Nicki Chapman and Angellica Bell have exclusive access to the glitz and glamour of the opening day of the RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2023. They are joined by a team of gardening experts, including Rachel de Thame, who travels the world without even leaving the showground, and Toby Buckland, who shows us how to upgrade our gardens the Chelsea way.
Carol Klein is searching out the hidden treasures we are all going to want in our gardens, while James Wong uncovers the secrets to our lawns. And, as the show hosts its very first wedding, Nicki gets a lesson in creating floral garlands worthy of any celebration.
Monty Don and Joe Swift review some of the 35 inspirational gardens on offer, as well as the immaculate displays of growers in the Great Pavilion. Adam Frost delves into a garden created with community in mind, while Arit Anderson heads to the ingenious houseplant studios. Frances Tophill takes a first look at the planting styles to look out for at the show, while Carol Klein gets us in the mood for summer with beautiful blooms. And Sophie Raworth is on hand to welcome the royal family to the show.
Angelica we have waited a long time for this moment haven’t we spring seems to have gone on for ages but the good news is the sun is beginning to come out and I have to say we’re delighted to be back here at Chelsea it’s really exciting and
Great to be back partners in crime once again now the gardens look incredible The Pavilion is bursting with color and the showr is full of famous faces and some Chelsea pensioners here are having a bite to eat aren’t you say hello hi having the time of their lives there
And we’re going to be here every day this week to bring you at home all the tips and advice to get your garden ready for summer now we’ve got a whole team of experts at the ready so it can only be one thing it’s time for the rhs Chelsea flower show 2023
Yes it’s fabulous to be back and if this Garden is anything to go by we’re in for a treat this year Nikki this is the savel garden it’s so good it is incredible Mark Gregory says it took him three years to prepare for Chelsea this
Year and you can see why can’t you I mean you love your cooking how’s that for a kitchen that’s my dream from pot to Plate love that and these trees are stunning horn beans you’ve got them in your garden haven’t you I have they’re so wonderful because they give you
Privacy but they also encourage the wildlife and you have them pleach so they sort of keep that shape which it just feels like well we’re in a very intimate kitchen and restaurant look at the Chelsea pensioners they’re having a well of a time they’re really enjoying
It AR and we’re going to be going afterwards we’re going to be joining them aren’t we exactly and it me all these flowers I can see why you love it wonderful I might say it might be my favorite can I say that it’s only one day okay sh don’t tell anyone hold fire
Well as always there’s loads to see so it’s going to be a jam-packed week and our team of friendly faces will be on hand every step of the way to guide you through this year’s show so what have we got got in store today well Chelsea wouldn’t be Chelsea without our Queen of
The Pavilion of course it’s Carol Klein and she’s in search of some Garden Treasures that you’ll definitely want this summer whether you’ve got green fingers or you’re a complete novice I’ve got some real crackers for you today they’re perfect for your winders Hil whether it’s inside or out they’re
Pelagonians and our man who knows his way around Garden design Toby Buckland is here to help you get the Chelsea look for your own backyard the gardens here at Chelsea might be big and Grand but don’t let that put you off because I’m here with all the tips you need to transform your
Space with minimal effort and budget and all week we’ll be joined by a host of famous faces and who better to start with none other than only Dame Joanna lumle now how fabulous is that fabulous I love it but first it’s Monday it’s press day which means only one thing
It’s frock watch oh and we definitely love a beautiful frock it’s fabulous being at Chelsea I love the vibrancy the variety and the collidoscope of color I’ve come here today to see some phenomenal Gardens there’s so much happening here and I think that having something like this which is so accessible to people
It’s really important and it’s also really [Laughter] cool I’m getting a sense of empathy do you know what I mean this year I’m getting a sense of empathy for others it’s always wonderful we always pick up some Inspirations and few plants few ideas I mean it’s like the best day of
The year for me I love it it is incredible to actually be here and see it and feel It Chelsea is absolutely enormous the whole site is as big as eight football fields and it’s taken 8,000 people to create the event the show ground is stuff full with thousands of plants some from Far flung corners of the earth Rachel the tame is on a Whistle Stop
Tour to soak it all up and share it with you I have to say if my train were late I wouldn’t mind waiting here one bit we’re off on a journey around the world starting here on the platform garden and I think it’s beautifully planted maybe the platforms of the future should be
Just like this with plants everywhere there’s a gorgeous glossy tile on the wall and in front of it this katus the smoke bush and those wonderful dark plummy leaves and then the color is follow through into the flower there of that geranium fa really dark luscious
Purple it’s a shade lover so perfect in one of the darker corners of the Garden I feel a bit like I’m plant hunting in this Garden which is called a letter from a million years past and it’s an evocation of the jery mountains in South Korea and it’s filled with really wonderful plants a lot of them are natives to that area we’ve got things
Like the fitrum beautiful soft moo fluffy flowers and there’s also Japanese sesan pepper which also grows in this area I think it’s very special it’s transported me right across the World this Garden is called feels like home and it’s no surprise actually that the designer is from New Zealand because everything here are either plants that are indigenous to New Zealand or plants that grow grow there commonly and it’s wonderful I love that she’s used the colors of New Zealand through the
Planting so you’ve got the red there of the calistemon the white silver like the estelia through to the black and then behind me is the silver Fern now that’s the national Fern of New Zealand and it’s reflected in that beautiful frond that curls over the water feature there I have to say I
Haven’t been lucky enough to go to New Zealand but I feel like I’ve had just a little taste I find myself basking In the Heat of the Caribbean I’m at the bados display and just look at the color here I mean this the kimy ginger so much of that color the ornamental banana as well I particularly like but the heliconia sexy pink I think Takes the Cake and it
Reminds me a flamingos trying to climb a ladder it’s just extraordinary the whole display is just filled with Sunshine finally we find ourselves in Japan with this incredible display of bonsai I mean they are just mesmerizing look at the road of dendron how much flour is packed into that and there are
Some misconceptions about growing them they are outdoor trees they’re not house plants and many people actually keep them indoors but they go outside and there are lots that you can try that are good for beginners so that’s my whirlwind trip around the world we’re going to see more about Bonsai later in the Week thank you Rachel and safe travels now this Garden is something you’ll all be familiar with it’s very much rooted in the heart of the Great British Countryside with a look that inspires many of our Gardens at home now it’s the bo Noles garden and Tom hoblin is the
Designer it’s lovely to see you again thank you thank you now is it true that this is going to be your final Garden for Chelsea well I’ve done 10 this is my 10th one and I do need a break but I’ll Never Say Never Again no because we love
You here and I love being here so I think you’ll be back but this is your third garden for Boodles your third and final one yeah yes it is yeah so tell us a bit about how you’re celebrating British craftsmanship I mean obviously that was the brief that was given to me
And and and when I started researching the idea I realized you know we have this fantastic Heritage of British craftsmanship so I sort of set myself a goal to to use the very best artists and Artisans and craft people that I could possibly find so for example we’ve got
This fantastic Arbor made by Chris Cox and and we kind of really work well together we really um connection yeah yeah it was great and we were sort of sketching all these ideas about how we’re going to capture a woodland field as an arbor uh because we sort of needed
A building um to be able to sort of show off more craftsmanship so so um for example we got this fantastic bench made by Rachel chudley and it’s using offcuts from the furniture industry so so we got quite a good sustainable approach even the the paving here is all the off cuts
When it when they cut out a boulder out of the Quarry they cut off the ends and and the bits and this is what this is all made out of so it’s all was Chatsworth isn’t it yeah from Chatsworth and darbishire and it’s all waste stuff
That’s made you know been using the very best crft people Jake uh who made all this wonderful stonework worked for weeks and weeks and weeks to make this into a beautiful thing because in my opinion craftsmanship is taking something natural and stylizing it and refining it into something more
Beautiful and that’s what I’ll try to do with all the things here well you’ve done it successfully in my opinion also I think what’s lovely about this Garden is that it really works for people who’ have got shady areas as well so you can take some of these ideas yeah very much
So um because this could work in a city garden because if you think Lots of city Gardens you know small Courtyard Gardens are full shade which is really the same effect as a woodland and uh if you can imagine i’ I’ve said in my brief that we
Get judged on that we’ve got mature trees all around here so a lot of this all this planting is is shade loving and can easily work in in urban situ and I’m loving this pool that sort of the Raindrop effect is absolutely brilliant now now tell you won Gold last year yeah
Yeah any pressure or you just going to enjoy this moment I’m trying not to think about it today is the best day at Chelsea because we get to do all these wonderful things and meet these fantastic people you just but you’ve always got it at the back of your mind
What if we don’t get a go Tom you’ll always be gold in my eyes thank you that’s very F now we promised you Carol at the start of the show while the wait is over here she is with a beginner’s guide to pelagonians the great Pavilion is packed with
Wonderful flowers but today I want to shine the spotlight on a plant which is familiar and well-loved but has hidden qualities these are pelagonians many of us know them as geraniums but geraniums are a distinct family they’re Hardy plants that we grow in our Gardens but in both cases both pelagonians and
Geraniums take their name from their seed heads which resemble the beaks of different birds in the case of pelagonians it’s stalks build lots of us know and love these plants and mainly we grow them for their very showy flowers what they need is a hot sunny dry position and that’s probably because
