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00:00Hello, welcome to Gardener's World.
00:13Even though we've had one of the wettest and coldest and generally most miserable Junes
00:18that I can remember for a long time, the foxgloves have been fabulous this year and the opium
00:23poppies have never been better.
00:27In fact, the ones behind me are self-sown.
00:30They are in fact growing amongst rows of yew cuttings, but they appeared probably through
00:36the compost.
00:37We let them grow and now they're having their moment of glory.
00:41We will let them form seed heads, collect the seed, and then we can take the plants
00:46out and get back to raising the yew plants.
00:52On today's programme, Carol visits Aberglasney Gardens in Carmarthenshire, to reveal the
00:58best planting partners for glorious thalictrums.
01:02When you see a thalictrum on its own, you're struck by its beauty, yes, but they really
01:08come into their own when they're combined with other plants.
01:14And we visit the home of the Reuter Cape Ramblery, who's created a wildlife haven in her own
01:20back garden.
01:21I made quite a dramatic decision to take out nearly all of the shrubs and trees that were
01:28growing here, and I replaced them with British natives.
01:32And in amongst all the summer colour here at Longmeadow, I shall be planting for the
01:37deepest, darkest, driest shade.
01:50The dyer's bed was planted up by Rachel and I a few months ago, and Rachel has promised
02:02to come back in early September so we can gather plants for dyeing.
02:07But in the meantime, it has quietly set about the business of growing, and some things are
02:14really apparent.
02:15For example, I've definitely overdone the calendula.
02:18Now, I do want to keep the flower heads for dyeing, and my plan is to experiment with
02:32a little bit of dyeing with these marigold petals, I'll best use fresh.
02:43The other thing, of course, about calendula is they're very good in salads because you
02:47can eat them.
02:59That shrug of intense colour might make you think that the dye would be equally strong,
03:05but in fact, like all natural dyes, what comes out is something much more subtle.
03:11It has a faded tapestry quality that I love.
03:16Now, I'm going to put those to one side for the moment.
03:20I want to plant these.
03:22This is another plant which provides petals to make a dye quite similar to marigold, and
03:28this is Coriopsis tinctoria.
03:31It's an annual, and the dye they make veers from quite pale orange to one with a little
03:36bit more colour.
03:39Now in order to make room for the Coriopsis, I do need to clear some space.
03:53Coriopsis do best in quite poor soil and hot sun, and this is really rich soil, so the
04:02downside might be I have big plants but not that many flowers.
04:08So if you've got dry, sandy soil or chalky soil, this would be perfect.
04:16Quite a few plants have tinctoria as part of their name, and that is always a good guide
04:22that they either have been used or potentially can be used for dyeing.
04:34Those are the gaps filled with the Coriopsis, and hopefully that will give us lots of material.
04:40Now Joe has been down to Devon to visit a relatively new garden that has now reached
04:45a kind of maturity on a really grand, dramatic scale.
05:00Over the years, I've heard wonderful things about Wildside.
05:04Now the visionary behind it is Keith Wiley, and he's said to be taking gardening to the
05:09next level.
05:15Fifteen years ago, Keith and his wife Roz began the transformation of four acres of
05:20land in Devon into a garden that can only be described as extraordinary.
05:33Keith, how would you describe Wildside?
05:36The idea when we first came down here was to try and make a habitat that would suit
05:40as many plants as we could possibly grow from all over the world and make them find a place
05:45that was happy, because I think that a beautiful plant is one that is happy, not necessarily
05:52a rarity.
05:53It's the way plants grow in communities rather than as individual plants, that's what excites
05:58me.
05:59And what was this garden like when you first came here?
06:01It was completely flat field.
06:02I mean, when you get down to the bottom and look over the hedge, you'll see a field that's
06:06exactly the same as this one was.
06:08Probably over the course of the last 14 years, moved about 125,000 tonnes of soil and stone
06:15I mean, I said to Roz, when we came down here, if we could raise the level of the field by
06:18four feet.
06:19That's a bit over four feet.
06:20Well, we went higher than we anticipated, ended up going 25 feet above the original
06:25level and 15 feet deeper as well.
06:28But that's, you know, that's just fun.
06:30And what's the inspiration behind it?
06:33There are places that remind me of places that we've been on holiday, like Crete or
06:37South Africa or the Mediterranean or New Mexico.
06:40And it's almost like you put them into a blender and you come up with a smoothie version.
06:45It's a sort of reminder of all of them, but not a copy of any of them.
06:48That's what I like.
06:49It's that emotional connection and try and capture some tiny essence of that back here
06:56at Wildside.
06:57It's not what the great British public would see as normal gardening.
07:02I mean, you are trying to break barriers, you're trying to experiment, you're trying
07:06to push the boundaries of what a garden is here.
07:08Yes, but only because I want to see it myself.
07:11I want to do these things because I know they haven't been done and I want to see them.
07:17That's the driver.
07:18Yeah.
07:19That's what makes me want to do it.
07:22Looking back now...
07:23We're not starting again.
07:24No, looking back now over the last, whatever, 14, 15 years, you know, would you do it all
07:28over again?
07:29Well, yes, because it's as we dreamed.
07:32The dream has become a reality and has the possibility for being something truly, truly
07:39memorable.
07:41The range of plants in this garden is simply phenomenal.
08:02And it's because Keith has created different aspects and environments for them to thrive
08:07in.
08:08So here we have a lush palette of plants, plants that thrive with their roots down in
08:14the wet soil.
08:15So things like the royal fern, hostas, ligularias, regercias, and then shots of colour coming
08:22from things like the candelabra primula and the little primula viallii as well.
08:30It's just genius.
