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00:00Welcome to Gardener's World, I've been in America for the last couple of weeks and in
00:14my absence the garden has exploded into spring glory. The colours have got much more intense
00:23and the camassias are still looking great. And what I've noticed about camassias is that
00:28it takes a year or two for them to get going. By year three, which is what these are, they've
00:32really hit their stride. On today's show, we venture into Peterborough's urban jungle where
00:42we discover a secret woodland garden. I shall be planting an Acer, which will look good
00:49now and will set the border alight with its autumnal colours. And Adam, Carol and Francis
00:58take us on a tour of the very best exhibits at the RHS Malvern Spring Festival. Plant
01:04labels, pick one. Floral marking, what do you know? Go on Adam, you go next. Show gardens.
01:14Nice, what have I got? Shipping containers, what? You'll love it, honestly, you'll love
01:21it. I'm not quite sure what to expect from shipping containers, but no doubt we'll find
01:26out. There's been quite a lot of change here in the Paradise Garden whilst I was away.
01:51The first thing, the tulips are up. This is tulip acuminata. When I left, they were only
01:55a few inches tall and just little tight buds. And now they've come out and they have to
02:00say they're doing exactly what I wanted them to, which is these tall tulips with long spidery
02:07petals. So I'm really pleased with these. And the building at the back has been rendered.
02:15So that's a big step forward, just got to paint it and that'll be more or less finished.
02:20Now what I'm adding is a hedge made out of rosemary. Rosemary has the most beautiful
02:27resin-y, oily fragrance. And when the sun heats it up and you brush past, the whole
02:34air is filled with it. So it's perfect for this situation. There are two rules that you
02:40must adhere to when you're planting rosemary. The first is drainage and the second is more
02:47drainage. So I've got some grit here. So I'll just work this in. I've chosen a variety
03:12called Miss Jessop's Upright, which is often used for hedging. It's very widely available.
03:19It has these pretty pale blue, almost mauve flowers. And its main characteristic, as the
03:24name suggests, is that it grows upright. It's fastidious, which makes it ideal for a pot
03:31or a window box or a hedge. I'm effectively mound planting these, proud of the surface
03:41of the soil. If you've got heavy soil, planting anything that needs drainage on a mound is
03:47a very good way of coping with it. Of course, rosemary has beautiful flowers. These are
03:56fairly pale, but they can be white and they can go right through to dark blue and they
04:00are irresistible to bees. I've got rosemary that starts flowering in the middle of February
04:06and there are varieties that will carry on into early June. So a good long season for
04:11the bees and for you. And if you want to prune it in any way, the time to do it is immediately
04:17after flowering. There is just one thing that you do need to be aware of. If you are buying
04:23rosemary, there is a risk of introducing Xylella into this country and our gardens. So if the
04:31garden centre or supplier can't tell you where it was grown, don't buy it. Now, rosemary needs
04:37as much sun as you can give it. Give it a really good sunny sight and it'll be happy. But there
04:42are a whole host of plants that actually prefer to be in shade. And we went to Peterborough to
04:47visit a garden that has made a virtue out of those plants that like to keep out of the sun.
04:54I'm Robert Marshall and this is my partner Richard Hanscom and we started this garden
05:05in 2003. We first moved into the garden here to a totally vacant plot. We were working with
05:12an about 11 by 10 metres between timber fenced barriers. So it was quite bleak and barren and
05:21we were overlooked by other three storey houses. So the first thing we had to do was put some
05:28trees in to create some kind of sense of closure and privacy. And it suits, of course, woodland
05:35plants. One of the nice things about this garden is there are actually discrete little areas that
05:43are good at certain times of the day. So where I'm sat at the moment in the morning, this is
05:51lovely dappled shade. Over the other side of the garden in the afternoon, it gets the sunshine. The
05:59pond gives you this kind of another kind of dimension because it reflects the light. We're
06:05both plantsmen and we have different passions. I'm very interested in spring plants, so that's
06:11snowdrops and the early spring stuff. And I love aces and hostas. We must have how many hostas?
06:18About 250 now. 250 hostas, it beggars belief. Anyway, we use them to stage the garden once all my spring
06:26flowers are finished. Probably the most spectacular one we have in the garden at the moment is this
06:33one here, which is Clifford's forest fire. It's a giant and will probably grow to another foot taller
06:38than this when it's all sized. But as it's growing in a pot, it will stay slightly smaller. I love
06:44hostas because there are so many different variations in tone, colour and shape. I don't think you can do better for somewhere shady.
06:51In a small garden, pots are very versatile. They really can make or break a small space. If you look
07:04behind me, we've got the pea and the ericiniums, cornice here and several aces. I mean, look at the
07:11height that we get with these aces. Group them together because it's easier to water, but they
07:15also look after themselves. They kind of generate a little microclimate, which is good for them all.
07:21Trees are a bit of a thorny subject for a lot of people, particularly in small gardens. In this
07:28garden, we've got at least 12 trees and if you count all the hedging trees, we've probably got
07:34about 50 because the Prunus lucitanica we grow as a hedge rather than small trees. We've got the
07:39robinia frisea, two hornbeams and we've also got half a dozen fruit trees that we've set either
07:49espaliered or cordoned or fan trains. I have a particular favourite in this garden, which is this
07:56one here. This is a birch and this is grazewood ghost. It's got a lovely white bark and it really
08:04shines in the kind of darker corners of the garden. A tip with growing trees in groups is that
08:11it actually restricts their growth. The birch is quite a vigorous tree, but if you plant three
08:18closely together, it does stop them being too vigorous. Starting off small garden, don't be
08:26afraid to put trees in. Then think whether you really, really must have grass. No grass means
08:35there's more room for plants. Garden is special to me because it's my place of relaxation. I have an
08:48incredibly stressful job and it just gives me my downtime. There's no better place to be than
08:55pottering around in here. It's a profoundly peaceful, quiet space where you wouldn't
09:03expect one. I'm looking forward to the next adventure in possibly another, maybe bigger
09:11garden. But if we can do this in this small garden, then I think the sky's the limit.
