00Tropical and lush and green, yeah.
18:06Hasruti has also spent a fair amount of time and effort
18:08on her front garden.
18:10We used to have a very big hedge here,
18:12a laurel hedge that had to come out,
18:14and then after that,
18:16we decided that we're just going to be
18:18mixed with this bed.
18:20So, as you can see, it's a little bit like India,
18:22a bit chaotic, but colourful.
18:24Slightly riotous, are we allowed to say that?
18:26Yeah, definitely.
18:28Why not, you know?
18:30No rules in this bed.
18:32We put in what we want to, and it works.
18:34So, the sweet peas just billowing over
18:36the front of the fence.
18:38The sweet peas remind me
18:40of the bougainvilleas out in India,
18:42but we can't grow them very well.
18:44So, this just gives me a taste of that kind of colour
18:46and the look as well.
18:48So, you've interpreted the spirit.
18:50That's right, and then just make it work
18:52for the site that you have.
18:54So, quite a few of these plants just self-seed around.
18:56You let them do their own thing?
18:58Yeah, definitely. It's nice to let the garden
19:00find its own balance.
19:06So, Jo, we also have
19:08a family ritual of picking
19:10something from the garden every morning
19:12and just offering it in the shrine
19:14that we have upstairs.
19:16That's a really important part of Hinduism
19:18to make sure that you think of
19:20everything around you being given to you
19:22by God as a gift,
19:24and it's just nice to then take it
19:26and offer it back to Him as well.
19:28OK, so what are you looking for in particular?
19:30Mostly scent. Over here, what we've got
19:32is the star jasmine.
19:34This is one of my go-to ones.
19:36Yeah, it's one of my favourite climbers, actually.
19:38I mean, evergreen, beautiful scent.
19:40Yeah.
19:42Absolutely gorgeous, isn't it?
19:44Yeah, gorgeous, yeah.
19:54So, Shruti, what would you say your garden means to you?
19:56I just feel so privileged
19:58to live in a space like this,
20:00and the fact that I can open my back door
20:02and this is where I am.
20:04Everything's growing, so it's all stimulated
20:06and growing, but it has the effect
20:08of really calming a person down,
20:10and it's just wonderful.
20:12Wonderful, wonderful thing to do.
20:24We are used to gardens
20:26drawing their inspiration from nature,
20:28and I have to say I love the idea
20:30of taking the essence of Shimla
20:32and bringing it to a British back garden.
20:34Here at the Mandir,
20:36the architecture has references
20:38to the natural world.
20:40And above all, everywhere,
20:42there are flowers of some sort,
20:44flowers carved into the marble
20:46of the columns
20:48and the limestone outside.
20:58High above the centre of the temple
21:00is this beautiful,
21:02the centre of the temple
21:04is this great dome,
21:06and it's topped by the representation
21:08of a lotus flower,
21:10and it is in two separate pieces of stone,
21:12and this was held up
21:14by scaffolding until those
21:16two pieces of stone were settled
21:18into position, and the scaffolding
21:20was taken away, and the building
21:22is locked secure,
21:24locked into place
21:26by the glory
21:28of a flower.
21:33Flowers are not only depicted
21:35in the architectural fabric
21:37of the Mandir,
21:39they're also offered as devotion
21:41in daily rituals,
21:43and used to adorn the Murtis
21:45or deities.
21:51Here in the UK,
21:53we're used to seeing thousands
21:55of varieties of plants in our gardens,
21:57many of which have become so familiar
21:59that you could be forgiven for thinking
22:01that they were native.
22:03And Carol has visited the Royal Botanic Gardens
22:05in Edinburgh
22:07to celebrate the plants
22:09that we all know
22:11and some that perhaps we don't realise
22:13originate
22:15from Southern Asia.
22:31It's easy to assume
22:33when you walk around your garden
22:35that somehow the plants in it
22:37have always been there.
22:39In actual fact,
22:41the plants there have been gathered
22:43from all four corners
22:45of the world.
22:47Our gardens are a melting pot
22:49of floral immigration,
22:51and that's what gives them their excitement,
22:53their marvellous colours,
22:55and some of the most exciting
22:57plants of all come from
22:59the Northern Subcontinent.