08:41The level changes that Keith put in has done really interesting things to the planting.
08:46So on this bank, we've got lots of low growing plants, which would, if they were just in
08:51the border, be pretty much below knee level.
08:53You'd be looking down on top of them.
08:56But on a bank, we see it in a very different way.
09:00The tapestry of plants at eye level.
09:02So we've got lots of daisy flowers in here, things like the Mexican fleabane, the oxide
09:07daisy, and there's even a lovely Californian poppy here, a little pop of orange down at
09:13the bottom.
09:14And then your eye is led up towards this fantastic Japanese maple.
09:19And throughout the garden, Keith has planted a lot of the trees on the top of these banks.
09:23So it feels as if they're towering over you.
09:25You're looking up into the canopy of the tree.
09:39As well as being a fabulous collection of plants, this garden goes beyond that.
09:44It's been wonderfully designed and some of the compositions are just exquisite.
09:50In this area, which is roughly based on the Mediterranean, it's got arid, dry loving plants.
09:57We see a fabulous composition here.
10:00If you turn this border into a black and white photo and you look at it that way, it will
10:06tell you if it works or not really.
10:08So we've got structural plants, we've got things of form and plenty of texture and depth
10:12as well to that composition.
10:15And then when we come back into full colour, it works nicely too.
10:19So we've got things like the lichness coronaria with the magenta flowers and the silvery foliage,
10:24which pick up on the silvery foliage of the nicely kipped santalinas behind me, drawing
10:30the eye nicely through.
10:32And then this wonderful grass, this nicella that he's dotted in everywhere, just loosens
10:37the whole planting scheme up, makes it far more naturalistic.
10:50I've seen a lot of gardens over the years and I have to say, I think this is a hugely
10:56significant garden.
10:58You can see that Keith has taken his inspiration from the natural landscape, but created this
11:04sort of stylised dreamscape, incorporating so many different plants from all over the
11:09world, but putting them together with an artist's eye.
11:13But most importantly, the lesson I'll take from here is his sense of experimentation.
11:19I was really excited about seeing this garden in the first place and it certainly didn't
11:25disappoint.
11:33I suspect that all of us, sooner or later, want to create something in our gardens that
11:47we've seen on our holidays, plant association, even as I did with the Paradise Garden, a
11:52whole set up.
11:54But I have never seen it done on such a scale or with such passion.
12:11At this time of year, there's a real changeover in the vegetable garden.
12:22Up till now, it's been dominated by crops like spinach, which respond to the lengthening
12:27daylight and the gradual increase in good weather in spring.
12:32But by now, the crops that need heat, sweetcorn, fennel, beans, are all ready to take over.
12:41And also, that heat means that the early crops, like this spinach, just desperately wants
12:47to set seed.
12:48It bolts.
12:49Once they start to bolt, they become distinctly bitter.
12:52Much better to cut your losses and use the space for a veg that wants the warmth and
12:57isn't going to bolt as a result of it.
13:04In place of the spinach, I'm planting Florence fennel.
13:09I love Florence fennel.
13:10It's a really delicious vegetable.
13:13So I'm going to plant them out in a grid and give them about eight to nine inches to grow.
13:24Florence fennel is really easy to grow if you have enough heat, enough moisture, and
13:30good rich soil.
13:35It is important to water them.
13:37If they get too dry, they will respond by bolting.
13:40Very often, they will bolt a week or 10 days after the dry period.
13:46So by the time you see them start to bolt, it's too late.
13:50But this is a variety called Zephyrphina, which is reputed to be bolt-resistant.
13:57Now resistant means that it is less likely to happen rather than it won't happen.
14:03But we will see.
14:10I sowed another batch, partly to give succession, but also if these go pear-shaped, then I've
14:18got to back up.
14:19And it's not too late to sow seed yourself.
14:23And you can sow them direct.
14:25Just put the seed in the ground, a couple in each spot, weed out all but the strongest,
14:29and they should grow very fast.
14:32Now I would expect to harvest the first of these in about five to six weeks' time.
14:40Now at the beginning of July, I always give myself a little treat.
14:45New potatoes have long been a Don family tradition of something that we celebrate my birthday
14:52with, which happens at the end of the first week of July.
14:55So as birthday weekend is coming up, it's time to do the first harvest of the potatoes.
15:05Let's take the tops off.
15:07That's a good start, and they're just under the soil here.
15:17This is a variety called Winston, which is a first early.
15:26Well I am very happy with my humble birthday spud.
15:30But Carol has been looking at rather more glamorous plants.
15:34She went to Aberglasney Gardens in Carmarthenshire, where they have a magnificent collection of
15:41the lictrums.
15:47The lictrums, or meadow roofs, are some of the most graceful and elegant plants in the
15:52summer border.
15:55They bring a lightness and an airiness to the whole place, and they're named after Thalia,
16:00a Greek muse, whose speciality was festivity.
16:09The lictrum are a large genus in the buttercup family, Ranunculaceae.
16:14There are more than 100 species worldwide.
16:18All the lictrums are herbaceous perennials.
16:22In the spring, when they burst through, it's one of their very finest moments.
16:27And then later on, up come these tall stems, and on the top of them come the flowers.
16:35Many of them, like this one, and this is the lictrum Rochebrunnanum, have saples.
16:40They form the buds and then they open, and in the middle you get anthers, you get the
16:46stigma in the centre, and bees absolutely adore these plants.
16:52Eventually, those flowers will turn to seeds, and after that foliage has changed colour,
16:58these stems die right down to the ground and prepare for another year of beauty.
17:13When you see a phyllictrum on its own, you're struck by its beauty, yes, but they really
17:18come into their own when they're combined with other plants.