09:28I think that shows two things. The first is you can make woodland conditions in any garden without
09:35really taking very long at all, and also not to be frightened of shade.
09:39Lots of plants do best in some shade.
09:46Whilst I have nothing like the number of hostas that Robert and Richard do, I have quite a few.
09:53And last year I tried an experiment, and this was on the advice of the great Helen Dillon,
09:57whose garden I visited in Dublin a few years ago, and she came here. She looked at my hostas and
10:02said, well, you could divide those. And I said, I will next spring. She said, no, no, you can do it
10:07now. Now, all the advice you will read or taught is that hostas should be divided just as they
10:14start to grow, which at Longmeadow is round about the middle to the end of March. And you certainly
10:20don't do it when they're in full leaf. But I thought if it's good enough for her, I'll give it
10:23a go. And so I got a great big hosta, chopped it up, and I put a couple of the pieces here. And
10:30you can see it's regrowing completely happily. So if there's one thing this has taught me,
10:36it's break the rules and see what happens.
10:43Now, from one Japanese plant, because obviously hostas come from Japan, to another. For years
10:49I've wanted to grow aces here at Longmeadow, and I have tried a few times with notable lack of
10:55success. And that's really because it was early on, especially when we were making the jewel garden,
11:00and the garden was much more exposed. And the fierce winds that we got through here
11:06just blasted them. And aces hate being exposed to strong wind. So I gave up. But now I want to
11:13have another go. And I've got one which is a good acer to start out with. This is Acer palmatum
11:22or sakazuki. And it's large leaves, green in summer, but a brilliant autumn red.
11:30Now I've chosen the location for it quite carefully. There's good shelter from the
11:35building. The prevailing wind comes from the west, so that means it won't get battered by wind. The
11:39one thing I don't have provisions for is drainage. So although I've added compost to the soil, I'm
11:46going to add extra drainage underneath. In fact, I'm going to add two types of drainage to this one.
11:53The first is this composted bracken. Not only is it nice and light and open, which the roots will
12:02like, but also it's distinctly acidic. It's ericaceous. And my soil is neutral, which is not
12:08a problem. The maple will grow well, but it would prefer ericaceous conditions. So if you can help
12:14out that way, that's good. You could use shredded pine bark. Or failing that, if you've got some
12:25leaf mold, that will do the job as well. And just sprinkle some in like that. And I'll fork that in.
12:33And on top of that, I'm going to add some grit. And I'll just sprinkle that on.
12:40And then the whole thing can be mixed up.
12:45So
12:56when you're planting any named variety maple, they will have been grafted. And you can see here,
13:04that is the graft point. So that is the base. And this top section has been grafted onto it.
13:13And it's really important that that stays above soil level. Do not bury the graft, because
13:19otherwise you'll get shoots from the base which will be different to the one that you thought
13:26you bought. I'll just take this out gently.
13:43I'll just heel it in quite gently, because otherwise I will crush that drainage and
13:51compact it down. The next thing to do is give it a really good drink.
14:11The next step is to mulch it thoroughly. And I'm going to use our Christmas tree. Every year,
14:18I put our Christmas tree through a shredder and keep it for when I need an ericaceous mulch.
14:28Having done that, there's really nothing else I need to do at all, except admire it.
14:35Now if you're looking for a particular plant, or something you're not quite sure what it might be,
14:42but you know you'll know it when you see it. Or even if you're looking for expertise,
14:47then a flower show is the place to go. And the season is upon us, and my own local show,
14:52and one of my favourites, is at Malvern. And Carol, Francis and Adam are there to bring us
15:00the very best of this year's show. Even in the mist, those hills behind me are an incredible
15:13setting for the RHS Malvern Spring Festival. And for me, it's the one I think that kicks off
15:19that gardening season. It's got a reputation as being friendly and relaxed, and it is that.
15:25And today, I'm going to be looking around the show gardens with an eye to design.
15:37The floral marquee is the place to head for if you're looking for inspiration.
15:42It's packed to the rafters with all the very best plants that spring can offer.
15:48Whether you want to create a restful space with cool customers,
15:53or add some real pizazz with party animals, this is the place to find them.
16:03For garden inspiration, I'll be looking at some thought-provoking green living spaces,
16:08a plethora of design ideas, remarkably all set around shipping containers.
16:23The Malvern Spring Flower Show is a fantastic place for new designers just to dip their toe
16:27in the water. It's also got more of a loyal following, more experienced designers, and
16:33Peter Dow is one of those. He really understands this site.
16:38And this is his garden of quiet contemplation, and that's exactly what it is.
16:43If you look at the garden, actually, in its layout, it's quite simple. You can see
16:47the confidence in the design. What I love is the connection with the Malvern Hills. He really
16:52brings them into his garden, which gives this whole thing a wonderful sense of place.
17:04Peter has designed this space to be maybe part of a larger garden, so you access from different
17:09directions. But for me, straight away, it's the detail that stands out. I've come across a series
17:14of stepping stones that are broken with planting. It controls and slows the way that I move through
17:20the space. We have our sculpture that sits center stage, and everything radiates from her.