Their ancestors actually come from South Africa although we appreciate them for their wonderfully brilliant flowers they have another quality too and that is their foliage often when you touch it it’s soft and FY and if you rub it many of them have the most beautiful scents and Aromas Too this has to be one of the all-time favorites it’s called atar of roses it’s used widely in perfumery there’s no fragrance of it from here it’s not until I rub its leaves and release the scent from the little perfume glands on the back of the leaves that I can experience
This delicious scent it really does smell of roses this is one called feliss folium it means with leaves like a fern and if you touch this finely divided foliage it sticks to your hand if you smell it it smells like Balsam now why on Earth should pelagonians have scented folage
In the case of most plants it’s the flowers that bear the scent to bring in and attract insects I think that what we experience as quite a pleasant interesting smell is actually a deterrent when it comes to some herb coming along and really fancing a Chomp
On them it just puts them off completely but as far as we’re concerned this perfume that they bear is an added attraction to to this wonderful family of Plants as well as their Gorgeous Flowers and the highly scented leaves many of them have culinary uses too you can use them in the kitchen to make teas Infuse them in water or add them to a saw B chop them up for a salad but it’s only
Some varieties that you can use in that way and this is one of them it’s one of the oldest varieties she’s called Mabel Gray she’s absolutely gorgeous look at the shape of those leaves too but the fragrances out of this world really lemony very very zesty what a brilliant family of plants pelagonians
Are they have so much to offer providing you can look after them keep them frost free in the winter because they won’t stand any degree of frost at all there’s no reason why you shouldn’t have these in your house in your garden you’re after year after year what’s not to Love press day is always such an exciting day with famous faces all over the showr and I’m very delighted to be joined today by actress presenter and Chelsea regular Dame Joanna Lumley so welcome to Chelsea so much and this is a huge day for you because you come nearly
Every year don’t you I literally chisle it in the only time I don’t come is when I’m actually filming abroad otherwise I always say it’s a day I’ve got to be not not available for work cuz I’ve got to come to Chelsea and we’re so lucky to
Come on a Monday we’re so lucky to come I mean that sounds awful because people will be coming during the week and the excitement and I’ve got to say the beauty of the gardens I’ve been asking people will this last the week particularly lies inside the Big T they
Said they’re all going to last the week it’s perfect and today is perfect weather slightly overcast so not boiling hot a mild Breeze but not a wild wind and no rain so it’s ideal it’s so lovely just sitting here isn’t it Martin has done a fantastic job for the rspca he
Really really has ring encouraging Wildlife into our Gardens whatever your garden style but I’m guessing over the years you’ve seen a real change here in Chelsea the whole thing has changed because it used to be just competitions for the most beautiful garden that was what it was and now it’s changed into
All kinds of different things with themes and ideas and you learn so much about all kinds of conditions for instance next door is a national brain appeal which is a garden for dementia now you think dementia might be forgetting becoming forgetful quite often it’s people who have just an
Altered way of perceiving things so the next door about seeing things some people who can only see things if they move and so there’s a garden full of things that move slightly so they can appreciate it things like that coming here to the to the burnous nurseries
Which um which is for the prince’s trust and of course it’s quite extraordinary saying the climate is changing so let’s change the way we plant our Gardens AB plants that can survive in the dry or in the extreme things that can Thrive so don’t go boohoo these things are
Changing say let’s move on let’s work with it and think of our environment around us I mean do you come here for inspiration are you constantly tweaking your garden look I’m a dream Gardener if you know what I mean a Dre quite a lot of gardening is in my
Dreams because my garden at the moment our garden at home in Stockwell is gorgeous it’s a long thin London Garden partly shaded so that a lot of things which would flourish can’t flourish in our garden because we don’t have enough sunlight but we have everything else
That you could adore we’ve got all kinds of fruit trees Apple Plum pear fig Olive lemon um we’ve got foxes with baby foxes people are terribly cross in the about they don’t feed the foxes this is my thinking about it foxes lived here long before people came this is their home so
It to be decent to them and uh also you don’t want foxes with the mange I feed wild birds I feed everything and so foxes come on that as well um and I love I love what they’ve now started to call Hardy plants or something what I what
They mean weeds oh you can’t get rid of the weeds this year no they’re beautiful and if you look at them I’ve got anusa growing up and supporting roses and the Roses seem this year to be even happier with the anusa growing up amongst and around them so I think that there’s room
For everything the great thing is that every time I come to Chelsea my eyes open open open open yeah and uh of course I’m going later to the forer and Flora which is about um about gorillas and how creatures wild animals must be kept an incredible it’s fantastic and it
Says don’t go out killing things or encroaching things if you keep animals in the wild you’ll make much more money tourists will come and see them and then the local indigenous population of people who live around there will make much more money and have you had a
Chance to see the Horatio Garden I know a patron of it and I love it with all my heart this is the most adorable idea which is it’s really for spine injuries but actually it should spread out into all hospitals it’s people who are trapped with long painful diseases
Which um injuries which require a lot of surgery and therefore a lot of recuperation stuck usually ins side Wards suddenly the second they can come out and be in a garden they just it lifts their Spirits it improves their it does and also they can get involved with
The garden they can become involved in the garden and it’s great for the people who are visiting them it just restores it you see the oddest thing is is that although we keep being tolded we must just understand that to go stand under a tree or to look at flowers you get
Better at once yes and so every day even if you’re just walking to work look at the trees just notice the change take a moment put your phone away and have a look put your phone away there’s so much to see here Joan thank you so much for
Joining us thank I ramble have a you’d never ramble you never R have a Wonder go and see our lovely Japanese designer at the end C he’d love to see you an Exquisite garden and enjoy the rest of the day thank you so much thank you thanks
Still to come on the rhs Chelsea flower show an event supported by the n in Somerset has your lawn seen better days while James Wong is here with his guide to transforming it for summer Chris bavin gets an invite to a Chelsea first a children’s picnic right here at the
Show and back by popular demand our Chelsea Clinic it’s the place to put your gardening dilemmas to our experts and in the hot seat at the end of the show is Mark Lane but first it’s obvious Chelsea is on a huge and ambitious scale and you
Might think you need to Splash the cash to be able to get a bit of this at home but do not worry Toby Buckland is here all week to spruce up your Gardens with a little bit of Chelsea magic for a fraction of the price my favorite thing in summer is
Spending time in the garden with family and friends having food perhaps raising a glass and this year at Chelsea there are some fantastic designs all about Entertaining if you got a slope you don’t have to stick with the incline you can put in steps and the steps become ad hoc seating and if they join up as they do in this Square design it’s like a cross between a stadium and a Roman
Theater you can get loads of people sat cross from each other down here sitting comfortably and best of all your garden wouldn’t be cluttered with Furniture if you have an outdoor sof and seat that’s just out on its open in the sunshine there’s something about it that’s a bit off-putting wrap it round
With Greenery with cow parsley aqueles and shrubs well you create an outdoor room with green Walls yeah quite literally a living room of course the garden doesn’t have to be large to be good for entertaining and if proof was needed of that well the starart garden is proved positive it’s
So intimate and the reason for that and it’s such a simple thing to copy is the planting again it’s cow parley there’s a strania tall plants already but plants now raised up in containers to make them even higher and create this Outdoor Room effect then there’s the the water
Feature a piece of timber that’s been blackened but it’s the noise that is the important thing the noise of the water drowns out the sounds from outside the garden again bringing you into the space now you don’t need a water feature like this anything that’s a little
Bubble Pond that moves that water and makes the sound would be good if you’re after some tips for al fresco entertainment the place to come is the London Square community garden it’s a space centered with a massive tzo table big enough so should the in-laws pop up unexpectedly well theyve got a
Place to sit design wise is made intimate because of the steel work that runs over the head but you could achieve the same thing with a regular perlar just any timber would do the trick and when you got verticals and horizontals above head height you got more space for
Flowers I think my favorite idea that’s easy to steal here is this little green edge around the base of the patio I know most of us have got a patio many of us have got raised beds but very few of us make use of that little thin strip where
They join and so effectively what this Garden has that is so easy to copy is like a a living skirting board around this green room so there you have it a few simple tips to bring a bit of Chelsea magic to your next Garden Gathering now when I’m at the Garden
Center it’s not just plants I go for I can spend hours searching the shells for gadgets and gizmos anything that will make my gardening life easier now for years products like these have been launched here at Chelsea and this year is no different so if you’re anything
Like me this next item will be right up your street joining me today is Dragon’s Den star and queen of green Deborah miden and we’re looking at this year’s sustainable garden product of the Year 2023 award lovely to see you again Deborah lovely to be here well you’ve
Had a difficult decision judging haven’t you really difficult it’s been a vintage year so um we’ve had more entries we had really tough decisions to get them into the finals and actually when we were sitting trying to choose the one I mean which is great you know it’s a lot of
Sustainable products now which is fantastic why should we care about this award well gardening is actually a huge industry there’s a lot of gardens out there and actually even the slightest changes to the way we Garden can have a massive impact positive impact you know on our wildlife and biodiversity you