17:22Look here at this beautiful, big, gorgeous phyllictrum.
17:25This is Elin.
17:28It's made all the more sort of strong and statuesque by the contrast with this fine,
17:34feathery foliage of fennel.
17:37It also goes beautifully well with this phyllictrum.
17:40This one's Flavum, and it's got these powderpuff flowers and pale, pale lemon.
17:47And as if that wasn't enough, you've got this great, tumbling mass of blue geranium, which
17:53just lights up the whole thing, and in the foreground, a pretty little geranium sanguinium,
17:59which just finishes the picture.
18:12One of the first phyllictrums to flower is this one.
18:15It's the Phyllictrum aquilegifolium, so-called because its foliage bears a resemblance to
18:21aquilegias.
18:22And one of its most attractive features is when it sets seed.
18:26Now, these seed pods are called achines, and what's so lovely about them is they droop
18:31down gracefully from the stems.
18:34But the plant looks all the better for the company it keeps.
18:38At its feet is this big, sprawling geranium.
18:42It's Ampholcard, and that colour's picked up here by Primula japonica.
18:48I think the plant that really makes this association is the Rodgersia.
18:52This is aesculifolia, meaning with leaves like a horse chestnut, and they're big and
18:59bold and beautiful and provide the perfect contrast with the finely cut foliage of that
19:05phyllictrum and also all these others that I'm surrounded by.
19:19So, here's a phyllictrum with a difference.
19:23This is Phyllictrum lucidum.
19:25It's from Turkey in Central Europe.
19:28It's got these long pinate leaves, and they're dark green and glossy, and they make a beautiful
19:34contrast to these fluffy flowers.
19:37They're light and airy.
19:38Perhaps that's where it gets its name of lucidum, full of light.
19:43And it's a beautiful contrast, again, with great big leaves like this Rheum.
19:48This is Rheum ace of hearts.
19:51Very dramatic.
19:52There's a contrasting form, too, with this Veronicastrum.
19:56At the moment, the two are competing, the phyllictrum is definitely winning, but later
20:02on when it's in seed, this will have risen high and these lovely purple flowers will
20:08have opened up.
20:09And there are plants here that have already flowered and yet are still making a contribution,
20:14like this Iris sibirica in the foreground.
20:17Now, it's full of seed heads, but also these contrasting sword-like leaves, the perfect
20:24foil to the phyllictrum.
20:30Within the family, there are a multitude of different species, many with distinct characteristics.
20:37Phyllictrum flavum subspecies glaucum, Ruth Linden Bell, is a selection prized for its
20:44compact upright habit and its outstanding foliage.
20:50Phyllictrum fendleri variety polycarpum can be found at woodland edges and open places.
20:57Its masked tiny flowers create a misty effect in the garden.
21:03From China comes one of the daintiest of all phyllictrums, phyllictrum omiens.
21:10It's perfect for a rock garden and will even tolerate quite dense shade.
21:21Cultivating phyllictrums couldn't be easier, but whichever one you choose, have a look
21:26first of all of where it comes from and the sort of conditions it's used to in its
21:31native home.
21:32It's no accident that they call meadow ruse.
21:36Imagine the sort of place they're growing alongside other plants, probably in quite
21:41damp, moist soil, or on the edge of woodland.
21:45So they'll stand dappled shade, or a few of them with the very grey leaves will stand
21:50full sun.
21:51They love to have a cool root run, so ensure that they're surrounded by other plants.
21:57They're much better in good company.
22:00They love straightforward, loamy soil wherever you can provide it.
22:04They hate thin, dry soil or standing in stagnant water over the winter.
22:10And if you follow that very simple advice, you can have phyllictrums as gorgeous as these
22:16in your bedsome borders.
22:23Phyllictrums have poise and poetry.
22:27They add stature and elegance.
22:29And though they may overlook other plants, they never overshadow them.
22:34From March till October, they keep on giving.
22:38First of all in the spring with their new shoots bursting through the ground, to the
22:43autumn when their foliage turns to golden amber with gentle seed heads to accompany
22:49the leaves.
22:50They're one of my favourites.
22:53To me, an essential ingredient in the summer border.
23:06I love phyllictrums.
23:08And we have a few here at Longmeadow.
23:11This one, phyllictrum flavin, is by far the most dominant because it pops up like a weed
23:16and has these lovely glaucus leaves and then this lemon yellow, cotton-headed flower.
23:38This is the wildlife garden.
23:41Now, this in here is essentially archetypal dry shade.
23:47The ground here is almost always dry and that's because the trees and the shrubs just suck
23:53up the moisture.
23:54And it takes a very special small band of plants to survive, let alone thrive, in those
24:01conditions.
24:02And I've got a fume in the wheelbarrow.
24:04And my intention is to make this area here in front of me a border.
24:12I've got geranium.
24:16This is a hardy geranium, geranium nodosa.
24:20Lovely, pale lilac flowers.
24:23I've got three of each, so I'm going to start thinking of putting them down.
24:27I'll put that down there.
24:29The second plant is an epimedium.
24:32This is epimedium rubrum.
24:34And although it looks rather green at the moment, it will bronze up and then in autumn
24:39the foliage turns a really strong red and it has rosy pink flowers in spring.
24:51The third one is Pachysandra terminatus.
24:55It's an evergreen shrub, actually.
24:58It has white flowers in summer and will only grow about six inches to a foot tall.
25:04One in there and then another can come in back here.
25:12Now it's just a question of putting them in the ground.
25:21The Pachysandra will grow in quite acidic conditions, so if you've got a garden with
25:26lots of camellias and rhododendrons and others, this plant will do very well for you underneath
25:31the shade of those shrubs.
