Gardeners World S51e15 12-07-18
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🛠️
LifestyleTranscript
00:00Hello, welcome to Gardener's World on a wonderful, blistering summer's day here at Longmeadow.
00:21And I'm keeping the summer flowers going by adding in some tobacco plants here in the
00:26cottage garden.
00:27There are lots of different types of tobacco plant, but this is a specific one.
00:30It's called Nicotiana sylvestris, and it has two really special virtues.
00:36The first is it's a whopper.
00:38It'll grow about six foot tall, has great big leaves, and really dominates an area.
00:45And the second great thing about it is its fragrance.
00:48Now, I'm surrounded by roses at the moment, and they have a romantic, soft, pastel scent.
00:55Nicotiana sylvestris is completely different.
00:59It's rich and musky and voluptuous, and they smell best at night.
01:06So it's great to plant it by the edge of a path, which means as you walk around the garden
01:11As dusk falls, the air will be filled with this lovely, rich, heady fragrance.
01:28Coming up, we meet a remarkable woman who gave up travelling the world to transform
01:33an overgrown swamp into a beautiful garden.
01:36In every piece of land, there's a beautiful space waiting to be chiselled out.
01:43On the 200th anniversary of Humphrey Repton's death, Adam visits Woburn Abbey to find out
01:50how they are restoring his original landscape garden.
01:53If I'm going to get a tour of these gardens, I'm going to do it in style, 18th century
01:58style.
01:59Morning, driver.
02:00Morning.
02:02And I shall be planting herbaceous clematis, choosing the right variety for the right place.
02:08And also, it's time to harvest new potatoes.
02:24I have here a water lily.
02:28Water lilies tend to be magnificent, these great big blooms floating on the water, opening
02:36out and surrounded by pads of leaf.
02:39But actually, some water lilies are petite.
02:42They're really quite small.
02:43And of course, it means that if you've only got a little pond, or even just a container
02:48with water in it, you can still grow them.
02:50And I've got one here, this is Nympha candida, and it's got one flower on it, which grows
02:56no bigger than that.
02:57And the leaves grow perhaps to a spread of two feet maximum.
03:01Now, I will need to pop this on.
03:04First of all, you need to get yourself an aquatic basket.
03:08And you can see the water will run in and out of them.
03:11That's essential, because they need to be submerged at all times.
03:15In terms of soil, that's exactly what you can use.
03:19And I've got garden soil here.
03:21The important thing is that it's not too fertile.
03:23You don't want to take it from a well-manured border or vegetable plot.
03:28This should just be a normal clay-based loam.
03:31So if you've got sand or chalk, then that won't do.
03:34You will have to buy an aquatic compost.
03:37The aquatic compost will be loam-based and have fewer nutrients, because too many nutrients
03:42will feed the water.
03:43And that will encourage algae and other organisms to grow in the pond.
03:47However, I'm going to stick with my soil today.
03:51And to pot it on is like potting any other plant.
03:55You need to give it room for the roots to grow.
03:59So I'll put a layer in underneath it.
04:05Set it in the middle.
04:08And then just pack more soil or compost around the outside, being careful not to damage the
04:14rather brittle shoots.
04:19So that could go in the water just like that.
04:23There is a slight risk that as you put it in, this loose, friable soil, as it gets wet,
04:29will be lifted up.
04:31And you see this brown bloom spread across the water.
04:34So to avoid that, it's a good idea to cover it with a layer of grit.
04:40As well as holding the soil in place, that will stop fish or any other little aquatic
04:46creatures nibbling down into the soil and disturbing it and sending it out into the
04:52water.
04:53OK, that is now ready to plant.
04:56But I'm not, because I need to put my waders on.
05:00So while I'm doing that, I'm going to put it in the shade.
05:16The important thing to remember about water lilies is that they are sub-aquatic plants,
05:25which means they must be permanently in the water, underneath.
05:29And the big ones can be as deep as three foot down.
05:32A small one like this only needs to be six inches to a foot below the surface of the
05:40water.
05:42It's a little deep.
05:43Let's raise that up on a couple of bricks and see where that leads us.
05:48There we go.
05:52Reasonably level.
05:58And place this on top.
06:02Right.
06:06The gap between the surface of the water and the top of the soil is like that, which in
06:12old money is about six inches.
06:15It doesn't want to be more than twice that depth, which means that the brick is going
06:19to work perfectly.
06:20I will leave that, let it settle, and in about two weeks' time, not long, I'll see new growth
06:27and then if I want to I can come in and take the bricks out, leave it on the bottom and
06:31that's where it can stay.
06:33One thing that is important with water lilies is to plant them in still water.
06:39If the water is disturbed in any way, either by a fountain or a pump bubbling away, they
06:44will not flower.
06:45They won't like it at all.
06:49What I love about ponds, it doesn't matter how big they are or how small, is they are
06:53a magnet for wildlife.