Know we’ve got the power in the gardens so you’ve picked out a few for us to see now some of these finalists what are you going to go well I want to show you the kind of breadth of the uh of the entry so this is you know this is a thing of
Beauty it’s a hand Fork it’s lovely look at it apps doesn’t it feel beautiful looks beautiful this is all literally off cuts um this is this is steel this will last absolutely forever now it’s not cheap but actually if you look at the cost of it over the length of time
And that’s what sustainability is all about it actually is very cheap you know because it will last forever so you know truly sustainable definitely love that what else we got well this is probably the most sustainable product cuz this is literally wool cleaned wool um and you
Can use it for lining your hanging baskets it’s hugely water retentive um so lining hanging baskets putting in the Tross if you’re plant in carrots potatoes whatever um particularly in times of drought and it is literally sheeps willo clean sheeps willo it’s so it’s like a it smells it’s so like is it
Yeah and it’s literally like a garden sponge it’s a garden sponge that’s exactly what it is okay so moving on and this is exciting because we’ve all got hoses there are there are enough hoses in the world to go three and a half times round the earth that is a lot of
Plastic they’re all plastic at the moment this is the first one that is 60% recycled plastic and the bit that makes it fle fible is actually rubber which is an actual product so this is really you know this is gamechanging um and we don’t think about our hoses we use what
We’ve used forever in a day well exactly I think a lot of people will be interested in this one so winner who was it well the winner um it’s a I really reached into me because I I bought some wildf flower Meadow rolls they came on
Plastic uh so this is the first one to be actually made on a compostable roll out matting so you know totally recycled compost and completely compostable matting that it goes out on and we’ve lost 97% of our Wildflower Meadow since the war so you know it’s an important thing thanks so
Much Deborah and James Wong will be looking at Wildflower Turf later in the show now one of my earliest gardening memories reminds me of being with my grandmother in her garden she was so proud of it and we keep it nice and tidy and pick black Brees off the bush to
Make a crumble and that’s what sparked my interest in the outdoors so I was really excited to see for the first time ever 100 children being put on this year’s guest list and Keen to find out what these garders of the future think about Chelsea our very own big child
Chris bavin went to meet [Applause] them children don’t normally play a role here at Chelsea but this year for the first time in the show’s history the rhs have invited a 100 local school children to come and enjoy this marvelous day I’m off to see how they’re getting on and
I’m told they’re about to meet a very special guest how is it being at Chelsea today I’m one of the most exciting things I’ve ever done in my entire life is it really so you met the Princess of Wales yes what did she say to you what did you
Talk about we we spoke about um how it’s h it’s fascinating and and like fun to see how like the food grows like strawberries and how it takes time Heather you’re a teacher at one of the local primary schools and do you think to today’s trip will help Inspire the
Children to to get more involved in gardening and horiculture absolutely I do there yes who’s got a favorite flower me tell me Rose oh excellent Daisy lovely all of them yes excellent well I hope you and the children enjoy the rest of your day at Chelsea and I’m going to
Go and have a look at the Garden that’s going to end up at your school amazing thank you see you there thank you byee bye Harry beautiful looking garden and it’s been designed with school children in mind can you tell me more about that absolutely so we’ve been working with the charity School Food Matters who are sponsors on this Garden so we were kind of Imagine ourselves right kind of thinking about those Landscapes of maybe
Alis and Wonderland slightly wacky spaces and kids have that innate love of nature so just create natural spaces for them to run around and really get immersed in can we have a closer look absolutely coming in wow this is fabulous can you tell me more about this so this is a round earth
Wall the story behind this really is about food education obviously soil is is such a Hot Topic um and a really wonderful thing to bring in to to education for children and this gives you a real good example doesn’t it of how important is plants make me feel
Calm and more like myself I mean that that is the the the magnitude That’s The Power of of gardening which maybe some school children don’t have access to it you it’s just important to be able to give them that opportunity I think as soon as you bring school children
Outside it just Sparks their imagination which this Garden 100% does you know I absolutely love It Steven what a what a fabulous garden thank you we’re really pleased this Garden has not not only been designed with children in mind but it’s actually been designed by children and even planted out and built by children completely we were a couple of special needs schools in Harford Shire and
Actually all the way through from 7 years old the kids have been involved in growing from seed from cuttings so all of this is grown by the kids and they are super super proud as are we what does each different section do or represent there are five areas to the
Garden the five senses is touch with the Woodland area the smells for the herb Garden uh The Taste for the kitchen areas sound of the music well looking at this Garden I think the kids have done you proud good luck with judging thank you very much fingers
Crossed my goodness what a treat for those children now every day this week Angelica and I will be meeting a host of experts and getting stuck in to give the latest gardening Trends ago I’m delighted that I’m getting my hands dirty first with floristry and to help
Me today I’m joined by florist of the stars and also Royals Simon lyset welcome to the show Simon but in a way you were here first this morning oh yeah it was an early start for a very important wedding yes yes Minaj and Clive got married on the rhs in eastern
Ey Garden of unity and how are you involved gorgeous garlands in abundance everywhere which we are going to recreate here a little bit of magic yes exactly so how easy is it to do it’s it’s a bit like like a sort of grownup version almost of making Daisy chains
And the first thing you need to do is make sure that all the flower and plant material you use I’m copying you by the way has been given a really good drink in advance because we’re going to create these without any of the flowers being in water and so prepare your flowers
Give them a good drink and then I’m snipping them off and I’m leaving just a little short bit of stem at the end which will act as a spacer when we eventually thread our flowers together so it means we use fewer flowers so we’re talking of Trends is this
Something new because you could have garlands in your garden if you’re having all your friends around for a barbecue you might be having a wedding and you’re doing the flowers yourself or you could ask your florist to do it I mean is this a latest thing is this what people want
This summer it’s it’s a great thing to do it’s also really inexpensive to do you can use flowers from your garden you don’t need any particularly specialist kit I’ve got a really lovely big needle here you can use thread something like wool a bit challenging to get through
You can even use something like florist’s wire and thread your flowers on straight through straight through the center just being little bit gentle as you push it through so you set oh gosh doesn’t got to be very careful with a needle gently through with that needle and gently through as you pull your
String we’ve double stringed it to make sure is that such a word double stringed I think so there we are and what about colors should there be a theme or not I don’t think there ever needs to be a theme I love all theor as you can see
From what I’m wearing I love all the colors so how many days in ADV oh no wrong way that way really there isn’t a right or a wrong way to be honest how many days in advance should you make your Garland they are relatively quick to make and they are
Not particularly long lasting except that they will also dry out and that’s the joyous thing so all the garlands that we’ve made that are hung on Minaj’s Garden are actually just going to gently dry out and you know how you see the confetti on the path after a wedding yes
And you think oh that’s nice there was a wedding here 3 days ago well when you look at a flower Garland that’s starting to just dry out a bit you can think to yourself oh that’s nice that was part of a celebration earlier I’m looking behind
And we’ve got some fabulous ones with a little bit of jewelry there’s peppers in there yes you can use fruit fruit veg flowers any sort of ingredients and just build them up you don’t need to have a system and things like a hollow stem from something like Dill here if you
Thread that on and then thread your flower on it acts almost like a little bead as a spacer in between for me and I’ve got to ask you there was a very important coronation just a few weeks ago and we did see the Princess of Wales
Wearing Flowers in her hair it was a sort of Garland but it was flowers but it look like beautiful diamonds made in a flower design a gorgeous floral are you seeing all the brides wanting this a lot more brides are wanting it yes cuz I can imagine everybody saying now that’s
What I want I want beautiful flowers in my hair and for the Bridesmaids as well like that very nice so easy to make very easy to make in effect you’re using one type of flour I’ve done there thread them all together tie it at the back the ribbon’s just an embellishment Simon May
I of course what do we think does it Work Fit For A Princess not coming off now thank you so much now with May almost over and summer right around the corner there’s one gardening dilemma we’ll all be thinking about our Lawns do it do we mow them or not that is the
Question well here is our guide to ensure your lawn is greener than ever in more ways than one it’s James Wong Once Upon a Time if you were to mention the word lawn within 50 m of this place this would be the only type you allowed neat manid perfection
Without a single Daisy preferably with stripes and all of this was to demonstrate our ability to have complete domination over nature neat ordered Perfection but times are changing we’re now embracing Lawns that are are Wilder that are Freer that are more diverse and this really Finds Its Peak at the
Campaign by charity plant life called no moay that does exactly what it says on the tin you simply leave your mower in the shed for a month and this allows this incredible Mosaic of wild flowers a mini Meadow when I turned the corner here I was just totally stopped in my tracks by this lawn it felt like falling into a fairy tale and this is lawn even though there’s over 20 different wild flowers dotted through it you can see these oxide daisies and Red Campion and then
Just below it I can see field puppy starting to pop up Clover Yaro buttercups the full works and the most amazing thing is something like this is relatively easy to create you can actually just buy them off the rack in big slabs and lay them out almost like