23:03We revel in the diversity
23:05of colour and form
23:07of rhododendrons,
23:09one of our favourite spring-flowering shrubs.
23:11More than a hundred of them,
23:13species and hybrids,
23:15come from India.
23:17In late spring, Clematis montana,
23:19whose ancestors originate
23:21in the northern regions
23:23of the subcontinent,
23:25clothe our walls and fences,
23:27decked in their pink and white flowers.
23:31Later, the bewitching blooms
23:33of Mechanopsis,
23:35the Himalayan blue poppy,
23:37are always a talking point.
23:45Plants like those
23:47were brought to our shores
23:49by intrepid and enterprising
23:51plant hunters.
23:54Some of the very first
23:56and some of the most pioneering
23:58studied here at the
24:00Royal Botanic Gardens, Edinburgh,
24:04which has a rich array of plants
24:06from South Asia.
24:08Lots of these plants are
24:10stalwarts in British gardens
24:12in our beds, borders
24:14and rockeries.
24:17Bachelor Utilis
24:19occurs all across the Himalayas,
24:21including in Nepal.
24:23Utilis just means useful
24:25because it's been used
24:27for buildings,
24:29for making paper,
24:31for all manner of things.
24:33It has huge religious significance too.
24:35People take its peeling bark
24:37and write little prayers on it
24:39and collect them in their amulets.
24:41It's a very variable species
24:43and it's become incredibly popular
24:45in British gardens,
24:47especially in its form
24:49Bachelor Utilis jackmontii,
24:51the white-barked birch.
24:53Garden designers just love it
24:55and very often it's grown
24:57as a multi-stemmed tree
24:59where its glorious white bark
25:01lights up the winter garden.
25:03It's also a very popular
25:05plant in the summer.
25:07It's a very easy tree to grow,
25:09very accommodating,
25:11fine, fibrous roots spread out
25:13and the leaves are always
25:15lilting and light
25:17as well as being able
25:19to see through it.
25:21When they drop to the floor,
25:23because they're not big,
25:25solid leaves,
25:27they make really good leaf litter
25:29which actually helps the growth
25:31of plants underneath its canopy.
25:37You probably recognise
25:39this plant.
25:41We've seen a lot of it
25:43in recent years.
25:45It's hugely useful
25:47in naturalistic plantings
25:49where you want everything
25:51to meld and flow together.
25:53It's a persicaria
25:55and it's called
25:57Amplexicalis atrosanguinea.
25:59It's widespread
26:01across the Himalayas
26:03and it's always extremely colourful,
26:05always stands up for itself
26:07and flowers for ages and ages.
26:09It's also brilliant
26:11for insects.
26:13But at my feet is a different
26:15kind of persicaria.
26:17Now it's called Bistorta.
26:19It's Bistorta affinis.
26:21It's been hugely popular
26:23in British gardens
26:25for countless years.
26:27It's often used in rockeries.
26:29In its native home,
26:31which is also the Himalayas,
26:33it grows in rather moist places.
26:35When you can give it
26:37those sorts of conditions,
26:39it grows dense and thick like this.
26:41Glorious spires
26:43of pale pink flowers.
26:45If you look closely,
26:47you can see these ochre buds
26:49coming on, which mean
26:51it will flower for months
26:53and months on end.
27:03Another plant
27:05from South Asia,
27:07again widely spread
27:09across the Himalayas,
27:11is this lovely Beguinia.
27:13This is Beguinia porporacens.
27:15The second part
27:17of its name alludes
27:19to the fact that during the winter,
27:21these gorgeous glossy green leaves
27:23will turn to deep
27:25crimsony red.
27:27Nothing at all fazes this plant.
27:29It copes with everything
27:31and repays you
27:33with this show of evergreen leaves,
27:35glossy and green
27:37in the summer.
27:39Spring pink flowers too,
27:41but in the autumn and the winter
27:43in its real glory
27:45with this rich red foliage.
27:53Plant hunters
27:55have combed the world
27:57searching for plants valued
27:59for their medicinal, economic
28:01or ornamental qualities.
28:03Of course, as far as
28:05us gardeners are concerned,
28:07it's the last category that's most important.