25:42I did make this specific area, and I call it the wildlife garden, to try and maximise
25:47the range of wildlife in a small space.
25:50And it is only a small part of the larger garden.
25:54But if you've been watching Springwatch, you will be familiar with Kate Bradbury's garden
25:59because she decided to make the entire plot a haven for wildlife.
26:05So we went down to Brighton to pay her a visit.
26:17When I first moved in, it was like a fairly standard back garden.
26:21There wasn't much going on, there wasn't much life.
26:25I made quite a dramatic decision to take out nearly all of the shrubs and trees that were
26:32growing here, and I replaced them with British natives.
26:35I also dug a pond, I made habitat piles, I've also got bee hotels and laid a wildflower meadow.
26:46The meadow has been the second most significant addition to my wildlife garden.
26:52The pond made a huge difference, just in terms of the amount of birds that came in,
26:57hedgehogs were coming in and drinking from it.
26:59It's been a real centre of the garden, but the meadow as well.
27:05I've got things like ox-eyed daisy, I've got loads of different grasses,
27:09I've got butterflies, and I've got a lot of plants.
27:12I think we should be more tolerant of plants that we traditionally regard as weeds.
27:17Even in a small garden, there's always a little tiny corner where you can grow a little patch of
27:21nettles or let dandelions flourish, because just having these small areas of weeds or wildflowers
27:28really benefits a whole host of species.
27:34A lot of people think that wildlife gardening is growing flowers,
27:38for bees and butterflies and hoverflies and things, and that's a huge part of wildlife gardening.
27:43But it's only half of the story.
27:45It's all very well growing flowers for the adult butterflies,
27:48but if you don't provide leaves for the butterflies to lay eggs on for their caterpillars,
27:52then you're missing a vital part of the food chain.
27:55Caterpillars are right at the bottom of the food chain,
27:57so not only are you providing habitats for the whole life cycle of the moths and butterflies
28:03to complete, you're also providing food for all the species that eat the caterpillars as well.
28:08Bees and butterflies don't really care whether you grow native flowers for them,
28:13as long as there's nectar and pollen for them to eat.
28:15But in terms of egg-laying, the moths, the butterflies, they really need native plants.
28:20They have specific relationships with plants that have been growing in the British Isles since the last ice age.
28:34So in a small wildlife garden, it's really important for plants to work really hard for wildlife.
28:40So this is a honeysuckle.
28:42It's the native honeysuckle, Lonicera periclymenum.
28:45It's a really great pollen and nectar plant for bees and other insects,
28:49and it's one of those plants as well that provides flowers for night-flying moths.
28:56Honeysuckles really like a lot of water,
29:00Honeysuckles really like their roots growing in shade and their leaves growing in sun.
29:06So planting it on a north-facing wall, where it can grow up into the sun, is perfect.
29:14Because of climate change, bees in particular, and some butterflies, are coming out at different times of the year.
29:21So bumblebees might come out of hibernation as early as February, sometimes January in some years.
29:27And then you'll have other bees at the other end of the year that are still flying in November.
29:31So in my pollinator border, I grow things like crocus in spring, winter aconite.
29:37In summer, I grow lavender and catmint.
29:40And then sort of later into the summer, I'll grow rubeccia, bubena benariensis, and perennial wallflower as well,
29:46to take that season right up to the end of the year.
29:51So when growing plants for pollinators, it's really important to think about the shapes of the flowers.
29:57Because different insects have different shaped mouthparts, and visit different shaped flowers.
30:02So long-tongued bees will visit flowers with long tubes, like honeysuckle and foxglove.
30:07And short-tongued bees will visit things like daisies and bowl-shaped blooms like cranesbills.
30:13So it's really important to grow the greatest variety of flower shapes as possible,
30:17for the greatest variety of insects.
30:19As you can see, I've got salvias, which have got quite a little long tube.
30:23They're sort of lipped flowers.
30:25I've got poppies, which have got the really lovely bowl shape.
30:28We've got red campion in the foreground, white campion,
30:31and then catmint as well, which is really lovely lipped flowers.
30:36Lupines, when they flower, they've got quite interesting flower shapes,
30:41which long-tongued bees really benefit from as well.
30:44So I'm just going to plant three here, and just have a really nice variety of flower shapes.
30:57So the garden's largely planted up now.
30:59But while the shrubs take time to fill into their space,
31:02I can fill the space with more pollinator plants.
31:07So this is an astilbe.
31:09It's quite shade-tolerant, so I can put it on the north-facing border.
31:14And it's really popular with pollinating flies, like hoverflies.
31:19So it's a really good addition to have in a wildlife garden.
31:24So next we've got an astrantia.
31:26And again, just thinking about pollinators, the shape of the astrantia flower head,
31:30which is quite a sort of composite flower,
31:32compared to the astrantia flower head,
31:35which is quite a sort of composite flower,
31:37compared to the tiny thousands of individual florets of the astilbe.
31:43It just means there's just a greater variety of nectar and pollen plants going into the garden.
31:50So as well as planting things specifically for certain types of wildlife,
31:53So as well as planting things specifically for certain types of wildlife,
31:56it's also really important to tolerate the wildlife that comes in
31:59that you might not welcome that much.
32:02So here, I've planted loads of flowering plants for bees, butterflies, hoverflies, moths.
32:08But also I've planted flowers for the birds,
32:11and I've planted flowers for the birds, and I've planted flowers for the bees,
32:16butterflies, hoverflies, moths.
32:18But also I've got loads of aphids coming in as well.