17:28And she's Zephyr, which is Mistress of the Wind. But the pool underneath, that could just be still,
17:34and it's not. There's movement, so it creates interest. That drops and ripples to the side
17:40of the pool. And when it comes to the planting, I think we go back again to our sculpture. She
17:47sets the tone. The detail within it is picked up in that back hedge, and then reflected again
17:54in these domes that work their way through the space. The garden's full of beautiful aces,
17:59which I think are one of Peter's signature trees. They really do. And then you've got
18:04pittosporums that work really well as mini sculptures themselves. And then the whole
18:08thing is brought alive with spring herbaceous plants like phyllichthrums, digitalis, and thriscus.
18:17And all in all, it's a charming space to be in.
18:32One of the things I really enjoy about the Malvern Flower Show is the local schools get involved.
18:37And each year they set something to design around. And this year's been a moment in time.
18:41And there's one school for me that I think has done something a little bit special,
18:46and I'm really looking forward to meeting them.
18:54There's something really special and important about this garden, isn't there? Something that
18:58kicked the whole thing off. We were learning about how to be eco. Yeah. And blue planet too.
19:04And blue planet too. So tell me a little bit about some of the ideas in here.
19:08These pebbles separate all the section of this Hawksville turtle.
19:13Wow. So the whole thing is a turtle. Yeah. At the front, there's a pond. And
19:19if hedgehogs get stuck in it, there's a ramp so they can easily get out.
19:22That's a really important thing to do so they can come in and out of the space. And what about
19:27the planting? Well, they're in different sections. So this area is the pollinators.
19:30Yeah, brilliant. The front there is the wild area.
19:38I heard that somebody wrote to you. Yeah, David Attenborough.
19:41And what did he say? He told us he was impressed with all the work we were doing
19:45to help our school be more environmental friendly. That's absolutely brilliant.
19:52What's this then? This is our blue planet, and the top and the bottom is white flowers,
19:58and that represents the ice. And then there's the blue flowers, which is the sea.
20:03And how important is the planet to you? Very important because the next generations
20:08won't have such a good experience if we don't make a change now.
20:12Well, I reckon you two are going to be proper little eco-warriors, aren't you?
20:16Yeah. Yeah, exactly. You should be proud of it. You really should.
20:20When you walk into this floral marquee, your breath is taken away. The whole place is just
20:43full of plants. As you walk around, you realise that some of the exhibitors have created moods
20:50dramas with the plants they've used and the way they put them together. In some cases,
20:56they're party animals, vibrant, exhilarating. You really just want to join in the fun,
21:01whereas with others, you get this lovely feeling of tranquility and peace. All you want to do is
21:08relax. Just look at this. It's a total delight. It's a former Solomon's seal,
21:25a very familiar plant in our gardens, but not this one. It's called Polygonatum Hybridum
21:31Backberg, and although it has the usual elegant stems and the little bells that hang from the
21:38stems, when it emerges, it's deep, deep purple. It's a really exciting plant,
21:44but in a very quiet sort of way. This is another Solomon's seal, Polygonatum Odoratum,
21:57flora plana, which of course means double-flowered. If you look at these bells that hang from the
22:04stems and turn them up, each of the flowers has more and more green petals inside. Each one's
22:11like a tiny little bouquet. It'll run around gradually like most Solomon's seals with these
22:18rhizomatous roots, and all it demands is woodland soil. Just put it in between some shrubs as long
22:26as it has shade, and as its name denotes, Odoratum, it has perfume. It really is so sweet,
22:38but it doesn't compare to the plant next to it in terms of perfume. That's Spirantha
22:43Convalarioides. It's a plant from China, and it has the most beautiful perfume.
22:51It must have acid soil, but if you've got that, you're onto a really good thing.
23:02If you want to create a really tranquil, restful sort of feeling, you don't have to rely on flowers
23:09at all. You can do it all with foliage. Look at this Sorbus, Sorbifolia Sem. Within each leaf,
23:17there are a multitude of different colours, but they're all very subtle, all very close,
23:23and it has this lovely soft texture too, leading down to this grass. Again, an Oriental. This is
23:31just so delightful. It's Hacanocloa Macra, and you can imagine in the garden it creating this
23:38lovely lilting effect as it moves upwards and forwards in the soft breeze.
23:56Well, possibly you don't yearn for tranquility and relaxation. You might prefer to let your hair
24:02down and let your plants rip. All throughout the show, there are masses of party animals,
24:09and none more so than these peonies. They're utterly gorgeous and raring to go.
24:16This is an intersectional peony, a very appropriately named one. It's called
24:22Court Jester. Intersectional peonies combine all the qualities of the Lactiflora, the herbaceous
24:29peonies, and on the other hand, tree peonies with these big, gorgeous, gaudy flowers. There
24:35are more over here too. There's one who's definitely ready for the party. It's called
24:41First Arrival, and another one that might have been partying too much, called Raggedy Ann.
24:48Peonies belong to Ranunculaceae, the buttercup family,
24:52and Rococo ranunculus are on show here for the very first time.
24:58And perhaps the most exotic of the lot are the bougainvilleas. Every kind of colour you can
25:05imagine, brilliant and dazzling. And what's more, they're not going home from the party in a hurry,
25:11because these papery braps mean they last with this dazzling effect for months on end.
25:28I used to exhibit here at Malvern for quite a long time, but I can remember
25:32the first time. And I can sympathise with Simon and Jame at one point,
25:38and I can sympathise with Simon and Jame at Williams, who are first-time exhibitors here.