28:09By exploring
28:11areas of rich
28:13biodiversity,
28:15plant hunters have and continue
28:17to reward us
28:19with splendid plants
28:21for our gardens.
28:29At the end of the 18th
28:31and beginning of the 19th century,
28:33there were a whole succession
28:35of Don plant hunters
28:37from Forfa in Scotland.
28:39And whilst I'm very proud of that,
28:41they weren't all that glamorous.
28:43For example, Alexander Don
28:45specialised in mosses
28:47in the Scottish Highlands.
28:49Worthy and interesting,
28:51but glamorous, no.
28:53However, orchids of any type
28:55wherever they come from in the world
28:57are probably the most
28:59glamorous plant that you
29:01possibly can have.
29:03And we went to visit
29:05Bala Kampali, who works
29:07in every aspect of
29:09orchids and their conservation
29:11and their care at Kew.
29:23I'm a botanical horticulturist
29:25working for the last 13 years.
29:29My role involves
29:31looking after one of the largest
29:33collections in the Tropical Nursery,
29:35which is orchid collections in the
29:37orchid unit.
29:39Orchids belong to
29:41one of the largest flowering plant
29:43families in the world
29:45with over 25,000 species
29:47and still growing.
29:51When I was a child,
29:53I used to hear about my grandfather's
29:55interest in growing plants.
29:57He always used to
29:59collect seeds from
30:01various parts of India
30:03and then grow them and he used to label
30:05them very meticulously and look after
30:07them. And I started paying interest
30:09in plant life and it became
30:11my biggest passion since I was a child.
30:17My job is not just creating beautiful
30:19displays, it's a lot more than that.
30:21My work also
30:23involves working with different
30:25scientists from all around the world.
30:27For example, the orchid
30:29species here are used for
30:31various taxonomic studies,
30:33conservation, research,
30:35educating the next generation
30:37horticulturists, public displays,
30:39festivals, and
30:41I'm proud to be a part
30:43of it day to day.
30:47Working at Kew also
30:49provided me an opportunity to travel
30:51to various natural
30:53habitats where the orchids are growing
30:55in the wild. For example,
30:57I went to a few field trips to
30:59western Himalayas where I
31:01learned how the orchids are
31:03naturally growing in their habitat
31:05and how I can gain the knowledge
31:07from there, bring back to
31:09look after them carefully
31:11within the glasshouse conditions.
31:19Here in Princess of Wales
31:21Conservatory, this exhibit
31:23reminds me of my home
31:25because it shows
31:27how orchids naturally grow
31:29on their host trees
31:31in the wild.
31:43Although orchids are distributed
31:45in many parts of the world, India has
31:47some fabulous species.
31:49For example, this one belongs to
31:51the genus Thunia. This genus
31:53is widespread from Indian subcontinent
31:55to China and peninsular Malaysia.
31:57And this has a
31:59very unique type of pseudobulbs.
32:01Look like canes
32:03and the leaves are lush green
32:05when they're growing and they spread in
32:07alternate fashion.
32:09I saw them growing
32:11hundreds and hundreds of them
32:13on a big branch
32:15of tree and all the pseudobulbs
32:17are leaning
32:19facing the ground and it looks
32:21amazing to see them all at one place.
32:29Many of us know what these are.
32:31These are the orchids which are commonly
32:33seen in the supermarkets,
32:35garden centers. We buy them
32:37to decorate our windowsills.
32:39What many of us don't know is
32:41these come from
32:43a very humble little
32:45plant which is called Phalaenopsis
32:47pulcherrima. Phalaenopsis pulcherrima
32:49is a particular species which
32:51is seen in northeast India
32:53in the state Assam and they spread
32:55up to Hainan in China.
32:57And those tiny little beauties
32:59are bred over and over
33:01and over until
33:03they get the desired size and
33:05shape and the longevity of the flowers
33:07to produce beauties
33:09like these hybrid Phalaenopsis
33:11or moth orchid.
