The Kent nursery owner opened up about losing his father during an emotional episode of the BBC gardening programme
Katy Hallam and Rebecca Jones
22:04, 20 Mar 2026
Karim Habibi opened up about losing his father(Image: BBC)
A Gardeners’ World star delivered a heartbreaking announcement during tonight’s emotional instalment of the cherished programme, which was presented by Monty Don.
The BBC team visited Karim Habibi at his impressive nursery in Kent for the episode as he discussed his remarkable collection of heritage apples.
He disclosed he has 700 varieties of apples and is on a mission to preserve as many of the traditional types as he can, as they are no longer stocked in shops.
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“I’m quite passionate about keeping these apples going,” Karim explained.
“I’m very glad when people come to the nursery for the first time and say, ‘Goodness, I never knew apples could taste like this.'”
As he offered viewers a glimpse of the vineyard and described how the orchard is a “labour of love”, he then discussed losing his beloved father.
He explained: “In the early 1990s, when my parents started things here, Britain was actually losing a lot of its old orchards. My parents were quite passionate about scouring old material and creating a collection.
“I really wanted to experiment and create my own varieties,” he added. “Eventually, I persuaded my dad to let me have a small nook of the nursery where I planted seedling varieties, grafted those out, and eventually I produced some of my own varieties.
“Unfortunately my father passed away before trying any of those apples and one of the first apples which was an exceptional apple I’ve actually named that variety after my father.”
Karim has named the variety of apple Hamid’s Red Pippin and explained he believes his father would have been extremely keen to sample it, reports the Express.
“It’s quite sad he never did,” he emotionally shared. “But it’s quite nice every time I see that apple to sort of think of my dad.”
The orchard owner then went on to provide tips and advice to BBC viewers about cultivating and harvesting the popular fruit.
Gardeners’ World episodes are available to watch on BBC iPlayer.
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