25:45We went to catch up with them at their nursery to see how preparations for the show were coming along.
25:52We never imagined in a million years that we'd be running our own nursery,
25:57and now we can't imagine doing anything else.
26:01What we've always tried to do is to produce things that you wouldn't normally produce,
26:07and that's what we've done here at Malvern, and that's what we're going to do here at the
26:11And now we can't imagine doing anything else.
26:16What we've always tried to do is to produce things that you wouldn't normally find in a
26:22high street garden centre. We specialise in shrubs and shade lovers. A lot of the
26:27plants we do are only unusual because people don't see them very often.
26:31You know, they're not particularly scary or rare, they're just not commonly seen.
26:36I started growing sweet peas for the local show when I was knee-high to a gnat.
26:41I've always gardened. My great-granddad actually sort of first got me into it.
26:45I would watch Gardener's World on a Friday night, and Geoff Hamilton was my hero at the time.
26:52I just wanted to be outside. There's more to life than a nine-to-five,
26:57and now we work longer hours for less money than we've ever done, and I wouldn't change a thing.
27:02I suppose you just dragged me along, really. We sort of fell into it, didn't we?
27:05Well, if you wanted to see me, you had to come outside.
27:07Yeah.
27:13Exhibiting is a social life, as much as anything, because we all become such good friends.
27:19Yeah, it's definitely a social thing, yeah, because otherwise you wouldn't do it,
27:24because it's hard work.
27:26If I had to choose one plant family for a shady area, it would have to be Epimediums.
27:33Their delicate beauty is just superb. This one is called Spinettingler,
27:39and as you can see, it's got quite an elongated leaf, and in spring, they're this beautiful red colour.
27:45This particular one is called Spinettingler, and it's got a very, very long stem.
27:51and in spring, they're this beautiful red colour.
27:55This particular one is about a year old, but this one is about three or four years old,
28:00and we'll be taking it to Malvern with us.
28:02As you can see, it's in lots and lots of bud, and we're hoping it will be a real showstopper,
28:08but they come in all different shapes and sizes.
28:11This one is called Stormcloud, and it has these beautiful, dramatic sort of chocolatey flowers,
28:18but again, it's a different leaf shape entirely to Spinettingler,
28:22and then yet again, there's a third leaf shape here with this one, Pubigerum,
28:27which also has a different type of flower.
28:29It's a much smaller, much prettier flower, and it's great for dry shade.
28:35You can get Epimediums for wet shade, dry shade,
28:38you can get them evergreen, you can get them to stars of a shade garden.
28:42Three of my personal favourites on the nursery at the moment would be this beautiful Acer,
28:46which is Aconitifolium, a brilliant autumn colour,
28:50and really good for flower this time of year, which is quite unusual for an Acer, very striking.
28:56This Viburnum, Anne Russell, it's a Birkwoody Eye Cross.
29:00If you can only have one Viburnum in the garden, I would say go for Anne Russell.
29:05The scent on it is fantastic.
29:06We do love our Viburnums, and we will be taking Viburnums to Malvern.
29:11This one is a shrub that's been around for quite a long time.
29:15It's Lonicera syringantha.
29:17It's basically a lilac-flowered, shrubby honeysuckle.
29:20It will take virtually any aspect and any soil conditions.
29:24Beautifully delicate flower with a fantastic fragrance,
29:27one that's really, really well worth growing and seeking out.
29:37On the rare occasions that we get time away from the nursery,
29:41one of our favourite gardens to go and visit is Fullers Mill Gardens,
29:44which luckily for us is really quite close.
29:47About 10 minutes down the road.
29:49It's a woodland garden originally created by Bernard Tickner,
29:55and it's just so calm and so peaceful,
29:58and the planting combinations there are beautiful,
30:01and it's just a lovely place to be.
30:05and, you know, on a sunny day, there's nowhere better to be.
30:10If you could pick this up and put it down in Malvern, that would be great.
30:19We've been thinking about doing Malvern for a while.
30:22Generally, we haven't applied before because we're very busy in spring.
30:27Luckily, we have our eldest son, Alex, who works for us,
30:30who mans the shop and does the watering while we're away.
30:36We've had so many customers come into the nursery,
30:39and they've all said what a wonderful show it is with a beautiful backdrop.
30:44The RHS are the pinnacle of gardening.
30:47You know, they're respected around the world.
30:50So to have the judges like a display that you've done is quite something special.
30:55So hopefully, we'll be showing some plants that people will fall in love with as we have,
31:00feel as passionate about as we do.
31:03I'm just looking forward to the experience.
31:05Yeah, we're looking forward to the experience.
31:06It's a new place. It's a new show.
31:08So, yeah, we're very much looking forward to going to Malvern.
31:21So what do you think of your first Malvern?
31:23Yeah, it's really good. Yeah, really loving it.
31:25People have been so friendly, an amazing backdrop.
31:29There are all sorts of plants on here, some of which I recognize.
31:33Beautiful viburnums, but you've also got all sorts of quite different plants.
31:38Yes, we've got the Kousas, but this time of year, it's really the Florida Kousa hybrids,
31:44the root nesensis ones, which are flowering this time of year.
31:48So those are hybrids between an American and a British?
31:51So those are hybrids between an American and an Asiatic species?
31:55Yes, they are indeed.
31:56They really are loving my epimediums here,
31:59which is just making me really happy because I'm completely addicted to them.
32:03And to find people that share that addiction is just, yeah, it's really good.