33:27Cultivation of orchids is
33:29very simple if we follow a few important
33:31things. One of them
33:33is repotting orchid in the right
33:35time. So for example
33:37this is a Cymbidium hybrid which is
33:39spectacular flowering one during
33:41winter through
33:43spring is ready to be
33:45repotted. The first thing is
33:47it's pot bound as you can see
33:49the roots are filling the
33:51entire pot and it's got
33:53plenty of new shoots.
33:59This is the Epiphytic media
34:01which has three parts of pine bark
34:03of medium grade,
34:05two parts of pumice
34:07and this is
34:09one part of charcoal.
34:11We can remove some very floppy
34:13or dead roots but usually
34:15we leave undisturbed.
34:19Place the plant
34:21firmly in the middle of the pot
34:23and then slowly
34:25start filling the compost.
34:27Give a gentle tap on the
34:29pot
34:31so that
34:33the compost settles well in the gaps.
34:35And when we are repotting orchid
34:37we have to make sure that they are firmly
34:39fixed in the pot.
34:41That is the key for success of
34:43repotting. So all we need to do
34:45is position it and water
34:47it very well.
34:55I love my job
34:57because I can always say that when I
34:59come to work I can always say
35:01this is my office.
35:03This passion never stops.
35:07My aspirations
35:09are to expand the living
35:11orchid collections and
35:13in that course I will learn more
35:15about these critically endangered
35:17or very important
35:19orchid collections. At the same time
35:21I can pass on my knowledge
35:23to the next, as many future
35:25generations as possible.
35:33I love the way
35:35that you can go to a botanic garden
35:37sometimes quite near your home
35:39and immerse yourself in another
35:41growing culture.
35:43But skill and expertise
35:45in gardening isn't just limited to
35:47the lofty world of botanic gardens.
35:49We found out when we went to visit
35:51Ragbir Singh Sangir
35:53who has the Midas touch when it comes
35:55to growing cucumbers.
36:03The fruit of my hard work
36:05and my prayers
36:07has been given by God
36:09who has given me
36:11this world.
36:15Maharaj told me
36:17to become a Guru.
36:19I am 50 years old
36:21now.
36:23I have been serving
36:25Nautigam Singh Sabha Gurudwara
36:27since 1991 and now I am retired.
36:29I have been a farmer
36:31since my childhood
36:33with my elders.
36:39I started growing cucumbers
36:41in March.
36:43Earlier
36:45there were five or six
36:47cucumbers.
36:49They were quite long.
36:51So we decided
36:53to grow one
36:55and see how long it would be.
36:59I started
37:01learning from him
37:03and I have been
37:05learning from him
37:07since then.
37:09I have been learning
37:11for the past half an hour.
37:13I have seen
37:15the world record
37:17and it was 42.
37:19Now it is 49
37:21and I have set the record.
37:23I have been advised
37:25that I should
37:27keep growing.
37:29Now
37:31I have grown
37:33to 53 inches.
37:35When I see
37:37the crops
37:39I feel so happy.
37:41I don't get sick
37:43but I feel
37:45so happy
37:47when I see them.
37:51Still to come, we've got more stories
37:53from passionate gardeners.
37:55Rick goes to visit contemporary Islamic gardens
37:57at the Aga Khan Centre in London.
37:59The secret that
38:01really works in this garden
38:03is how it's drawn in
38:05the expansive sky.
38:07Now that is very clever.
38:09And Frances meets a group of women
38:11who enjoy the health and social
38:13benefits of gardening.
38:15You can also use them in salads.
38:19But first we go to Dublin
38:21to meet Paul Naveen who runs a nursery
38:23at the Aga Khan Centre.
38:25Now they have a wide range
38:27of herbaceous perennials
38:29but they specialise in rare
38:31and unusual woodland plants.
38:41My love for gardening
38:43comes from my grandmother
38:45and she was Persian.
38:47During the war she moved out of the country,
38:49grabbed what she had in her hands
38:51and walked to India.
38:53She had this most wonderful garden
38:55in the middle of nowhere
38:57with a tiny little house
38:59and she found peace and calm there.
39:01She was always in the garden
39:03and as a child I remember running around her
39:05and she taught me everything I know
39:07about plants really.
39:09She was the person that inspired me.