32:21And some gardeners might remove these aphids, even with an organic spray.
32:24You know, you might take these aphids off and get rid of them,
32:27but I've just left them, because house sparrows feed aphids to their babies,
32:31ladybirds lay eggs on aphid colonies,
32:34hoverflies lay eggs on aphid colonies,
32:36lacewings also eat them.
32:38And so just by leaving them, you've got a food chain in place,
32:42you've got a little ecosystem,
32:44and you're just providing a bit of extra food for all the other species in the garden.
32:51I've barely left the house since I made this garden.
32:54I never want to leave. It's my happy place.
32:57I love standing by the kitchen window and watching the sparrows coming in.
33:01And last week I had sparrows teaching their babies to have a bath, which was just so cute.
33:06It's just gorgeous. It's just the most wonderful thing.
33:10It makes me very, very happy indeed.
33:15BIRDS CHIRP
33:30Kate's Garden has inspired the eminent garden designer, Joe Thompson,
33:35to design a show garden based upon it
33:38at the RHS Hampton Court of Garden Festival this year.
33:42And you can go along and see it for yourself because it is open until Sunday night
33:46and all the details are on our website.
33:48And if you can't get there, you can see the highlights of the show
33:51tomorrow night at 9.30 on BBC Two.
33:55Now, I first went to Hampton Court Palace when I was a boy of about nine,
34:01which is an awfully long time ago, over half a century ago.
34:04And I particularly remember the biggest grapevine in the world.
34:09This huge greenhouse devoted to this one vine.
34:12And most extraordinary of all, it was planted outside
34:15and grew through a hole in the wall into the greenhouse.
34:20Now, that has stayed with me because when I planted this vine
34:23and we've planted it outside, it does come through a hole in the wall.
34:26It's the same variety, black Hamburg, and it's a tiny fraction of the size.
34:32But it's doing well.
34:35Now, any dessert grape, you want nice, big, juicy grapes.
34:41And that means you have to thin them.
34:43That's one I've already thinned.
34:45And the grapes are widely spaced,
34:48but I assure you that they will swell and grow and be so much better as a result.
34:56And what you need to do is get in
35:00and try and take as many from the interior as possible.
35:04And obviously you need a long pair of secateurs or scissors to do that.
35:09So you get right in there and just cut, and that lets air in.
35:13It certainly helps fungal problems,
35:17but most importantly, it creates room for the ones that you leave behind to grow.
35:24This is one of those jobs that, in small doses, is meditative and calming.
35:30I'll peck away at it over the next few weeks.
35:34Now, still to come on today's show,
35:37Adam goes to Worksop to join a group
35:41who have created a real sense of community and well-being through gardening together.
35:47People come to us, you know, depressed,
35:50and their lives falling apart,
35:52and the gardens are part of the reason why their lives change,
35:56and they've got some purpose and some reason and some joy, really.
35:59But first we join Nick at RHS Wisley
36:03in pursuit of all the information that he can gather
36:07about the dreaded lily beetle.
36:16Take a glance around your garden
36:18and you might spot a flash of red against the greenery.
36:24On closer inspection,
36:26you might even think that this colourful creature is rather beautiful.
36:35Now, don't be fooled by the fancy red jacket.
36:39This apparent beauty is, in fact, an absolute beast.
36:43It's Lilioceros lilii, better known as the lily beetle.
36:47And, of course, as the name suggests, they love lilies.
36:55In fact, these beetles, and more importantly their larvae,
36:59love them so much that they can devastate entire plants,
37:03devouring stems and leaves,
37:05all the way through to flowers and even seed pods.
37:09Lily beetles first appeared in the UK just before the Second World War,
37:13and they were likely introduced by accident from Europe and Asia.
37:17Since then, they have spread across the country
37:20and are now present in every single county.
37:26Anyone who grows lilies is susceptible to this red rogue.
37:31Even gardens run by the Royal Horticultural Society
37:34Luckily, here at RHS Wisley,
37:36they happen to have one of the UK's leading lily beetle experts working on site.
37:41Andy Salisbury is the principal entomologist here,
37:44and with a PhD in these lily-loving critters,
37:47he knows a thing or two about them.
37:50Destructive as they are, I have to say, these guys,
37:53they are kind of cute, aren't they?
37:55They are.
37:56They are.
37:57They are.
37:58They are.
37:59They are.
38:00They are.
38:01They are.
38:02They are kind of cute, aren't they?
38:04They are fantastic.
38:05A bright red colour.
38:06To me, as an entomologist, I think it adds to the lilies.
38:09Just those little antennae, the things they do.
38:11So cute.
38:12But over the years, I have to say,
38:13I've noticed how incredibly efficient these guys are
38:16at finding lilies in the garden.
38:18How do they do that?
38:19We found that it's odour.
38:21So they can pick up on the odour of lily plants.
38:23And that's not the flower necessarily, but the foliage?
38:26Yep. Odours we can't actually detect.
38:28So it's actually what's known as green leaf volatiles.
38:30So the volatiles that the plant is giving off generally
38:32from its leaves and its foliage,
38:34not that wonderful fragrance we can get from some lilies.
38:37Which is why, you know, one lily in your garden,
38:39they'll find it.
38:40And once they have found a lily, they will release an odour
38:43which attracts more beetles in,
38:45which is why in a patch of lilies,
38:46only one or two might be affected at first.
38:49But then as the season progresses,
38:51the grubs also give off odours,
38:54which put off more females laying eggs on plants
38:57with lots of beetle grubs on it.
38:59But they do jump onto other species, don't they?
39:01Yeah, occasionally you'll find them on fritillaries
39:03early in the season,
39:04and they will also feed on giant lilies, cardiocrinums.