32:08So you love your epimediums and you love your beautiful shrubs,
32:12your corners, and they go together so well.
32:15Is that just coincidence?
32:17It is kind of.
32:17Yeah, it kind of is.
32:19Certainly not by design.
32:21Well, your stand looks absolutely terrific.
32:23Thank you very much.
32:31Whatever the size of your plot, I like to think there's always something
32:34that you can have a stab at growing.
32:36And for oodles of inspiration, look no further than the Green Living Space Gardens.
32:43A fairly new introduction to Melbourne,
32:45five former shipping containers have been transformed
32:48to showcase what's achievable both inside and out
32:51to transform these metal containers into inspirational spaces.
32:57This garden is based on a South African farmstead,
33:00and you can see it really evokes a sense of the rust and the dust.
33:04In contrast to that warmth of the walls is the lovely muted colour palette,
33:08which is mainly greens, the whites of the oleas,
33:11and the purples like the trifoliums and the chives.
33:15In any small space, it's really important to think about your wall space.
33:18So there's a lovely fig here and a beautiful grapevine.
33:21And the great thing about this garden, everything is completely edible.
33:28Continuing the international theme,
33:30this garden is an eclectic mix of Russian and Scandi style.
33:34It's very quirky.
33:37This is a real cook's garden, complete with barbecue.
33:41And it's a place where you can have a lovely meal
33:43and it's a place where you can grow, you can cook,
33:46and then you can share all your food with your friends.
33:50And I absolutely love these handmade mini greenhouses.
33:54They're really cool and they're brimming with plants.
33:56There's coriander, chili, tomatoes, it's all growing here.
34:00And you could make these yourself and put them absolutely anywhere.
34:02So a balcony, a terrace, even in the smallest space, you can grow whatever you like.
34:09This container really has got a bath with a view.
34:13One of the things that fascinates me, though,
34:14is where designers get their inspiration from.
34:17And this one is a trip to Brazil, the landscape and modernist architecture.
34:22And it's that architecture that sets the tone for the whole garden.
34:25You look at the concrete raised beds and the beams,
34:28and even the trellis over there, it's got this lovely sort of feel to it.
34:32And it's picked up in the containers that work through the space.
34:35There's even a big sort of concrete water feature
34:38that works fantastically as a reflective surface.
34:41But we'll bring wildlife into the garden as well.
34:44Just a really cool space to be in.
34:52This artist studio is so creative, it's so inspiring.
34:56You just feel like picking up your paintbrush.
35:01The outside echoes the inside, but the really inspiring thing is the planting.
35:07It's so simple, and yet when you look into it,
35:11it's so sophisticated.
35:13So you've got these big, silver, furry leaves of the Senecio.
35:18And right next door, the soft texture of this little Artemisia.
35:22And then throughout the whole thing, bringing it all together,
35:25these big, dark paint strokes of the Anthriscus Raven's Wing.
35:31It's just glorious.
35:35If there's one style that sums up outdoor living,
35:37then it's a Mediterranean garden.
35:39And this Bijou Belter really hits the nail on the head.
35:42The whole idea is that you come here and you feel like you're on holiday.
35:47The spires of the Echaeum are beautiful.
35:50And against that, this gnarled yucca is just so lovely.
35:55But what I really love are these euphorbias.
35:57They're called Black Pearl.
35:59And when you get close up to the bracts,
36:00you can really see the intricate detail of them.
36:03They're absolutely gorgeous.
36:05And the whole planting scheme is so architectural
36:07that it makes such a huge impact.
36:11This is a Trachycarpus Fortunii, which is a very familiar plant,
36:14but I personally have never seen one quite like this.
36:18It's had its stem cleared, so you can see this lovely colouration.
36:21And it has incredible yellow flowers.
36:24They go beautifully against the lovely Dutch Chocolate Iris
36:28and the Asphodeline Lutea.
36:29And the whole combination is a stunner.
36:38Don't you love the British weather?
36:40It's a little bit unpredictable here.
36:41It really is today.
36:43But do you know what?
36:44I think those living green spaces are packed full of wonderful ideas
36:48and really demonstrate what can be achieved,
36:50not only with a smaller budget, but also that limited space.
36:54But here at Malvern, one of those big attractions
36:57has got to be the showgun.
36:58They inspire the visitors,
37:00but also new designers really want to show off their work.
37:05We went off to South Oxfordshire to meet one
37:07that's created her first ever show garden,
37:10called Grace and Dignity.
37:15It's amazing to be designing for Malvern.
37:17I have wanted to do this since I started garden designing.
37:23Our placement is literally...
37:24We'll have the hills behind us,
37:26and we've got a lovely Northampton wall
37:29that will really show off the show garden.
37:31We've got a lovely Northampton wall that will cosset the garden
37:35and hopefully draw people's eye up to the landscape beyond.
37:42Grace and Dignity is quite a weighty garden,
37:47but I think I wanted to showcase an elderly woman.
37:51My clients often are women on their own.
37:54They have money and they have dignity
37:57and they have capabilities as well, and they love their gardens.
38:00We only finished the garden last week, didn't we?
38:02I know. Absolutely amazing, isn't it?
38:07So the next step's Malvern, Lucy.
38:09Yes, and I hope you're going to come.
38:10Oh, I'd love to. I want to see this garden you're going to do there.
38:15There is something unique about designing for just one person,
38:21and I think with Grace and Dignity,
38:24I wanted to show that there is incredible wisdom in old age,
38:28there's beauty in old age, there's survival, there's a backstory,
38:32and it shouldn't be overlooked. It should be celebrated.