39:15We mainly specialise
39:17in plants for shade,
39:19mostly woodlanders,
39:21plants that come mainly from
39:23mountains of Japan or China or America.
39:25Most of the year
39:27we have no sunshine here
39:29so we have to grow something
39:31that really would work well.
39:37One of the unusual plants
39:39we grow is this Petunia triloba
39:41which is a Japanese woodland plant.
39:43It's a herbaceous perennial
39:45and it absolutely adores the shade.
39:47With this lovely golden yellow flowers
39:49and glossy green leaves
39:51it would light up any dark corner in the garden.
39:53All it likes is a bit of moisture
39:55and really rich soil.
39:57And the bees absolutely love it.
39:59You can see one there.
40:07Another very exciting
40:09and exquisite woodlander is
40:11this one with very beautiful
40:13lavender blue flowers.
40:15It comes from the mountains of China
40:17and it's Deonanthi cerulea.
40:19It looks very tropical in appearance
40:21and it's very closely related to the hydrangeas.
40:23With these beautiful serrated leaves
40:25it forms a nice sized clump
40:27in the garden
40:29and an absolute must for the woodland garden
40:31to give that additional colour for the summer months.
40:33This one is one of my favourites.
40:35It's from China
40:37and it's called Chloranthus fortunii.
40:39It has this lovely bottle brush
40:41like white flowers
40:43and four leaves
40:45just surrounding it.
40:47And the flowers actually smell of champagne.
40:49As a nursery
40:51we want to encourage people
40:53to grow something different
40:55and we want to encourage
40:57the younger generation
40:59to come forward
41:01and try and grow things
41:03that are just out of the ordinary.
41:05This plant is an Ammonopsis macrophyllum
41:07and it's a very special plant
41:09because it's a very special plant
41:11and it's a very special plant
41:13and it's a very special plant
41:15and it's a very special plant
41:17This plant is an Ammonopsis macrophyllum
41:19It's quite special to me
41:21because I sowed the seed of this plant
41:23many, many years ago.
41:25It's endemic to the mountains of Japan
41:27from Honshu.
41:29It's the only species in the genus
41:31and it has this lovely tight purple buds
41:33that open into very pale lilac
41:35mauve flowers.
41:37Absolutely love shade
41:39and plenty of moisture
41:41and it can be stunning all through the summer months.
41:47We grow what we really love
41:49and they're rare and unusual
41:51and we like to keep it that way
41:53and we like to grow everything
41:55using the traditional methods.
41:57and we like to keep it that way
41:59and we like to grow everything
42:01using the traditional methods.
42:0375% of the plants we grow
42:05are grown either from seed
42:07or by division.
42:09This one is an enemy
42:11obtusuloba big blue
42:13and I sowed this seed last November
42:15since it's germinated in the spring
42:17to prick them out and pot them up.
42:19So we're going to pot this up
42:21in this mixture of soil here
42:23which is mainly composed of bark and grit
42:25for the drainage as well as holding moisture
42:27to replicate a woodland soil.
42:29to replicate a woodland soil.
42:31So we gently tease them apart
42:35and gently tease each one
42:37out of here
42:39making sure the roots
42:41are still
42:43intact
42:45and if you notice here
42:47carefully
42:49those two there
42:51are the original leaves that it's germinated with
42:53and those two
42:55are its true leaves
42:57and those are the leaves that an enemy is going to have
42:59for its lifetime.
43:01So once they come, then it's ready to be potted.
43:07This should
43:09root through by early spring
43:11and it'll be potted up again
43:13into a slightly bigger pot
43:15it should flower by June
43:17and it should be a big enough plant
43:19to go in the garden.
43:21We'll put a little bit of gravel on top
43:23to protect it from slugs and snails
43:25and we'll give it a good water.
43:33There are lots of wonderful woodland plants
43:35but my top three
43:37recommended plants are
43:39Viola kerophylloides beneduru
43:41which has stunning
43:43lavender purple flowers
43:45and long dark stems
43:47and we have Pteridophyllum racemosum
43:49with beautiful
43:51ferny foliage and clean white
43:53droopy flowers
43:55and Kirangashima palmata
43:57with waxy bell-shaped droopy flowers
43:59which are bright yellow.