06:55Make a pond and the wildlife will come and that's the best way to have a really healthy
07:01garden as well as a fascinating one.
07:03But in the middle of our inner cities, wildlife is having a harder and harder time.
07:08It's diminishing.
07:09However, our second city, Birmingham, is doing something about this.
07:15The Canal and River Trust has been working to create wildlife corridors based upon the
07:20canal system.
07:22Arit has been along to see it in action.
07:25The Birmingham Canal old line is a wonderful setting in this city.
07:40It dates back to the 18th century, which reminds us of our industrial past.
07:45Now, this historic setting is being totally reinvented.
07:51Here, the seeds of a new idea are germinating.
07:55Called Go Wild in the City, it's headed up by Paul Wilkinson at the Canal and River Trust.
08:01In the old derelict spaces along the canal, a team of volunteers are making gardens to
08:06attract city centre visitors and encourage wildlife.
08:10It's so lovely being down by the canal, I have to say, Paul.
08:13We're very lucky to have this water and a corridor that goes straight through the city
08:17and connecting the countryside to the city centre.
08:20It's a known fact that the city centre is a real barrier for wildlife moving and migration,
08:25so we've got real opportunities.
08:27We've also got an awful lot of people.
08:29We want them to stop and ask questions about what's going on.
08:32It's all about getting people connected to plants, so we need to have that wow factor.
08:37What's going on in this area?
08:39So, this one's a semi-shaded area.
08:41We've got some scented plants because there's benches and we want people to brush up against
08:45them and get that smell and engage them, so we've got some salvias and lavenders.
08:50We've also got some quite visual plants going on.
08:52So, we're really trying to capture something for everybody and then, of course, I can't
08:55but notice the boat full of flowers.
08:58So this is the second section in the sunshine, so we've got slightly different plants and
09:02the sort of plants that you'd have seen in a locked cottage.
09:05Shall we get on the boat and travel up to the next section?
09:08More than happy.
09:09Have you been on a boat before?
09:12I love being on canal boats, I can tell you.
09:15It's just one of the most peaceful things.
09:20All of those little trees over there, the apple trees and things, are they yours?
09:28Yeah, we're putting fruit trees in these little pockets and we're also heading out the canal
09:34along the towpaths and we're going to have the longest linear orchard in the country,
09:38hopefully.
09:39Fantastic.
09:40So, you'll actually have people eating them?
09:43Oh yeah, we'll have to have people eating them.
09:46That's what we're doing it for.
09:51As a conservationist though, Paul, the angle that you really want to get going on down
09:55at the canal, just tell me a bit more about that.
09:57We're in the city here, so we're talking about a really degraded ecosystem.
10:01There's lots of brickwork, very little habitat and so these plants are bringing in that wildlife
10:05and they are building that ecosystem from the bottom.
10:08They're going to have a great impact on the pollinators, the insects and because there's
10:12such a lack of insects here, there's a lack of birds and bats.
10:16So once we start to build the number of insects and invertebrates up, the bats will come in.
10:23I guess plant selection's got to be really key, hasn't it Paul, you know, getting the
10:27right pollinators and thinking about drought tolerance.
10:30Some of these are well-known varieties, some are cultivated varieties of native species
10:34so we know that they'll probably support associated insects that the native plants do, like the
10:40Achillea, that's a nice flat area for certain invertebrates.
10:44The Agastachia will be good for bumblebees.
10:46I love Echinops and I always see them as total bee magnets in the garden.
10:52You know, the more diversity we have, the more diversity of wildlife we'll attract.
11:03Where do you want these my darling?
11:04I think we should go with maybe taller things at the back and shorter things at the front.
11:08The volunteers have been kept busy today and now it's their turn to create a sunny border
11:13using plants we've brought along that can manage well without too much maintenance.
11:21What sort of reactions do you get from the public as they go by?
11:24Oh, everybody absolutely loves it.
11:26We always, like, we'll be here planting and doing things and you'll get people coming
11:29and stopping and telling us how beautiful it looks and how great it is that, you know,
11:33we are wilding up Birmingham city centre and then we'll be able to tell them about the
11:37plants that we've put in and how great they are for pollinators and everyone's just really
11:41happy to see it.
11:42And what have you enjoyed most, do you think?
11:44It's been great, having such a steep learning curve and learning so much about all these
11:47different plants.
11:48You're doing a great job.
11:54And what about you Tom, what do you get out of this?
11:56Oh, I guess it's seen the fruits of the labour really, knowing that it's not only
11:59helping the community but wildlife as well.
12:02Yeah, sort of what it's all about really, sort of linking the two.
12:05As well as planting to bring in wildlife beside the canal, Paul is really keen to establish
12:10aquatic life in the canal.
12:12Using coir matting rolls made of coconut fibre allows the roots of the plants to anchor whilst
12:18they establish but will also biodegrade over time.
12:22We had no habitat here and so we wanted to bring habitat so we've actually had to build
12:26the habitat with the coir roll.