39:08There are reports out there that they sometimes feed on
39:10polygonatum and a few other things,
39:12but generally it is the lilies, the fritillaries,
39:15and the cardiocrinums are the only plants
39:17they're able to breed on and cause serious damage.
39:20For such a tiny little garden insect,
39:22there's an awful lot of complex processes
39:25and communications going on.
39:26It's extraordinary for such a tiny creature.
39:28It is, and an awful lot of insects have this complex behaviour
39:32or largely odour-mediated,
39:34particularly those which are feeding on plants.
39:38With that kind of honing instinct,
39:40it's not easy to deter the beetles from your lilies,
39:43so it's a matter of how to deal with them when you find them.
39:47Lily beetle adults, of course, are pretty easy to spot
39:50with those red, shiny cases,
39:52but earlier on in the season or at different parts of the year,
39:54what are the symptoms people can look out for?
39:56Oh, definitely. Many people will be aware of the grubs,
39:59which typically hide only on the surface of the leaves.
40:01They get up to about a centimetre long,
40:03but they cover themselves in their own black excrement.
40:06Now, that black excrement cover does tend to keep off predators
40:09such as birds and some other insects.
40:11I mean, the fact that the larvae cover themselves in their own faeces
40:15is truly disgusting, I have to say,
40:17but I've grinned and borne it in the past
40:19and sort of just physically stripped them off.
40:21Is that the best approach?
40:23You hand-pick them, take the actual leaves off.
40:26One tip I always give to people is the eggs are orange
40:29and laid on the inner surface of the leaves,
40:31but when they hatch, you get the grubs feeding away,
40:33and at first they can't eat right the way through the leaves,
40:36so you get this window-painting effect,
40:38and it's a whole batch of eggs that have just hatched,
40:40the grubs are still small,
40:42and you can get five or six grubs in one go,
40:44and that is one easy spot to get rid of a number of grubs all at once.
40:47So if they're left unchecked and people don't remove them,
40:50there's the possibility they could almost strip the whole plant.
40:53Yes, and that does happen occasionally.
40:55In most cases, it's pretty bad leaf damage.
40:57The plants do survive.
40:59It must be remembered, the beetle doesn't actually affect the bulb,
41:02so what can happen if the plant is completely stripped
41:04is the bulb will be weakened and may not flower in the following year,
41:07but that is reasonably unusual.
41:09It must be said, we've had lily beetle here at Wisley
41:11for well over 70 years, and we still have lilies,
41:14and in the main garden, we take no control whatsoever.
41:20Like many pests, they're masters of multiplication.
41:24If you don't keep on top of them, your lilies will soon start to suffer.
41:28The hand-squishing method is pretty gruesome,
41:31but by far the most effective.
41:33This beautiful Himalayan lily, or Cardiacrinum,
41:37unfortunately is absolutely covered in lily beetles,
41:41and you can see the damage that they've done.
41:43There's holes all over the leaves.
41:45Now, if I pick one of these guys off,
41:47something quite extraordinary happens.
41:52It's actually screaming, and this is a defence mechanism,
41:55but something else has happened as well.
41:58Lots of the other beetles have dropped off,
42:00and it's a phenomenon known as thanatosis.
42:03Essentially, it's just playing dead.
42:05The really clever bit is they'll always make sure they land on their backs,
42:09so they disappear in the soil and can't be spotted by predators.
42:13Pretty sneaky, hey?
42:17To grow lilies in pots, some people advise repotting them seasonally
42:21because the adults often overwinter in the soil.
42:24But unfortunately, this might only slow them down rather than stop them.
42:29The beetles are great flyers,
42:31so it will happily travel to feast on your lilies wherever you grow them.
42:36Although chemical pesticides are sometimes used to treat lily beetles,
42:40it's not an approach that I would ever advocate.
42:43There's always the possibility of cross-contamination,
42:46and you could end up removing some of the beneficial insects in your garden.
42:50Now, here at RHS Wisley, they're gardening across hundreds of acres,
42:54and looking around the collections today,
42:56most of the lilies, in spite of a little bit of damage, are looking pretty good.
43:04I think this is a good guide to controlling almost any pest.
43:08Check them daily, remove the little blighters before they get out of control,
43:12but otherwise, let nature take its course.
43:16The beetles might have caused some unpleasantness this year,
43:19but they rarely cause long-term damage to plants,
43:22so your lilies should be in fine fettle, ready for next season.
43:26With such beautiful plants, it would seem a shame to stop growing them
43:30just because of a pesky beetle.
43:47I do agree with Nick that it is far better to live and let live
43:53than to obsess about one particular problem,
43:56because invariably, it's connected to a chain of events,
44:00most of which you can have no control over.
44:03Now, I've been growing tomatoes all my life,
44:07but they do say that you don't really learn how to grow something until it goes wrong.
44:11It's gone wrong this year.
44:13You get this discolouration of the leaves,
44:16and then I noticed that leaves were starting to wither and die,
44:21and it only affected these plants, which are all black cherry,
44:25but it has now started to spread onto the next variety down there,
44:30and even onto these in the soil.
44:32And if you turn the leaf over, you find what I suspect is the clue.
44:38On the back is a greyish mould.
44:42Tomato leaf mould is a fungus,
44:46and I've never had it before because the combination of circumstances
44:50has never worked out like it has.
44:52We've had a particularly cool, wet June,
44:58and because it was cool, we didn't ventilate the greenhouse as much as possible.
45:03So inside the greenhouse, we had damp, warm conditions,
45:08and you get a perfect storm.
45:10Now, the way to treat it is to take off the affected leaves,
45:16and finally, I'm going to take off all the leaves up to the first truss.