44:05Plants sort of energise you
44:07and they have this
44:09great aura about them
44:11that sort of cleanses you
44:13you're calm, you're peaceful
44:15when you're out there with the birds
44:17singing in the background and you're working
44:19I mean what else could you ask for
44:21this is like heaven on earth.
44:31Nothing beats
44:33the experience of actually
44:35gardening and apart from anything else
44:37it is good for
44:39every part of mind
44:41and body.
44:43To that end a group of women
44:45in Bradford have got together
44:47to promote the well-being
44:49that comes as a result of gardening
44:51and Frances Tophill
44:53went to visit them to see how the project
44:55was getting along.
44:57An allotment is not
44:59just a place for growing your own produce
45:01for many people it's so much more.
45:05For the group of women I'm about to meet
45:07this place is a haven
45:09a place to socialise
45:11unwind and enjoy the great outdoors.
45:13Yasmeen joined
45:15in 2013
45:17and now helps to run this independent group.
45:19So Yasmeen
45:21what first attracted you to this project?
45:23I really like
45:25feeling the earth
45:27and being close to nature
45:29and I like
45:31the birds
45:33I get quite a lot of benefit
45:35out of it. It's really good for
45:37exercise obviously
45:39plus I find it really
45:41really relaxing
45:43to be around other ladies
45:45and getting their ideas
45:47and you're getting your own fruit and vegetable
45:49which is healthy
45:51which is more organic
45:53and it's a lot tastier than
45:55buying at the supermarket.
45:57I love it
45:59absolutely really really love it.
46:01I would love to see more of the space
46:03could you show me around?
46:05Yeah of course.
46:07The ladies pride themselves
46:09on growing staple veg like spinach
46:11courgettes and potatoes
46:13and Yasmeen has a clever
46:15and interesting way to use an old
46:17salad favourite.
46:19So what's this? These are radishes
46:21we've been picking the radishes
46:23and eating them but then we've let
46:25these grow so they can
46:27go into seeds and we pick them at
46:29this stage and then we make a curry
46:31Really? Yeah.
46:33We call them mungre
46:35and you make a potato
46:37and pod curry which is
46:39called aloo and mungra
46:41curry. Okay so aloo is potato
46:43yeah and mungra
46:45is radish pods
46:47yeah. That's amazing what does it
46:49taste like? It's like a
46:51radish but it hasn't got the heat
46:53as a radish. You can also use them
46:55in salads and eat them like that.
46:57It's really delicate
46:59flavour isn't it? It is yeah.
47:01It's like a cross between a pea and a radish.
47:03I'm going to do that, that's delicious.
47:05Yeah it is.
47:07But it's not all about
47:09veg. On another part of
47:11the allotment the ladies are growing something
47:13completely different.
47:15This is a dye plant
47:17these are the flowers
47:19and then obviously it goes into seeds
47:21and seeds is what you use
47:23to make the dye
47:25and it's a purple
47:27bluey dye.
47:29So why did you decide to grow this because everything else here
47:31is kind of edible isn't it whereas you can't
47:33eat this? No,
47:35some of the ladies just wanted to experiment
47:37and about two years back we made
47:39like a shopping bag and we dyed
47:41it and it came out really nice.
47:43Do you all meet each other in the supermarket
47:45and go oh look, where's your bag?
47:47Not at the moment
47:49but probably well in the future
47:51yes.
47:55The ladies
47:57get together every Monday
47:59and today they're harvesting crops
48:01to make a stew.
48:03But whilst the vegetables are bubbling
48:05I'm keen to talk to Molly who works
48:07closely with Yasmeen to maintain
48:09the allotment and keep the group running.
48:11How do you think this project benefits
48:13the community here?
48:15Well I think it's really good because
48:17we're mixed ages and we're mixed
48:19religion
48:21and mixed cultures
48:23but because of the social aspect
48:25of gardening together
48:27I think that's the most important
48:29thing that's happened that people
48:31have benefited psychologically
48:33emotionally and
48:35physically.
48:37So it ticks all the boxes
48:39really for how to live
48:41a better life.
48:47The salad's
48:49prepped, the stew looks delicious
48:51and the ladies have even brought in
48:53some home cooked pakoras.