Carpet but if you want a lower cost option you can just convert a regular lawn into something like this with plug plants so you take the lawn and you poke little holes in it and you shove baby plants into each of those holes water them in and you’ve essentially seeded
Native wild flowers into a conventional Lawn over here I’ve stumbled across another alternative lawn that I think is just truly stunning it’s like a pastel paint box just completely exploded with vicilia with corn with toad flx just truly beautiful now this is the kind of thing you would sew from seed and you can actually buy loads of
Different mixes pre-created for you at different nurseries or you can even create your own cocktail of different different species and if you get bored with something like this at the end of the year you can chop it all down dig it into the soil and sew a new mix for a
Different change year on year it’s incredibly creative it’s experimental and those are not two words that you would normally associate with lws and the really wonderful thing is that horiculture is not like politics you just don’t have to pick a given side CU although I might be team long and
Lush and natural if you’ve got kids that want to play football or if you want a nice green surface on which you can have a picnic then regular Lawns remain a really practical option the key message is whatever type of lawn you have it’s better than Concrete well we’re nearly the end of our our first day here at Chelsea but we’ve definitely got time for our favorite pit of the show yes it’s back it’s the Chelsea clinic and it’s open for business yes we’ve got our very own garden expert Mark Lane joining us today
Hello welcome back are you ready for some questions I am you’re going an L an odof um got in contact on Facebook she says my ACA has seeds growing which are dropping a sticky substance never seen this before o well this is probably something called honey juice so this is
Excreted by aphids when they’re actually being harvested by ants sounds rather bizarre I know don’t worry about it it’s completely natural but if you’re really worried just spray it off with a little watering C you know spray in a what you call it on your hose just spray them off
It won’t do any problem whatsoever very good um Craig Williams got in touch on Instagram he says there’s so much Variety in Native British wild flowers which would you recommend for a novice with a very small garden good old oxide Daisy you cannot go wrong with the oxide
Daisy really cheer for that lovely sort of typical white flower with that yellow Center will flower for months on end then something like good old Fox gloves we all love a fox and of course cow parsley cow parsley will just self-seed everywhere it will give you structure
Give you color give you scent everything you need lovely lovely now BBC breakfast Carol KK got in contact she has a question about her roses let’s have a look I’d like to ask the clinic how to deal with blackfly they destroy my roses every year they start off looking
Fantastic and then a few days later they just have all these holes in the leaves and I don’t know how to treat shate black fly is a real problem now I mean if you’re if you’re not faint hunted go out there with your fingers and literally just squish them between
Your fingers if not again you could get use a hose to spray them off but A really lovely little tip which is really simple just place a bird feeder near your roses every time the birds come down for a little Morel they’ll see see the black fly they’ll come down take the
Black fly away and they’ll do the work for you and that is a better way of doing it isn’t it definitely and we’d like to encourage the birds back into our Gardens and Betty Saunders on Facebook I have a strancia major and it’s flowered beautifully for three
Years the plant still looks healthy but the flowers are flopping and Limp any advice well it really depends how it’s being grown so if it’s being grown in a pot then maybe it could be being eaten by lar which you don’t want at all so
What I would say is take it out Parts change all of that compost give it real niely fresh compost in there and that would be absolutely fine if it’s been growing in the ground then just make sure that you water it well but you need soil that’s really good free draining
Soil as well so just make sure you might want to add in some Horticultural grit and should you be keeping them going year after year or do you think you should replace them well you said they were three years old so every sort of two or three years you should always
Divide your habous perennials and an AR straner is a habous perennial so by doing that it just means you’re going to reinvigorate that plant and bring it back to life oh that was brilliant thank you she’s got a brand new Garden she’s taking notes aren’t you I am taking
Notes got some wisteria make sure it was pruned so that you know all that so it’s looking lovely might get you to help me as ever thank you very much that’s all we’ve got time for today and right that is it for us that’s right and there’s
Definitely a buzz on the show ground because there’s going to be a royal tour happening very soon which is exciting oh yes we are so excited and now make sure you tune in later today to see all of that and more with Monty and Joe on BBC
2 at 7:30 p.m. and don’t forget we’ll be back here on BBC 1 tomorrow at 3:45 put it in your diary with all the news and excitement of medals day we can’t wait we cannot wait we’ll see you then see you [Applause] bye hello and welcome welcome to Chelsea it’s wonderful to be back and Chelsea has become part of my life really it’s woven into the warp and weft of my life mine too Monty mine too yes what an incredible place and just look at it all
From here I mean I’ve had a good look around um but it’s still First Impressions but there’s some real variety that I love no two gardens look the same to me um and also quality very good quality some really interesting stuff I go with you on the quality but
But I’ve had a look around and to be honest I’m seeing similar things appearing really yeah oh we’re going to debate this all week long I can feel this coming yeah oh it’s always the same okay well there are 35 Gardens this year so it’s going to take us a while to get
Around them all and debate them all but we’re starting here now this is the rspca garden designed by Martin Wilson and you know we’re looking down on it it’s a contemporary reinus space and it’s got this Terrace up here and there’s a hide for viewing you know the
Biodiversity in the G from underneath and in the old days this this would have been much more formly planted but it’s it’s it’s the sort of rewilding effect now let’s just use that I mean the whole rewilding weeds debate let’s not go there now rumbles on but this garden and
And this they’ve made it very clear is showing how that you can have a lovely Garden quite conventional Garden in many ways and still encourage a lot of work yes and I think it succeed I me we got layering we got the trees we’ve got the shrubs we got the underplanting of
Perennials um you know with there’s little little bee boxes and and bird boxes dotted around so it’s really been nicely thought through but it’s it’s quite a cool space it’s quite Chic isn’t it at the same time yes and I think it will bed down masses of pollinating
Plants the one thing that I’m missing is a pond actually I suppose it’s got a real it’s got a real got the sound of water a natural pond would be lovely and we know it’s a magnet for one life they made the point lots of Wildlife and
Lots of beauty as well and of course we will be exploring all the ideas and themes in much more depth across the week and also showing you perhaps what you can achieve from these Gardens with a dose of CHA inspiration certainly and it’s not just us Monty it’s all your
Favorites are here to bring you the very best bits of the show and with so much to pack in this evening we best get started well coming up tonight on the rhs Chelsea flow show 2023 an event supported by the new in Somerset we’ve got some big guns tonight cleave West
Zara price and former People’s Choice winner Tom Massie all on Main Avenue and we’re taking a first look at their finished Gardens the house plant studios are back and aric Anderson has inspiration for all our indoor gardening needs and it’s been a very exciting day on the
Showr there’s even been a wedding Monty that’s why I got my hat but right now we have a real treat the great Pavilion is back in all its glory and so is our very own ray of sunshine Carol Klein who better to show us round and get us in a mood for Summer was PL in the Pavilion to bring out the Sun and get us dreaming of the summer ahead but whilst we might struggle to grow some of these tropical Beauties there’s plant Galore in here to make the sunshine in your garden all summer Long if you want to turn up the volume on color and yard why not go for some of these santaa hybrids there are all sorts of brilliant colors things like this Sun Club over here or Captain Brunello gorgeous glowing orange really easy to look after they’re very tender but on
The other hand they can stand outside from May right the way through to the frost and you can either store them over Winter in their pots or you can take out the Rison and then repot them in the spring begin to water from about May onwards and you should have absolutely
Masses and masses of color a garden full of is bound to bring you sunshine if only Mor and wise were Here if your Garden’s looking a bit Dr or you think it might be by the time Midsummer comes it’s not too late to do something about it why not invest in a few gladiola I for a display like this bringing sizzling color to your garden you can still buy Combs like this what
You’re looking out for is something that’s really solid good basil plate with roots emerging and the sign of little choots on the top plant them really deep and you can either put them into pots or into a sunny well- drain part of the Garden within weeks you’ll
See shoots within a couple of months you should have Splendid flowers just like this no wonder D edner really long for people to throw these out of the audience aren’t they just magnificent You can always depend on Birmingham city council stuns to sizzle and this year is no exception in fact it’s even brighter than usual it’s composed of all sorts of different bedding plants each one of them contributing brilliant Sunshine but one of the predominant plants are these daas Temptation red and Temptation
Orange what what patience those Growers must have had cuz all of them have been raised from cuttings but if you haven’t got the time or the patience then why not grow some from seed there’s a wonderful strain of seed called Bishop’s children and you can sew that along with
Tajes all the different Mar girls all of those tender annuals in about February they come on very very fast indeed and when your seedlings are up pop them on individually and with a bit of luck you’ll have flowers that summer so if you’re in need of some sunshine there’s
A whole host of plants here to give you inspiration to turn up the heat in your own garden come rain or Shine Carol isn’t the only one giving us a splash of Summer color today because first thing this morning the gates opened for the grand unveiling of this year’s show and the whole show ground was buzzing with excitement my wife is a gner so this is Chelsea
Really is one of our favorite days it’s a great treat it’s mindboggling really I mean uh just the skill and the way that these designers can manipulate a space and I think what they do here is spectacular and he just he like a dream contr true