38:37So I'm sourcing some of my plants from a nursery in Northamptonshire,
38:41No Bottle Nursery, run by Judy Gibney, who is a wonderful friend of mine.
38:45She's going to be doing the fillers, the spillers and the carpet plants,
38:50the details that I probably couldn't buy off the shelves
38:52from some of the bigger nurseries that are going to be providing me
38:56with my blooms and my showpieces.
38:58So she's a fantastic plants woman.
39:00She's still out there doing rare plant shows. She's an inspiration.
39:09I think there's an element that Mrs Grace is a mixture of people,
39:13but there is a character there.
39:14There was a lady who lived opposite us when I was a child.
39:17She was called Mrs Grace.
39:19I'm really inspired by people like Roehne Cade,
39:23who built the Minac Theatre.
39:25I mean, she didn't build it single-handedly, obviously,
39:28but there's this great legacy in that garden,
39:30that theatre garden that she created.
39:33Amazing ingenuity.
39:36And there is something wonderful about what human beings can create
39:40and the passion of one person driving it forward.
39:43So this is the design for the Grace and Dignity Garden.
39:46We've got the mirror pond here.
39:48When you walk round this lovely path
39:50between sort of like scrub woodland area,
39:54you'll be able to look in and see a reflection within the mirror pond.
39:57We've also got this undulating turf area,
40:00and that's designed to reflect, again,
40:02the wrinkles of age and the beauty of age.
40:04We've got a little copse here of birch trees and cedar trees,
40:08and we've also got a little copse here
40:10We've got a little copse here of birch trees and self-seeded hedgerow trees,
40:15so I'm wanting this area to be a little bit more naturalistic.
40:19And then we walk around and we come into this hard-standing area,
40:22and we have the Northampton stone wall.
40:27You've worked me out a nice irrigation system, haven't you?
40:30Yeah, so we're going to pump the water just over the front of the wall,
40:33and that's going to triple down into that small little pool area there
40:37before it then runs down in the rills
40:39and irrigates that whole drain system down there.
40:44This is not a circular water feature, it's an irrigation system,
40:48so I wanted it to be a little bit different.
40:50So I've lined this area at the base,
40:54and the idea is for an elderly person,
40:56actually it makes a functional element really beautiful.
41:00The fantastic thing about it is it's about personal endeavour,
41:02and I've pushed my team to the limits.
41:05Every element has been handcrafted on site.
41:09The rills I've done out of slate,
41:12the cobbles Ray's been making from concrete and waste pipes.
41:17I'm overwhelmed with it really a little bit,
41:19and I'm hoping that we can just follow through for the next week,
41:23get this planting in, and basically get it going.
41:26So I'm just going to go in and get this going,
41:28follow through for the next week,
41:30get this planting in,
41:31and basically deliver what we hoped.
41:45Well Lucy, it looks wonderful to me, but did it deliver what you hoped?
41:48Yeah, absolutely.
41:49I mean, it's blown my mind.
41:50We've achieved so much, and I'm thrilled to bits with it.
41:54When you're expecting a child as well, that must be really difficult.
41:57Little Rory's been very good, very tolerant.
41:59I've planted all these plants with him underneath me, just coping.
42:03But it's been a family effort, and I can't be more proud of everybody.
42:06And what about the planting?
42:07To me, the Eremis really stands out as a fantastic thing,
42:10but what have people been saying?
42:12Everyone's loved the colour, and I wanted it to be a bit of a brash,
42:16colourific splash, and very greedy with my plant choices.
42:19So I've got arid areas, boggy areas,
42:22forest areas that change from white to yellows.
42:25I love big, showy, blousy things.
42:28So how did you find the build?
42:30It's been an intense process.
42:32We've had scorching sunshine and blistering winds
42:36that have taken our tents away.
42:37We've camped on site.
42:38It's been a very intense experience, but ultimately an amazing one.
42:43I think the rite of passage makes you a better gardener.
42:47Well, I think it's fantastic,
42:48and you should be incredibly proud for a first garden.
42:51It's just wonderful.
42:52So well done.
42:53Thank you very much.
43:05Ladies, I thought at the end of the day,
43:07I'd bring you to the Mediterranean.
43:08What do you think?
43:09Yeah, lovely, balmy.
43:11As soon as you crack out, the sun will be all right.
43:15The weather has been a bit mixed, but you know what?
43:17It's a great show, isn't it?
43:18Anything stood out for you?
43:19Yeah, I had a chat with the Hoster Society about slugs,
43:22as we all do when we think of hostas,
43:24and they have some really good ideas of how to combat them.
43:26So metal pans, apparently, with your pots in,
43:28which I thought was just copper, but apparently all metals work.
43:31So that was interesting.
43:32I mean, me, I think there's a garden called the What-If Garden,
43:34and it's got a real sort of...
43:36There's an artist and a designer working together,
43:38so in the middle sits a really quite bright and colourful building.
43:41And I love the planting.
43:42The planting's sort of really...
43:44I don't know, it's just softer, it's slightly muted,
43:46and it just tones it all down.
43:47You, anything?
43:49Well, all sorts of things, but the quirkiest thing by far
43:52is Allen's Cross Community Garden from Birmingham.
43:56Got this eye-catching display.
43:59Their whole message is about, you know, reusing stuff, recycling.
44:03So they've got a washing line full of bras,
44:05and all the bras are planted up.
44:07Are they really?
44:07Yeah, yeah.
44:08Brilliant.
44:08But I think only people who are at least 38DD, actually.