48:55Time to tuck in.
48:57Thank you all for preparing
48:59this. It's a real treat.
49:03This allotment is as much
49:05about growing fruit and veg as it is for
49:07these women to come here and have a place
49:09where they can meet members of their community
49:11and share their experiences.
49:22I do believe
49:24that nothing is better for your
49:26holistic health combining mind and
49:28body in harmony
49:30than gardening.
49:32When you experience that at a young age
49:34it can lead to wonderful things
49:36as we found out
49:38when we met Chelsea flower show designer
49:40Anuj Maldi.
49:46My maternal and paternal grandfathers
49:48actually came from very small villages
49:50in India. They brought
49:52all their traditions from India.
49:54We still celebrated Diwali.
49:56It was a very colourful part
49:58of my life.
50:00My dad absolutely loved
50:02his roses. When we had
50:04our first garden in North Wembley
50:06in the UK, he'd
50:08ordered lots of roses and
50:10we grew those in the garden.
50:12My brothers and I actually
50:14decided we were going to create
50:16our own vegetable
50:18plot and it was
50:20that that has actually sparked
50:22off my interest
50:24in gardening.
50:26India is such a rich and
50:28colourful country and what I remember
50:30from my childhood is
50:32my mum's beautiful saris
50:34and I have now
50:36started to bring that colour
50:38into my garden design.
50:40Garden
50:42design allows me to create
50:44people's dreams.
50:46A bit of paradise
50:48that I can then leave with them
50:50to enjoy.
50:56Now, last year I spent a lot of time
50:58visiting paradise or Islamic
51:00gardens all over the world.
51:02But there was one much closer to home
51:04that I wanted to see, but which wasn't
51:06ready. In fact, it was more than one, it was a whole
51:08series of gardens, which are now
51:10completed and Arit
51:12has been along to see them
51:14in all their glory.
51:24London is a cauldron
51:26of design, art and culture
51:28with exciting new buildings
51:30and rooftop gardens all the more
51:32apparent. But its
51:34latest edition of architectural
51:36garden spaces encapsulates
51:38and blends historic qualities
51:40and modern day notions
51:42in this vibrant metropolis.
51:46The Aga Khan
51:48Centre in King's Cross contains
51:50six Islamic gardens, which take
51:52inspiration from across the ancient
51:54Islamic world, stretching from
51:56Southern Europe all the way into
51:58the Asian subcontinent.
52:00The centre has created
52:02these idyllic spaces with the help of
52:04award winning designers, so students,
52:06office workers and members
52:08of the public can take in their
52:10contemporary serenity.
52:14Historian Dr Mehreen Chida Razvi
52:16specialises in
52:18South Asian and Mughal art at
52:20SOAS, University of London
52:22and has joined me to discuss the historical
52:24and cultural significance of
52:26these gardens.
52:28What are the typical
52:30traits of an Islamic garden?
52:32If I have to break it down to
52:34a very general description, I would say
52:36that these are typically walled in spaces,
52:38so you're going to have an element of running water
52:40in them that will divide the space up
52:42into sections, you'll have some
52:44lovely green and floral planting.
52:46They're very aesthetic but they're very
52:48sensory as well.
52:50Is there symbolism in water
52:52in an Islamic garden?
52:54In the Quran, paradise is a garden
52:56and the description that we're given of paradise
52:58is that it is a garden and there are four
53:00flowing rivers in it
53:02and one is of water, one of wine,
53:04of honey and milk
53:06and so the idea of having running water
53:08in these spaces, we can sometimes make a
53:10paradisiacal connotation with that.
53:12What type of planting is typically found
53:14in an Islamic garden?
53:16You're going to have typically a variety, you're going to have
53:18flowering plants but then you're also going
53:20to have evergreen trees. The idea
53:22is that throughout the year you're going to have
53:24a continued presence of
53:26greenery and nature in these spaces.
53:28So this one's a garden of life
53:30but it's a Mughal garden.
53:32So the Mughals were an Islamic dynasty
53:34who ruled over South Asia from 1526
53:36to 1858
53:38and they were existing at a time as part of
53:40a wider Persian cultural sphere
53:42and when we look
53:44at this particular space, to me it just
53:46screams that this is based on Mughal
53:48gardens.