What they do they artists really and is just you know around every corner there’s a Wonder so yeah I brought my my folks to come and wonder around it’s really special I like it a lot my first time absolutely loving it it’s just an amazing Experience we’ve been having a lovely day out it’s a great place for Sons to take their mothers I’m a big planned person I am I’m sort of someone who keeps on going around going and would that work now well in a shrub in the dark H without
Any care lovely can I have that one well I’m I’m sort of more fruit and veg really but my wife’s a big Gardener and she’s a actually she’s a garden designer so she’s um so our garden at the moment is full of Builders I do love it be lucky to be
Here and not raining not a beautiful warm warm day actually it’s kind of not sunny but really boiling so I’m like I’m just sweating in people’s Gardens at the moment I went into a a shed full of mushrooms and it was too H I haven’t left last year something very exciting happened
Here today and a first for Chelsea there was a wedding on this very Garden congratulations Mano what a special occasion and after the celebration Adam Frost went to take a look around the garden and we’ll be seeing that later on in the show now this is nurture
Landscapes one of 12 show gardens this year and it has been designed by Sarah Price now I’ve been coming to Chelsea for a very long time and I’m always looking for something that’s going to stop me in my tracks that’s just going to redefine everything that I thought I
Knew and make me see the world with fresh eyes and I think this is one of those Gardens and there are three things that stand out on immediate inspection the first is the color palette the colors here are extraordinary unusual for a Chelsea garden they’re muted they’re pinks and apricots and Grays and
Touches of mauve and it spread through from the the planting which is dominated by these wonderful irises from Benton end with very unusual colors but it goes through in every single aspect whether it’s the the aggregate on the floor the hard Landscaping the tables the pots the
Bowls the water features all of which have being made using recycled waste material and then bound together and that gives it a sort of constancy and a fluidity which is really exciting and unus usual the walls are made out of straw bars and then lime rendered and
Painted and of course when you use lime wash and lime you don’t get a consistent color it changes it changes when it’s wet it changes when as it dries different colors will dry and and change a different rates and combine that with the planting this pallet is so subtle
And so muted and yet really strong the other thing that is very unusual and striking is the confidence to do just a little there’s not too much of anything the planting is spaced out the pruning is open you can see through you can look through plants look through branches you
Have these wonderful Scots Pines pruned to look like a stone Pine and then just touches of richness at the end the aeoniums at the back which are really strong but planted into the ground and that sense of holding back actually adds real power to the Garden Chelsea tends
To be such a bustling place so busy and so much going on and yet this is calm and poised incredibly elegant and I think very strong and I have to say that uh I’m coming away feeling inspired uh surprised and delighted by seeing this
And I know that this is going to be one of those Gardens that every single day that I come back in this week I’m going to R Rush here to see it again it really is that good as you walk down Main Avenue you notice every one of these 12 show
Gardens this year is completely different the designers have been set free to tell unique stories and in some cases these Gardens really do stop you in your tracks take this one it really is a showstopper this is Transcendence by designers Gavin McWilliam and Andrew Wilson and Sophie caught up with him a
Few weeks ago as this incredible feat of engineering came to Life Gavin hello look at this it’s classic Chelsea at the moment so it’s it’s calm but nervous anticipation of things turning up so this is going to be a very peaceful garden is it it’s called Transcendence that’s right yes and the story behind it it’s all about bement
And about how that being a shared experience expence and about is trying to create a kind of beautiful and contemplative and uplifting space to talk about that to raise that kind of conversation about death and why did you want to do a garden designed about about
That when my father died I then went from advertising to doing landscape architecture really yeah some of the Landscapes around crematoriums are quite depressing but the spaces themselves should be beautiful they should be sposed to you want to return back to that should give you some sense of
Comfort this is going to be the almost the journey this is life as it this is going Meandering through absolutely they’ve got that Central route that goes all the way through the garden to the end here but within that you’ve also got Meandering paths that go through the planting and that’s expressing either
Direct route you go through life or sometimes the alternative rootes you can go through life because everybody’s different so we’ve got a 6 M canera and that’s what’s going to give you this sense of immersion in the landscape here I think each piece on the concrete CLE
Was 9 tons we can’t can’t crane because the trees are directly above us I think we’ve got the biggest high up in the Country turning up to LIF stuff tomorrow we’re in Uncharted Territory are you confident um I think confidence maybe not the word I’d use
I’m uh i’ ask me in 3 days [Laughter] time wow Gavin and it’s incredible it’s huge I can see why you were so nervous when I saw you last time oh yeah just a bit when we last spoke we literally just had a hole in the ground and nothing
Else and then since then the concrete turned up and look at it now fantastic it is absolutely enormous though I mean it you do feel it’s slightly precarious standing under here it’s meant to feel a little bit precarious but the idea is as you walk into the garden you’re drawn
Upwards we’re standing under 56 tons of structure but don’t worry I know my face the structural engineers were you oh yeah I’m very happy Su G to the I mean they were amazing they’re the guys that worked in this to make it all stand up so I’ve 100% confidence in that what
Was it like getting all this all the concrete everything in the manag to get in without a leaf being touched I think it’s probably one of the most stressful things we’ve done ever I think I’ve his mom was relieved when it all went in I’ve slept I’ve started sleeping I’m in
A happy place now so you’re going to have sort of winding paths through here not kind of not Pathways this is a main route in lots of ways this is the common route that everybody has you know we’re all born we all live we all die we can
Still wind through it though you could wind through it you have to wind through but it’s not a windy path you stra Road he wants to wind through I like the diplomacy between you two did you get on still no we absolutely hate each other look at this planting you’ve got a
Garden we’ve got a garden show me what you’ve done here cuz I it’s lovely it’s so delicate isn’t it there are areas of kind of density of planting and then uh the pathways that we were talking about the other day sort of drops down you can
Wind he didn’t want Pathways in there no no no there are Pathways he said last time I was here there weren’t going Pathways you said there were and now he says they were always meant to be there but they were informal that’s called compromise isn’t it that’s very good
That’s why you two are so successful I love the Orient are amazing they’re white they’re pure white and they will flicker all the way through the entire garment so they go up into the space beyond as well so it’s all interl we were going to have more trees
And we actually took some out to create areas of light so we could be we could put in more interesting planting in there as well and we pick this Stone so it’s got all these natural indentations in it so we should get a bit of movement and play in
There I can’t believe that 20 years since your father died you two met you changed your career you changed your life and here you are you’ve achieved what you what you’ve always wanted to do yeah it’s emotional very emotional you would have been impressed wouldn’t he hopefully hopefully I think we’ve done I
Think we’ve done him proud and here we are on the finnished garden and I’m with Rachel um it’s come together this Garden hasn’t it it certainly has and from here it looks really impressive and I’m just looking forward to exploring more yeah I it’s a very simple layout you you
Got a path down the middle taking you towards a major feature and then the okay yeah the other paths which I know represent different you know different routs through life going through the planting but it is simple so it’s all about the structure the materials and the planting all working together for
That goal and I think um I think it does work I like the boundaries and the way it ties in with the paving and the very light the lightness of the materials together just a few rocks through through the planting areas um and then we’ve got these these trees which are
One of your favorites aren’t they yes they’re an absolute favorite gleditsia tranos and they’ve got this you know they’re fairly substantial in terms of height but they have this wonderful Airy feather to the to the um leaves so that the light just trickles down through and you get this beautiful dapple Shadows on
The ground I think it’s a perfect choice for this Garden yeah shame the sun isn’t shining CU I know we would have seen that but weren’t they going to use a lot more of them they were yeah almost double the amount I think and it would
Have been way too full and blocky and and Shady underneath um so I I like the Spacey Airy feeling of the whole garden and the plant The Perennial planting you know is quite low and we’ve got the trees up there so actually the middle space as you walk through this is what
We’re seeing and it’s all sort of quite open you get a bit of sort of change in height here I mean they’re not dramatically sort of tall shrubs and so on but the U is fantastic isn’t it those sort of Dome shapes and just repeat beating through and that sort of
Metaphor for life you know that you have these things that Mark you know particular moments in your life I knew you’d get that the Deep reference there exactly I mean from a design well I might from a from a design perspective but rather than just just you know
Having them uniform cuz it’s quite a symmetrical layout you know just dotting them random sort of randomly with feeling I would say through the garden it that’s a lovely Rhythm and Evergreen structure which all Gardens need as well what about the the color pal I think lovely you know it’s really beautiful
Lots of pale colors with your layer the poppy is beautiful yeah and we are naturally being drawn up to the major feig or this 56 ton sort of caner structure which is you know it it’s oversized intentionally for the space because it is very powerful and it draws
You towards it which it’s meant to do and then you can hear the water and you see the ripples of the water and it is quite you do emotionally engage with it I very very much so I think they’ve created an atmosphere here it’s sort of calming contemplative pretty much exactly what