44:13So you get enough compost.
44:14Plenty of compost in there.
44:15Plenty of root specks.
44:16But you know, it really makes the point.
44:19Yeah, absolutely.
44:20Yeah.
44:20Well, I think it really is a brilliant show,
44:22and people can enjoy it for the rest of the weekend.
44:37The show continues till Sunday night.
44:39And do try and get along.
44:41I certainly shall this weekend.
44:43Now, Gardeners World Live will be coming up next month,
44:45and this year we want to try something a little different,
44:48because we'd like to meet you.
44:50We're all going to be there as presenters,
44:52and hopefully you'll be coming along.
44:54And it's an opportunity for you to pose some of the problems
44:57we may have in the garden,
44:58whether it be about design,
44:59or how best to grow some flowers or vegetables,
45:02or whatever it might be.
45:04If you're interested, go to our website,
45:07and you'll be given instructions on how you can apply.
45:09And then if we select you,
45:11we will contact you and let you know what to do.
45:16This wisteria is flowering for the first time.
45:21I get lots of letters from people saying they have a wisteria,
45:25and they've had it for four or five years,
45:27and it's never flowered, and what are they doing wrong?
45:29And the answer is always the same, nothing.
45:31Wisteria can take seven or eight years before it flowers.
45:35So if you want to be certain of it flowering fairly early,
45:39the secret is to buy your wisteria in flower.
45:44And once it starts to flower, it won't stop.
45:46It'll carry on.
45:48So this is now set to really kick off.
45:52So I'm going to tie this in.
45:52I want to train it up all the way along here.
45:56They do like some heat.
45:59So a south-facing wall is ideal.
46:02But to get the best of wisteria,
46:04you need to prune it quite hard when it's finished flowering.
46:07But the time to do that will be July or even August.
46:10So for the moment, just leave it be.
46:26I sowed these tomatoes in February.
46:28This is black cherry.
46:31And look, they're really enormous
46:34and more than ready to be put into their final position
46:37in pots here in the greenhouse.
46:40I used to grow them in much bigger pots than this.
46:45But I found over the years that if you have a smallish container,
46:49the energy goes into the fruit rather than the plant.
46:52So I will put a crock in the bottom, some compost.
46:58Now with all tomatoes, whatever size container,
47:02try and plant them as deeply as possible.
47:04And there are two reasons for that.
47:06One is so that they anchor better.
47:10And two, it will form roots from any of the stem
47:14that is buried below the soil.
47:24Now there are two ways to support a cordon tomato like this.
47:27You can either put a cane in,
47:29which is great if you're growing them in the ground,
47:32or you can use string.
47:34And that's what I'm going to do here.
47:36What I do is attach it to the plant itself.
47:40The secret of this is to make it tight enough
47:45so it doesn't flop all over the place,
47:47but not yank it out of the pot.
47:52And all you do is wrap it around like that.
47:55And as it grows, you just keep it twining around the string.
48:03Now I'm going to do the same thing with this one.
48:04I'm going to put it in the ground.
48:06Wrap it around the string.
48:11A lot hotter in here than it is outside.
48:21I've put in five black cherry.
48:24And now the other five pots,
48:25I'm putting a different variety called ox heart.
48:27And this is a beefsteak tomato
48:29and has a distinct heart shape.
48:32It comes to a slight point.
48:34I'm going to treat it in exactly the same way.
48:45These will need watering regularly.
48:47And also as the trusses form, they will need feeding.
48:50Now I always plant basil with tomatoes
48:53because the two share the same sort of growing conditions.
48:56They like heat.
48:56They like moisture.
48:58And also the basil does deter whitefly.
49:00It acts as a companion plant.
49:03So wherever you can, grow the two together.
49:06And I put these into pots in a row in front.
49:11All right, let's put that like that.
49:17Like any gardener, I love the fact that I can grow basil from Asia
49:20with tomatoes from South America
49:23and have lots of different varieties to choose from.
49:26But although this wealth of varieties is a great boon,
49:30we are losing some,
49:32particularly indigenous and perhaps less fashionable ones.
49:36And we went to Cambridgeshire to visit a gardener
49:38who has devoted his life to preserving those varieties
49:42that would otherwise disappear.
49:51My name is Timothy Clark
49:53and I live in Soham,
49:56where my family have lived for the last 200 years.
49:59And during the course of this time,
50:01I've become interested in growing old English plants.
50:07I've probably grown 6,000 varieties,
50:10ones which were being thrown out by other people,
50:13ones which were defunct in far as the trade goes.
50:17I've passed them on to Plant Heritage
50:19and many of them now are plants which are highly prized.
50:24It's interesting to grow plants
50:26which the best gardeners of 400 years have grown,
50:29to have the pleasure of thinking,
50:31well, if they thought they were worth growing,
50:34they must be worth growing for me to care for a next generation.
50:38Sadly, too many plants here are down to the last tens, twenties.
50:48I'm a gardener.
50:49I'm a gardener.
50:51You might think this is a bluebell,
50:53but this is no ordinary bluebell.
50:55It's an English bluebell,
50:57something that was found in an English wood about 20 years ago.
51:02Another rare plant I grow here is the hen and chicken's daisy.
51:05If you look at it, you can see
51:07that there's a small flower coming out of the side.
51:10And when they're growing perfectly,
51:12which they will do in about a month's time,
51:14it'll be like the sun and the moon,
51:17but it'll be a little bit darker.
51:19It'll be like the sun and the moon revolving around it.
51:23And this is extremely good and a very interesting plant.