53:50The Chador,
53:52the Chador is a garden
53:54that was built by the Mughals
53:56The Chador,
53:58which is the name for this particular type
54:00of waterfall in the fountain,
54:02you can see that it's made of
54:04marble, it's got this elaborate fish scale
54:06pattern behind and so when the water
54:08is falling down, the sound is being
54:10enhanced by it falling down those fish scales.
54:16This feature, the Chador, you don't
54:18find in other Islamic gardens
54:20so it's very much a Mughal feature.
54:22Then you have
54:24the fact that this is a symmetrical
54:26space and symmetry was an incredibly
54:28important aspect of Mughal architecture
54:30in general.
54:32I'm looking at the planting, I really like the way
54:34these beds look.
54:36They're shaped like the cypress tree which is
54:38indigenous to the region in which we would have found
54:40in many of the Mughal gardens
54:42in South Asia at the time and we know that
54:44from contemporary paintings and
54:46written references but
54:48more than that, the fact that these beds are
54:50all of a combination of different plantings
54:52which is not very structured
54:54but which is still very aesthetically
54:56pleasing was what originally
54:58Mughal gardens would have looked like.
55:00Today when we go to South Asia
55:02and we see them, the aesthetic is
55:04completely different because in the
55:06British period, they basically turned them into
55:08these formal gardens that were very much appreciated
55:10in Europe at the time so
55:12I think it's really wonderful that in this particular
55:14space, it's organized
55:16but it's a bit haphazard as well which would have
55:18been very much in a proper Mughal mode.
55:24The gardens in this complex
55:26each have their own identity
55:28and it's clear to see why His Highness
55:30the Aga Khan has commissioned them.
55:32They showcase the remarkable design
55:34that Islam brought to the world.
55:38This is the Garden of Light.
55:40You cannot help but be impressed
55:42by these four meter
55:44high screens that have taken
55:46their cut work from Jali
55:48and Mashrabi work that you would
55:50see across India and the Middle East.
55:52What I love
55:54are these hand carved inscriptions
55:56that have been taken from the Quran
55:58or from well known poets.
56:00They're absolutely beautiful.
56:04The central focal piece is this
56:06water feature, an eight pointed star.
56:08It's just giving
56:10enough sound to distract you
56:12from the outside.
56:14The symmetry is so evident
56:16in this garden, whether
56:18it's the walls, looking at the
56:20reels of the floor and certainly being
56:22flanked by these beautiful magnolia trees.
56:24But the secret
56:26that really works in this
56:28garden is how it's drawn
56:30in the expansive sky.
56:32Now that is very clever.
56:34The Garden of Tranquility
56:36epitomises the symmetry
56:38and geometry that we've
56:40spoken about in an Islamic
56:42garden. Looking up
56:44I can see that geometry
56:46very, very clearly.
56:48These four marble benches
56:50are pivotal in this space.
56:52They're going to be needed to help
56:54with the socialising aspect of the
56:56garden.
56:58These four marble benches
57:00are pivotal in this space.
57:02They're going to be needed to help with the socialising
57:04aspect that this space has been created for.
57:06When the wider
57:08development at King's Cross is finished
57:10this garden is going to be
57:12able to have the benefit of looking out
57:14over a sunny garden whilst
57:16remaining in the shade.
57:18So that's going to be something so special
57:20for all the visitors and office
57:22workers to enjoy.
57:32To be in a garden
57:34is always so visually stimulating.
57:36It's the experience
57:38that we all really love.
57:40I feel very privileged to be here at the golden
57:42hour in these gardens,
57:44something that I won't forget.
57:52The Aga Khan Centre gardens will be open to the public
57:54from the 22nd of September.
57:58Certainly most paradise gardens
58:00were designed to be enjoyed
58:02as dusk fell.
58:04And the day drew
58:06languorously to a close.
58:08And I'm afraid
58:10we're now drawing languorously to a close
58:12because that's it for today's
58:14programme.
58:16I will be back next week
58:18at Longmeadow, so until then
58:20bye-bye.
58:30Music plays