They were aiming for and I love this snapshot you get through through the roof of that yeah without that aperture it would feel too heavy but seeing the trees and having the light come through there and the sky yeah nitpicking there’s a few plants at the back it just
Feels like that’s a little bit of an afterthought it be nice if that tied into the plant because this is so good yeah and it is good wonderful in amongst the nurseries and plant specialists of the great Pavilion the florist of the Year Awards is taking
Place and this time the theme is bins and lamp post now that might seem quite a tough ask but actually people have taken to it with huge originality and skill so here we have a lamp post and the plants swirling elegantly around it I like this one too particularly at the
Back where you have a bin and then cascading out of it not rubbish but glorious flowers spilling down to the ground and the whole thing supported by a framework of brambles now obviously brambles are very much part of of the theme that you see outside in the show
Gardens where you you have reclaimed materials and we’ve talked about weeds we’ve talked about Wildlife but also we’ve got installations here that are full of the richness you might expect from any FR design I love the way that they they’ve used Imperial feries for example and they’re ronculus so you have
These wonderful oranges and purples growing out of a bin and as well as the floral displays we’ve got installations the two are sitting side by side so you have a really dramatic installation dripping with water with seagrass on here wonderful Mossy ones over there it’s worth walking through them just
Absorbing the scale and Imagination that’s used and two things I really like about this is one that are an awful lot more of British flowers being grown for cup flowers this is something that is obviously environmentally very friendly and also really good to have native flowers uh included in what is
Essentially a very artificial setup and also DED flowers been used and they can be recycled so lots going on here but all in tune with the whole Spirit of the show now someone who’s always got a Keen Eye for design is aritt Anderson and she’s been to take a look at the
Innovative indoor gardening on display in the house parant Studio our love of house plants is certainly not fading last year one in three of us bought a house plant that’s on average two every month and it’s the 18 to 24 year olds who are the biggest Spenders this year there are six studios
Here at Chelsea packed full of inspiration to show us the very best in house plant design imagine this is your work or play Space fantastic studio especially when the plants are center stage and what the designer has done here is given us this showcase living wall of tropical plants
To show us how different plants need different light levels what’s really clever is that they’ve put all of the variegated leaves toward this end of the wall where there’s more light and as you come down the leaves are getting darker and more solid and that means that these
Plants require less light many of these plants start their life on the jungle floor it’s going to be much more shady so in our homes where the light levels are lower you can be sure that these plants are going to survive now if you want to carry on with
That jungly theme and bring it outside there are couple of those plants that live normally indoors that can cope with a little bit of shady shelter things like this tradescantia nanuk or these chlorop itms you could mix them in with some Ferns and have them kind of
Sheltered near to the home and the great thing is that all of the tropical plants in this studio have been grown here in the something a little less traditional I think the inspiration in here is really pushing the boundaries this is where you can take house plants to another
Level what the designers have done is using a clay based substrate planted into it things like this frothy asparagus and then taken Driftwood and stone and sand to create this really impactful artpiece if you’ve got house plants and are feeling a little bit more confident then push the boundary think
Out of the box and maybe you could end up creating something like This I’m really pleased that house plants are getting a bigger footprint in the show because the truth is they are the biggest thinging in gardening over the last three or four years yeah and a lot of people don’t have any outdoor space at all they can only grow indoors
Succulents are very trendy you’re right a onium is popping up all over the place ET is here and ET is there and they holay plant you can go on holiday leave a couple of weeks don’t need any watering at all well we told you it was
A pack show didn’t we and we still have all this to come on the rhs Chelsea flower show an event supported by the new in Somerset now Francis top Hill will be taking a look at the latest planting styles on display at the show this year Gold Medal winner Adam Frost
Cast his design eye over the rhs feature garden and meets up with its designer Manaj maldi and we’ve highlights from the royal Ro family visit earlier today but first royalty of a Horticultural kind in the great Pavilion Clare Austin is just one part of a floral Dynasty stretching back for decades returning
After a 7-year absence we were lucky enough to catch up with her on the buildup to the big Day I’m gardening I just love burying myself into the border and listening to the bees and it’s a a lovely time to just relax this is the ker Veil just comes up from the Welsh coast and just drifts on then disappears and you get wonderful rainbows which we have actually in the
Distance I’m CLA Austin together with my husband Rick we run clar otin Hardy plants we grow anything herbaceous and anything perennial which includes bearded irises and also peers we moved here in 2010 and I started to create this Garden I can’t grow some plants because the
Rainfall is too high but the majority of perennials absolutely love this sort of climate the plants in this Garden a twofold really one my own pleasure because I absolutely love gardening but secondly I grow them to see how they perform it’s a sort of catalog a live catalog of plants I trained as an illustrator I only came into gardening when I joined my father’s Rose business this year is my 40th year in the trade I love my garden absolutely love it I keep seeing these little vistas of for instance in the back there we have
The uh which was planted by my mother this uh cherry and then underneath the woodland plants I gained a lot of inspiration really from my mother who was sort of a relaxed Gardener the weeds would grow and she would allow things to seed around this is my Spring Garden a lot of
The plants here or almost all the plants are herbaceous perennials which means they die down in in the autum and Grow Again in Spring and they flower quite early this is a geranium fa Alex pink which I hope I will be a taking to Chelsea then we have Centuria which are
Perennial corn flowers and this is Centuria Montana carneer which is a lovely Lil ay pink and then the little blue flowers are Bruna this is the uh field that we grow our irises uh mainly bearded irises and some of the panies that we sell the soil in this field is very rich uh but it’s also quite free draining I think the the irises seem to benefit from that and
Penis will grow anywhere on the nursery all the irises are grown uh here and we pop them up in September and in April I put them inside into a cold unheated uh poly tunnel and cross the fingers so this is where we grow our irises to bring them on for the Chelsea
Flow show and these are the ones that I’m encouraging to grow so this is a Siberian Iris they growing most kinds of soil um as long as they’re not very dry and to see if they’re going to flour I just feel the bottom of the stem I can’t
Feel any flour spikes at the moment it doesn’t mean they’re not going to flour because they tend to pop up very Quickly now this is alcha cream dream it’s um a ladies mantle is the common name it’s a plant I found in the garden grow happily in a a shady spot and it’s really nice for brightening up uh the garden and mixes with um yellow which is
Often the the color of the moment this is a geranium I found in my mother’s garden and named it after her it’s called Patricia Josephine uh it’s just um a pink one but it almost pales to White it’s I’ve had it for years running a nursery is Thoroughly
Enjoyable and I have to thank my father for educating me in how to do it my father was David Austin one of the leading breeders of English roses it seemed natural to join the business although he was also a farmer uh which was his primary uh occupation for many years so
Being involved in Horticulture and gardening in the countryside seems very natural to me I’ve been going to Chelsea for now it’s the 40th year and the last time exhibited was 7 years ago so this year we’re having two small smallish exhibits one will be purely of beard irises and
The second one is spring flowering perennials as always my brother will be exhibiting David Austin Roses will be exhibiting so it’s quite a family affair really and uh I’m quite looking forward to that I don’t see him that often like L apprehensive about Chelsea I’m not sure whether the uh perennials
Will be perfect some will have gone a little bit too far some won’t be open enough hopefully crossed fingers we’ll have enough to fill the stand which is always a Worry Claire lovely to meet you I’ve got you as a rose in my Gardener climbing row so it’s so nice to meet you and very floriferous you are too I’m a disease resistant as well well I can see that now you’ve got your iris looking well
They are Perfection and there’s a lot of Iris out in the gardens this year and I’m a huge fan of AR how easy or difficult is it to get because there’s good years and bad years at Chelsea with ar this looks like a good year to me well it’s been quite difficult because
We had such a cold April and May and everything just stopped growing all March and April and then it just then suddenly went quickly so they they’ve been really taxing we started off with 900 es and it’s whittled down to just 200 the proportion that you’re growing
To get the good ones exactly absolutely okay and I mean they all look great to me do you have any favorites here well I’m very pleased to get Dusky Challenger into flow it’s the dark rich dark petal very large petal D sexy purple it’s one of my it’s very popular everyone loves
It it’s it takes a long time for it to come into flow because the petals are so big but it has a gorgeous chocolate scent is something I love I’ll have to go and have a little whiff later um and the the light blue one another tall variety what’s that one that one’s
Called Nesta Rapids and I love it because the flowers open all the way down the stem so you get complete color not just at the top of the flower okay so it’s just yeah lovely it is beautiful and um your brother David’s here waiting in the wings hello David hello meet your
Sister hi sis I was love that you meet every year we do I mean is there sort of you know Horticultural rivalry between the two of you at all I think we did you say well I’ve got another gold there’s room for both of us I think
Yeah there is yeah we do totally different things so I am totally perennials he’s roses end of subject you are you are roses big time and we’ll be visiting you later in the week yeah I will add that I was here before her I came in 1982 go he started it off first