51:28This is the only double-flowering wallflower we have from 1623.
51:34It's called the bloody warrior,
51:36and it is extremely difficult to propagate.
51:39In the 1800s, there were probably double purple,
51:41double yellow, double white and double pink.
51:45But this is just a sign of how we've lost so much of the heritage.
51:49Well, I have a very comprehensive collection of florists' tulips.
51:56Everyone who has been involved with growing these tulips
51:59has their own particular way of doing it.
52:01Some do it on their allotment, some do it out of the garden.
52:04I've been able to mix this in with the vegetable garden.
52:08It's taught me how to grow better vegetables,
52:11and at the same time, the flowers themselves
52:13give me the pleasure of exhibiting them.
52:19All of the tulips that were grown in Holland
52:22at the time of the tulip mania,
52:24those which were most highly prized
52:27had feathered or flamed, streaking and flowering.
52:30And for 400 years almost, nobody realised
52:34until Sir Daniel Hall in 1920
52:37that it might just be a virus
52:39which caused this feathering and flaming.
52:41And it's really rather sad that now at last
52:43we're breeding tulips that are so beautiful.
52:46It's really rather sad that now at last
52:48we're breeding the almost perfect English florist's tulip.
52:52Nobody really wants to grow it any longer.
53:04This is the tulip Lac van Rijn,
53:06which was traded hands at about 60,000 guilders
53:09at the height of the tulip mania,
53:11which is a very vast sum of money by anyone's standards.
53:14Now, if you look at the petals and they're pointed,
53:16you can see that this one, Wendy Acres next door to it,
53:19is completely rounded.
53:21And it may have taken 200 years, 300 years to evolve,
53:25but this is almost a perfect florist's flower.
53:30And this is one called Zoos Stanley.
53:32This group is particularly interesting
53:34because of the variation of the virus.
53:36If you look at that one at the far end there,
53:39it's almost like a feather.
53:41This one is flaming.
53:43And here is virtually a red tulip.
53:46It frequently wins on the show bench
53:49because it is a very good tulip.
53:55It's been my life's work to make sure
53:57that these plants are available for the next generation.
54:00I'm sure that someone out there is going to pick this up
54:04and they will see just how remarkable these plants are.
54:13It's a wonderful thing that some people, at least,
54:18are preserving these old varieties
54:21and growing them for their individual qualities and beauties.
54:25And those florist's tulips have to be seen in isolation
54:28in search of the perfect example.
54:30But that's not how I grow tulips here at Longmeadow.
54:33We're looking for a master effect
54:36that is true to the colour theme
54:37of different parts of the garden.
54:39But we do try out new varieties every year
54:41and I've made a few experiments this year.
54:44And the results are becoming apparent.
54:47The first is that Black Hero,
54:50which is this dark tulip with a kind of artichoke,
54:53multi-head, is really good.
54:56And I like it very much indeed.
54:58I shall certainly grow that again.
54:59But in the end, there are one or two I always come back to.
55:02And my favourite at the moment is Princess Irene.
55:04She's a beautiful tulip.
55:06And my favourite at the moment is Princess Irene.
55:10This has a glorious shape and upright form.
55:13Not too tall, which is why I tend to grow it in pots.
55:16A rich orange and flared with grey and pink.
55:22And it is one of those flowers
55:24that every year comes back to surprise you with joy.
55:31What won't be a surprise
55:33is I've got some jobs for the weekend.
55:35Here they are.
55:36So, if your dahlias are growing strongly,
55:48but you're not ready yet to plant them out,
55:50tip them back by reducing the leading shoots
55:54to a pair of leaves.
55:56This will slightly delay flowering,
55:58but encourage side shoots that will give you more flowers
56:01for longer into autumn.
56:07It's time to earth up potatoes
56:12as the foliage appears above the soil.
56:14But if they're in raised beds like mine,
56:16you need to cover them with a mulch.
56:18I'm using straw, but if you can't get any straw,
56:22grass clippings will do the job,
56:23as will a layer of compost.
56:26This will protect the leaves from frost
56:28and also provide a blanket to stop light
56:32affecting the growing tubers.
56:37It's time to start planning biennials,
56:42such as wallflowers and foxgloves,
56:45for next year's display.
56:47Sprinkle the seed thinly onto a tray of compost.
56:52Cover these lightly with vermiculite,
56:55water, and then let them germinate.
56:58They will then develop into young plants,
57:00which will overwinter before flowering
57:03next spring and summer.
57:07Come on. Come on, Nigel.
57:13I love the blue froth of the forget-me-nots.
57:17And actually, that's quite carefully planned out.
57:20We take a clump and spread them out as evenly as we can
57:24to get this overall effect of just a blue sea.
57:28But I can't claim credit for some of the other combinations.
57:31For example,
57:32which, I have to confess, is more pink than apricot,
57:35but lovely as well,
57:36with the blue and with this glorious crabapple.
57:39Comtesse de Paris is more luck than judgment.
57:44But I will take those accidental Maytime beauties every time.
57:51But we've run out of time for today.
57:53Don't forget that Morvan is still going on
57:56with the Maytime beauties.
57:57And if you want to see more of the Maytime beauties,
58:00don't forget that Morvan is still going on.
58:03If you go to our website, you can get the details.
58:05But try and get there this weekend if you possibly can.
58:07I certainly shall.
58:09And of course, we'll be back here at the same time next week.
58:13But until then, goodbye.
58:20Changing gear with a confession, an interrogation,
58:23and the opportunity for the president to retaliate
58:26next year on BBC Two in the Looming Tower.