45:24By taking the leaves off, it will increase the ventilation,
45:28particularly around the top of the pot, which is the bit that gets wettest most often.
45:33Now, come on then, come on.
45:44The herb garden has come into its third season,
45:48and now everything has come together.
45:51The Mediterranean herbs like thyme and sage and oregano
45:56are lapping across the ground,
45:58and set against them are the poppies and the foxgloves
46:03in full, luxuriant English summer glory.
46:08Now, Adam has been to Workshop to visit a group
46:14who have found that by coming together and gardening as a group,
46:20every aspect of their lives has been improved.
46:25I'm often blown away by the community gardens I visit,
46:29and the creative ways people work together.
46:34What is amazing is how green space can become the heart and soul of the community.
46:42The Oasis Community Centre and Gardens has been thriving since 2011
46:46when it opened to the public.
46:49The Oasis Community Centre and Gardens has been thriving since 2011
46:53when it opened in the heart of the Kilton Estate in Workshop.
47:01On their two-acre site, local volunteers grow roses, herbs, vegetables and more
47:06in their two polytunnels and one eco-pod.
47:09The space is run by Steve Williams.
47:14What do you think it's done for the community?
47:16Well, this community didn't really have a heart at all,
47:19and had lost a bit of their identity as well because of the demise of the coalfields.
47:24It was a big employer, so people had lost some pride, really.
47:29People come to us, you know, depressed and their lives falling apart,
47:33and the gardens are part of the answer and the reason why, you know,
47:38their lives change and they've got some purpose and some reason and some joy, really.
47:42Obviously, it's a big site, but what do you do here?
47:45We work with elderly people who are isolated,
47:48and we also train people who are unemployed
47:51and do therapeutic work with disabled and special needs.
47:55It's brought life back to the community.
47:58It's brought a heart back to this community.
48:00At first glance, coming in here, you've got a huge array of plants.
48:04Yes, a massive array. I keep adding to it all the time.
48:07It's my ambition to have plants from everywhere in the world,
48:12and one of every kind of plant. I'm not quite there yet.
48:15Exactly. I'm on the way.
48:18Steve's not joking.
48:20He's planted a heritage crop,
48:22which was probably introduced by the Romans for its medicinal properties
48:26and then became widely cultivated in this area during medieval times.
48:31Licorice.
48:33It was new to the sweetener until sugarcane became available,
48:36and then slowly it disappeared, but it needs really deep soil,
48:40so it's got a big taproot that goes down
48:42because it's that root that you harvest over a few years.
48:45It's a lovely-looking plant,
48:47so I think I might be giving this one a go at home.
48:52Steve supported the volunteers to create a wildflower meadow,
48:56a willow tunnel for children,
48:59and they upcycle whenever they can.
49:03This sustainable ethos extends to their plants.
49:06They usually grow from seed,
49:08and today the ladies are busy pricking out.
49:12Here we go. I've been sent with some more plants for you.
49:15Thank you very much.
49:17So what got you involved then?
49:19Was it just coming down on the social site to start with?
49:21Because there were so many plants wanted doing
49:23and Steve said, you can't go wrong if we give you a tray of plants.
49:26So, yeah.
49:28And away you go. So what does this place really mean to you?
49:31It means everything.
49:33It's the difference in getting up and having something to do
49:36and getting up and just sitting around the house.
49:38You live on your own.
49:40It's not nice just being in four walls all the time.
49:43When you're together in company, it makes such a difference.
49:46It makes life worth living
49:48if you've got something to get up for in the morning.
49:51And this is one of the nicest things you could do.
49:54And what would it be like if this place wasn't here?
49:56I personally would be bored to tears.
49:58Would you really? Yeah. I would.
50:00I mean, where would you go to find a companionship
50:05and the friendliness that you get here?
50:08Well, thank you. It's been lovely to meet you all, anyway.
50:10Lovely to meet you. Thank you.
50:15The garden is regularly used by people with special and therapeutic needs.
50:20Today I'm joining some of the volunteers, led by Mark,
50:23to plant up some hanging baskets.
50:26So, how long have you been doing this?
50:28About three years.
50:30And how long have you been working with the lads?
50:32I met Callum and Thomas last year.
50:35Yeah. And Liam the year before, I think it was.
50:37Brilliant. So, what do you enjoy about coming?
50:40Everything. Everything? Yeah.
50:42We do planting. Yeah. Water plants.
50:44Planting. Water plants.
50:46Sowing seeds? Sowing seeds.
50:48Sowing seeds. Yeah.
50:49Is it amazing when they just start to come out of the ground?
50:51Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely brilliant.
50:53Have you got one favourite plant that you've really started to grow that you enjoy?
50:57Beans. You love growing beans?
50:59Yeah. Like eating them as well? Yeah.
51:01That's good.
51:03Carrots.
51:04You like carrots as well? Yeah.
51:06Brilliant. So, we're going to plant up this hanging basket.
51:08Yeah. Yeah? Come on then, show me how to do it.
51:10All right?
51:12That's it, mate. That's a nice one, isn't it?
51:14Maybe get that over the edge, because that will grow over the edge there, won't it?
51:17I'll say, show me how to do it, and then I'll start telling you what to do.
51:20Sorry, it's my nature.
51:22Just work that composting around there.
51:24Yeah. That's it.
51:25And look, where those roots are coming through, they're holding it.
51:28So, if you just wipe those off... Yeah.
51:30...and now give it a squeeze... Yeah.
51:32...hopefully it'll come out. Yeah. All right?
51:34So, if we work that one in there...
51:36You do one, and I'll do the next one.