David atin Rose’s stand here in the market 1982 and when was your first year here 1983 oh he P You by one year but but you’re you’re you’re you’re the older brother right I said the right thing yeah you did she’s Big Sister Big well listen it’s lovely to see both fantastic
Earlier in the show we had a sneak peek at the rhs feature Garden which was the venue to Chelsea’s very first wedding it’s been designed to be a community Garden but Adam is here to take a look at the design principles on show that we can all use at
Home the Chelsea flower show is full to the brim with beautiful gardens but What Lies Beneath that beauty gardening is changing we have to be more sustainable think about the environment so the materials we choose the plants and of course the way we build is becoming so much more
Important this is an rhs feature garden and it’s designed by manage Mali and it’s bright and definitely colorful this is not going to be everybody’s cup of tea but if you look closely it’s that color that is holding this Garden together look at that that is a braille
Post they relate to the fence and the Pergola this Garden breaks into three main spaces softly done at that but at the end there there’s a quiet area me just time to reflect here it’s about entertaining at the end you’ve got the arbor providing that dapple shade but also the opportunity just to get some
Climbers growing in front of me that surface is totally permeable so as it rains it goes down and it soaks back into the ground so there’s not any runoff and then we look at the planting there’s one group of plants that have popped up and that’s the annuals the B
Annuals and the short live perennials first of all you think well that’s not really sustainable you’re going to be planting them all the time but actually in reality these plants come up they seed the seed goes back into the ground whatever happens that winter they will
Come up the following year so that’s a plant I’ve definitely used as a Go-to Manaj before we talk about this Garden you’ve got married I did get get married it’s quite a beautiful place to get married yeah and what an opportunity to design my own wedding Premier as well exactly I’m looking around and and talking very much about sustainability
And I can see here you know You’ got permeable surfaces but what other features have you got in the garden that about sustainability cuz I know you’ve got community but what about sustainability so all the timber has been sourced from sustainable sources they’ve all come from managed Forest the
Large limestone Labs we’ve been very sustainable with the waste because what we did rather than Chuck the waste away we’ve had them cut into these small slivers these sets and we’ve used them back in the design of the garden and you talk about the recycle as well and I the
Old you know the oil tanks you’ve decorated them that’s it so what I did was I I wanted to upcycle old oil drums and and I I put out a a post that I was seeking artists to come in and individualize each drum and that’s how communities come together you know it is
This space is for them to share when you think about this the whole garden is about sustainability it totally is it’s a community garden and by bringing different communities in what you’re helping them to do is create support networks for themselves so this Garden is a totally sustainable garden for the
Community yeah which is absolutely brilliant yeah absolutely enjoy married life thank you all week Adam will be sharing how other designers at Chelsea are using new and innovative ways to create their Gardens this year and give us all ideas that we can apply to our own Gardens at
Home now one firm favorite back for another year is the designer Tom Massie in 2021 he won the BB C rhs People’s Choice Award for the yo Valley Garden with its organic credentials this time he’s putting insects at the front and center of his garden design for the Royal entomological Society insects really are the tiny engines that run the world they do incredible work in our Gardens in pollinating our food in keeping the world moving really I’m Tom Massie I’m a garden designer and this year at Chelsea flower show I’m designing a garden for the Royal enological Society and they have
Really been at the Forefront of insect science since 1833 so insects are really important in our Gardens you know they pollinate our plants they decompose waste they do all sorts of services that we don’t think about and also they food for larger species like birds for bigger mammals
For all sorts of wildlife they are really vitally Important so insects even exist in the soil you know there’s there’s thousands of insects that live underground and do all sorts of work improving the soil taking uh nutrients down into the soil you know really just doing so many things that we don’t even know about the
Bigger picture for us as gardeners is without insects our Gardens would look very different very desolate you know that our Gardens would Disappear so today we’re at tside Nature Reserve which is part of S6 Wildlife trust and the aim of today I suppose is to find inspiration for the garden at Chelsea flower show so this is what’s referred to as a Brownfield site and it is a former Landfield site which is
Quite amazing really when you look at it now you know it’s covered in scrub land there’s all sorts of habitat you can see in the background cranes old industrial architecture this has now been transformed into this Nature Reserve that can support so many different species of plants and by turn
Insects so I am not an insect expert you know I’m very interested in insects but really my specialism is landscape and plants and what I’m here to really look at and see is that relationship between the insects and between the plants so this is Hawthorne and this is is a
Really typical example of a plant that would start to colonize scrub land and Hawthorne is one of the species we’re going to use at Chelsea but you can see the you know the structure the form the shape just about to Bud as well so by May these should be in full
Bloom so this is a red dead Nestle and it’s really interesting looking you got vet here it looks like a grassy meadow but when you actually look into the detail there’s so many different species all coexisting in this really biodiverse Matrix of ground cover plants I’ve invited Ashley wiffin member of the
Roal entomological society so we’re going to go and explore see what insects we can find and she’ll help identify what we find too I think this is actually really interesting you know aesthetically you’ve got all sorts of different color all sorts of texture I love it because I
Just want to get stuck in and look for things and I kind of imagine that that’s how an insect feels right like oh this is perfect like there’s so many different places for them to hide so what have you got in your tray Ashley I’ve just been searching through this
Decomposing wood here we’ve got a few pill bugs and some centipedes but it’s still really interesting you know how much life is just in even this this tiny pile of dead wood that most people just ignore is that an insect actually in there that is a really good spot Tom
That’s a click belet they’re associated with this kind of Deadwood habitat predating on other invertebrates in this area feeding on the wood as well helping break down that um organic matter is it better to have wood like this that’s lost all its bark or you know wood with
Some bark on it is there a kind of specification for the best type of dead wood ideally you want to have this stage because that bark is providing little cracks and crevices and basically shelter you could imagine that couldn’t you know insects crawling in there finding a home under that bark
Absolutely that that’s really good to know so we’ll look for wood that’s got barks still on it to include at the show So the garden at Chelsea is a landscape that is really inspired by this this kind of brown field site so you’ve got different types of substrate from crushed brick and sand and and Rubble lots of native species like the Hawthorne that we’ve seen here and there’s this large insect eye lab so the
Microscopes in the lab uh allow insects that have been found on the garden to be identified and then enlarged on this this huge screen here so that connects to the microscopes so it’ be really interesting to see you know whether our garden I suppose is is is more covered in insects than Others I really hope to start to get people excited about insects we as gardeners are really important to Insects we really need to implement habitat just create spaces that allow insects to thrive because without insects we are in serious trouble there’s so much to take inspiration from
Here from you know this kind of landscape here with the dead trees in the water to the bee Banks to the piles of of concrete and crushed brick I’m really inspired now to translate this into a garden of Chelsea flower show there’s no question that although that landscape is doing wonderful things
And it’s really interesting it is a bit Bleak it’s quite a stretch to take that and turn it into a Chelsea show Garden but Tom achieves it he achieves it I think incredibly well now there are a number of ways he does this to start with he’s been very generous in the area
Around the building it’s almost like woodlands so you do have the hathor in flow there’s a sense of Woodland and intensity of planting and then I’m rising up quite a steep ramp by using different levels it’s immersive you feel that you’re part of the garden as you
Look in there’s a pond using the Industrial Waste there is this sense of of it being in the corner of of Wasteland but actually works as a pond the planting is generous there are pollinating flowers there’s cover there is this sense that it’s it’s an interpretation of a pond that could be
In any Garden but then as you move away across on this side we have very different type of planting it’s exposed it’s hot it clears out uh this is planting for really sharp drainage really hot sunshine and so Thomas has confidence to vary it not to try put all
The eggs into one basket and then above it we have this sculptural form of the Dead Oak there is a dead Oak standing by the pond and here it’s sliced up it immediately draws your eye and yet really useful for insects Tom did you find it hard to take the inspiration and
Translate it into a g I think it was uh it’s been a long process so sort of 18 months of Designing and thinking and and really uh trying to take that Brownfield inspiration and turn it into a garden space I really didn’t want to just you know take the literal representation I
Wanted to show people that we can use waste materials we can you know Elevate Deadwood we can artfully arrange these kinds of materials to create amazing insect habitat do you feel that that Gardens are a central sort of element in in preserving our insects or is this
Just an add-on no I think Gardens are essential I think as gardeners we need to come together I I think it’s so easy to be overwhelmed or feel imp potent but you know 30 million Gardens in the UK uh Gardens that are equ an area the size of
Whales you know if if we all come together if we all start to use waste creatively if we start to plant for pollinators create habitat you know have a small pond have these spaces that insects can inhabit and they just use more sustainable materials we can really
Start to make a big change and you have this extraordinary building tell me about that so the the Dome is inspired by a compound the iridescent glazing is that kind of amazing iridescence that you get on insect shells so the space is designed to be fun to be educational