51:38You've got one? That's it. Good.
51:40Can you get that in there? Yes, I can.
51:42Brilliant.
51:44Before you came here, did you guys know each other, or did you meet when you came here?
51:48We went to college together.
51:50Oh, you went to college together? Yeah.
51:52Oh, yeah. What did you do at college?
51:54We did woodwork. Oh, brilliant.
51:57Yeah.
51:59Fantastic.
52:01So, not only can you grow the carrots and the beans,
52:03you can cook them.
52:05Oh, yeah? Yeah.
52:07Brilliant, brilliant.
52:09You should be pleased with that.
52:11Thank you.
52:13I've only got about another 10, 15 to do.
52:15I'd better crack on, then, shall we?
52:17Where do we take this? Where do we put them?
52:19Tommy, you leading? It's going in there, is it?
52:21Come on, then. Let's go.
52:23You lead the way. Tell me where.
52:27Someone else who has really felt the benefits of this garden
52:30is Gordon, who works in this eco-pod.
52:33And I've been dying to find out what happens in here.
52:40Hello, Gordon. Hi, Adam. You all right?
52:42Yeah, you. What are you up to, mate?
52:44Just planting a few of these babies off into here.
52:47You've got rather a lot of cactus in your hay, cacti and succulents.
52:50I have, yes. When did you start doing this?
52:52About two and a half years ago. Yeah?
52:54I started off with probably that many.
52:56So you've built the whole stock in here? Yes.
52:59He was suffering from social isolation and depression
53:03until he started coming here.
53:05So, in a sense, mate, you wouldn't actually leave the house?
53:08No, I'd just stop in the house. Did you? Stop doing everything.
53:11And just what, just close yourself in? Close in, yeah.
53:14Then I felt like I was, like, just existing.
53:17Not living at all.
53:19So, in a sense, Steve really pulled you out of yourself?
53:22Pulled you out of yourself? Yeah.
53:24And so what did you think about, you know, when he suggested
53:27that it might be an idea if you came over and did some gardening?
53:30I thought, well, I'd give it a go.
53:32But now I'm afraid to it.
53:34It's incredible, isn't it, the power of a garden or a plant?
53:38Plants? Yeah. Yeah.
53:41I think it's just...
53:43You can nurture them, can't you?
53:45You can see them grow for nothing
53:48to what they are now.
53:50That's beautiful plants. Yeah.
53:52They're making a lot of people happy, hopefully.
53:54That's the main thing. That's right.
53:56Makes us all happy. Makes us all happy. Yeah.
54:01Sometimes you don't realise what you've achieved here
54:03until you look back.
54:05And when you look back, you think, God, that's scary.
54:08Yeah. It's good, though, isn't it?
54:10It's scary in a good way. Yeah.
54:14From a place of real darkness, Gordon's emerged,
54:18developing his cactus kingdom,
54:20selling hundreds of plants to visitors
54:23for the benefit of the garden.
54:25For me, that transformation
54:27encapsulates what this place is all about.
54:32It's been an absolutely incredible day.
54:35I think it's really demonstrated just the profound effect
54:38a garden's going to have on people
54:40and also that wider community.
54:43Incredible.
54:49BIRDS CHIRP
54:57Well, I don't think anybody could fail
54:59to be moved and inspired by that.
55:02And it's very simple.
55:04You don't have to do a lot
55:06to bind people together through gardening.
55:10BIRDS CHIRP
55:17Although the opium poppies have been really good this year,
55:20and still are,
55:22the poor old oriental poppies have had a terrible time of it.
55:25They have hated the weather.
55:27Most of them never even made it to opening,
55:30unlike this one here.
55:32So the only thing to do is to cut them back hard,
55:35take them right back to the base...
55:40..that goes to the compost heap.
55:43And now they're cut back, they will regrow,
55:46and if the rest of the summer is kind,
55:49they will reflower round about the end of August and early September.
55:53OK, that's one little job for this weekend.
55:56Here are some more.
56:10Sweet peas are flowering well this year,
56:13but to keep that flowering going as long as possible,
56:16it's important to pick them over regularly.
56:18And I've found if you pick them all at once,
56:21every eight to ten days,
56:23this produces the most flowers and the least seed pods.
56:33Now is a good time to trim any box hedging or box topering.
56:39But to reduce the risk of box blight,
56:42only do so when you have three consecutive dry days.
56:47I like to use hand shears, but whatever you cut with,
56:50make sure that it is as sharp as possible,
56:53and this also reduces the risk of infection.
57:01As all soft fruit is ripening and turning red,
57:05they become irresistible to birds.
57:08So to keep them off until you're ready to pick them,
57:11they will need netting.
57:13But whether it be currants or cherries like this,
57:17it is important to pull the netting taut
57:20so that the birds don't get tangled in the mesh.
57:33This is a rose that I love.
57:35We used to have it in the jewel garden.
57:37It's called Charlotte Glut.
57:39And it starts out this intense magenta,
57:43and as it fades, it becomes pinker.
57:46Here in the orchard beds,
57:48it's got much more room to grow big and to sprawl.
57:51But in the jewel garden, it had less space,
57:54and I had to prune it harder.
57:56And when I did prune it, I always used to wear a crash helmet
57:59because the spikes stuck in my skull were really painful.
58:02Nevertheless, I forgive it that, because it's absolutely lovely.
58:06And that's it for today.
58:09I shan't be here at Longmeadow next week
58:12because we've got a wildflower special,
58:15celebrating everything to do with wildflowers and meadows.
58:19So join myself and the team next Friday at nine o'clock.
58:25So until then, bye-bye.
58:36¶¶