We’re going to have a 100 school kids coming through very shortly will you be doing experiments we we are we’ve got microscopes with there’s a aphid under one a ladyb birad egg under another uh we’re going to be using the sweet Nets to capture things in the planting and
And really see what comes to visit at the show well we will come back and see that but I think the garden’s great thank very much now habitat creation and Wildlife friendly go is only one of the emerging trends at Chelsea this year and it’s it’s certainly not excluding others
That you will find here and here is francis’s Guide to the colors and planting styles that I guess that we will all be wanting in our G very Soon at the Forefront of horticulture the Chelsea flower show is where we all come to see the new and emerging Trends in the gardening world and of course it’s about the overall design but really it’s all about the planting and how those plants have been used to hold the
Space together create an atmosphere and also how they used to define the style of the gardens having been here for only 24 hours I can already see that there’s a really overwhelming theme of a certain color scheme at Chelsea this year and that is greens whites and then these
Pops of magenta now here you can see they’ve really used that well and it’s a small space it just goes to show that even those of us with small gardens can do something like this there’s lots of different kinds of whites used throughout this Garden things like achilla molum here but this
Year that’s all been added to with this magenta it’s a kind of bold dramatic addition and it gives a sort of a sense of Faded Glory Classics like Cersei and lovely thistles that work through everything and it’s just something that I’ve seen all over the place in the
Chelsea flower show and this Garden even on a very small scale keeps its color scheme simple and epitomizes That something else I won’t call a new trend but maybe you’re seeing a bit of a Resurgence is the shrub it’s such a resilient thing to use in a garden I think the reason for that Resurgence is partly because the extreme weather we’ve been seeing shrubs that can have deep
Roots are much more resilient to climate change they also provide habitat for wildlife nesting spots and even some produce beautiful flowers so like this aelia amazing viburnum here as well so there’s so much versatility and rather than having all the shrubs at the back as is tradition this year they’re being
Brought out into the sunshine into the front of the borders they’re also much lower maintenance than lots of herbaceous perennials so if you haven’t got a lot of time shrubs could be your answer one thing that you can’t fail to notice at Chelsea this year is the weeds
Or wild flowers depending on your viewpoint but I hesitate to call it a trend because that sort of implies it’s here today gone tomorrow where in actual fact I hope this is more of a sort of rethinking and a retraining of the way that we see these plants and hopefully
Will stick around for some time we all know now how valuable these species are to our Wildlife but what’s more challenging to us as gardeners is to accept that they may have a value for us as well when whether it’s edibility so things like soral plantain there is a
Use for some of these plants and there is an aesthetic to them look at this Hawk bit with this beautiful yellow flower now clearly the aesthetic of weeds all around Chelsea has been fully embraced this year but now we have to work out if we can do it in our own GS
But I can tell you from experience that growing weeds is actually a very challenging thing to do so they may look that they’ve just appeared here but an awful lot of work has gone in to making these Gardens look the way they Do now if there’s one designer who’s known for pushing the boundaries it’s the creator of this thought-provoking space the center point garden and after 7 years away I’m pleased to welcome back to the show cleave West cleave joke me to see you why have you come back well I
Didn’t really want to come back to be honest you would say that but um I i’ sort of taken with sense point approach and it’s a charity and they they had funding from Project giving back so it was a no-brainer at the end of the day
Yeah well it’s a fabulous G people are really talking about your garden a lot so the thought-provoking aspect is definitely working what’s this Garden all about okay so it’s a very literal take on homelessness we’ve got a demolished house we’ve got a Fallen Tree which are really strong metaphors for
Being fragmented and displaced and having your life turned upside down so it’s as simple as is that really and we’ve got nature sort of healing all the scars of all this because it feels very nostalgic to me you know it’s there’s something it’s sort of somewhere I used
To play when I was a kid an abandoned site exactly but your Conn and that connection with nature was just sort of so immediate um how how has it been interpreted I mean what’s the feedback you’ve been getting for this guy yeah people are relation to it I mean the the
Halfth is like a the center of the the house is represents warmth love security we wanted to make that a feature that’s why you got these strong views but yeah people are relating to it in a big way which is interesting and you got these nest boxes sculpted by Johnny Woodford
Yeah they’re great aren’t they and uh we’ve had to block them up we don’t want Birds nesting otherwise we won’t be able to take the the garden down but happily that um enables us to talk about the fact that homeless people are stigmatized by landlords so they find it
Very difficult to get rented property and also one in 10 proper ities in this burough are empty so shocking isn’t it really yeah and we’ve also got there’s a soundscape right yeah the soundscape which evokes the memory of uh a family that once lived in this property and
We’ve got the mural which has got 120,000 dots which represents a each homeless person in the UK each young person and here here we are at the front of the house so this part this Victorian T part this would be the house which is now been completely taken over by nature
And some of it you know areas that were gardened and a lot of it’s just self-seeded wild plants exactly this is typical of an urban front garden in London um but we’ve got all sorts of weed like herb Robert sticky Willie it’s all that sort of thing that’s going on
Here which is showing how biodiversity and nature is coming back in and repairing everything yeah and and and what has the reaction been to your go people so far everyone’s saying they love it but I’m want to stand about a few Paces back when the public come in
To hear what what people really think you know it’s one of those Gard you’re are going to get a reaction I think it’s genius good thank you well done as the Pinnacle of all flower shows Chelsea has always been a firm favorite with gardeners and royalty alike and
This year was no different there was quite a stir on the showr when the royal family arrived to take a look around earlier today it’s been a long time since his majesty has walked through these gates at the Chelsea flower show the last time
He was here he was a prince now 8 years later he is returning as King Charles III accompanied by the newly crowned queen the first Garden the king visited was inspired by a mountain in South Korea it was designed by XI Wang and the King clearly liked it you’ve had so many
Famous people in your garden today you didn’t know who anyone was except the King was that wonderful yeah was your heart is that what your heart was doing very special what’s name the king not many people hug the king why why why cuz he’s the king that’s very
Special as Prince of Wales he was for many years patron of the Samaritans which is why he chose to visit Darren Hawks on his garden for the Samaritans after all work what does it mean to you to be visited by the new king I mean it’s a huge privilege it took real
Interest in the trees that we’ve got here we spoke about the need for serenity and calm spaces to talk and listen which is what this Garden’s all about the King has spent a lot of time talking to the designers this evening getting right into the gardens like this
One designed by Sarah Price inspired by the artist plantsman Cedric Morris it’s just always wonderful when you’re talking to someone who understands plants he loves art he loves painting and the sun has come out the sun has come out the queen is also clearly enjoying herself here at Chelsea she has stopped
At every single Garden on Main Avenue Queen Camila came in and the first thing she said is it feels so calm in fact she said actually you can leave me here oh did she but she’s Lovely well having a king visit Chelsea that’s the start of a new year is it really is isn’t it something different he well I can’t wait to see what else is coming it’s already looking like it’s going to be a wonderful week is abely and tomorrow of course is the
Big one because tomorrow is medals day yes there will still be a lot of nervous people out there waiting for their results and what about best Shogun I’ve written my prediction I haven’t you but I am very clear and this year I’m going to be right um I’m not
Looking I’ve already done done my one it’ be interesting to see I can’t remember who got it right last year we might the same one tell I tell you what if I’m wrong yes the judges are going to need a good talking to you because Oh I
Thought you said if you were wrong you might buy me a drink no steady on no chance on well okay that’s signed and sealed uh so let’s see how that pans out tomorrow and Monty it’s your favorite part of the show I know you love this
Bit It’s the Return of ask Monty and Joe to Kickstart us this year with we’ve got a very special question okay why can’t I grow delphiniums lillers of the valley and daas I buy them every year and I put them in and they don’t love me what am I doing
Wrong oh quite a serious of problems there quite quite but let’s break it down uh delians notorious for being eaten by slugs and snails when they’re young and Lily of the Valley I’ve never had any success with them in London because yeah Thugs and snails and they like sort of damp Shady condition
Is where they hang out absolutely so I think that that would account for those two I think daers there’s a tendency to put them out too early yeah and they don’t grow and therefore they get eaten B this year it’s been cold till late so
I would say pot them up grow them in a protected place a window sill a greenhouse whatever you’ve got plant them out after Chelsea that’s it Chelsea week is the marker for tender plants I would say absolutely and the nice big plants and plants don’t get eaten if they’re growing strongly it’s those
Early days when they get yeah and with the other two maybe put a bit of grit over the top and just try and get them going as well well that’s you sorted Joanna hope that helps and we love to hear from all of you so the details of
How to get in touch with us are on the screen and we’ll answer as many questions as we can I think that’s just about it uh don’t forget to tune in on bbc2 at 8:00 tomorrow night to see if we or at least I have got our predictions
Right so so until then good night good Night Oh Oh Oh [Laughter] Oh Oh A H Oh
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And 2 pervs getting married has what to do with plants? Gotta keep up the brain washing.
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The ladies at the start say it is a colourful show, guess what? You ladies are just as colourful in your dresses and it compliments the flowers.