12:27But as soon as we did this, we had no habitat, so we had to build the habitat with the coir
12:32roll.
12:32But as soon as we did this, we had damselflies in the city centre which we haven't had before.
12:37We had the banded demoiselles.
12:38They're moving northwards and they need these little stopping step-over stones to get through
12:44these urban areas.
12:45There's one.
12:46There's a banded demoiselle, yeah.
12:47Those are the males.
12:48Wow.
12:49Beautiful, aren't they?
12:50Tropical.
12:51They look so pretty.
12:53And of course their larva is aquatic and that's food for fish and that brings in the otters.
12:58Oh, look.
12:59And we actually have an otter territory going right through the city centre for the first
13:02time this year.
13:04That is amazing.
13:05I mean, that is awesome.
13:06And you know, you kind of, you could almost go past this, just think, oh, they're nice
13:11plants without really understanding what's going on.
13:18I love the way these garden enthusiasts have brought beautiful borders into the heart of
13:23the city and with the flowers have come wildlife and people.
13:28One thing I've taken away from this is that nature needs to be right beside us and something
13:33that we can reach out and touch.
13:48The thing that strikes me about seeing what can be done in these spaces is they don't
13:53need much space.
13:55I love the way those coir mattings just along the edge of the canal were doing such an effective
14:00job and yet looking so natural.
14:02And I also like the way that a project like that gives a chance for people who don't have
14:08access to a garden, perhaps, to get involved, to get to know about plants, to share the
14:12experience of gardening.
14:16Now, these tree ferns came through winter by the skin of their teeth, I think, because
14:21it got really cold here and they're not designed to survive much below about minus five or
14:25six and it got down to below minus 14.
14:29However, a Dicksonia, a tree fern, can suffer just as badly from very hot, dry weather as
14:36they can from winter cold.
14:38And it's one of those plants that it is important to keep moist.
14:42And you're not watering the base of the plant, you're watering the roots on the trunk and
14:47the leaves.
14:48Normally, I always say that it's better to water once a week really well, with tree ferns,
14:52better to give them a misting every day.
14:58Right, that'll do you.
15:17I re-sowed my peas the other day because the first batch were completely eaten off by rabbits
15:24and I put wire around to protect them and they have mostly germinated and are appearing
15:30and so far are uneaten.
15:38The time has come to see how the potatoes that I've been growing in recycled plastic
15:45containers are getting on.
15:47These are new potatoes, a variety called Casablanca, all sown on the same day in the
15:53same growing medium and treated in exactly the same way.
15:57The big difference is that one has been grown in a fairly large pot, the other is grown
16:04in a container made from recycled plastic material and it looks and feels like felt
16:11and the other is simply an old plastic sack.
16:15And you know a potato is ready to harvest when it flowers.
16:20And I'll do this one first.
16:23As I say, this is a good heavy-duty plant pot.
16:29There we go.
16:32I'm liking what I see.
16:36Lots of quite small ones.
16:37Now, this was a new type of container and it holds the soil but lets the water run out.
16:54So we'll tip it out.
17:00Quite a few spuds in there.
17:07It's worth pointing out at this stage that although I'm putting the compost back in the
17:12container, I will not be reusing it.
17:16It is devoid of any nutrition.
17:20Put it on the compost heap, spread it on the soil, it'll work in, it'll do no harm at all
17:24but use fresh compost for fresh plants.
17:27Let's put that there.
17:29Right, last.
17:30Still in flower is the plastic bag.
17:33Oh, it's heavy.
17:37Now, it's worth pointing out that round about the end of April, this was showing no signs
17:44of life at all but then two little shoots appeared.
17:50Since then, it's come on, it's a bit later than the others.
17:52You can see it's still in flower.
17:53It's a bit late.
17:54It's a bit late.
17:55It's a bit late.
17:55It's a bit late.
17:56It's a bit late.
17:56It's a bit late.
17:57It's a bit late.
17:58It's a bit late.
17:58It's a bit late.
17:59It's a bit late.
17:59You can see it's still in flower but it is definitely going to have some potatoes in there.
18:12Okay, let's see what's in here.
18:20I think that is it.
18:25Right, let's compare like with like.
18:28Well, it seems to me just looking at them without weighing them or counting them that
18:33the biggest harvest is from the black large pot.
18:40Second and not far behind is the recycled container that feels and looks like felt
18:47and notably third is the reused plastic bag.
18:53It is worth stressing that the plastic bag had a really bad start in life.
18:58The two seed potatoes were hit by cold or too wet
19:02and didn't catch up until these were properly established and to be honest,
19:07I'm surprised that there are as many as there are.
19:09I really thought there would be very few and if I had left them for longer,
19:13there's no doubt about it that that would have been a better harvest.
19:16But here we are, a couple of spuds put in a container,
19:20just watered occasionally, not given any extra treatment other than earthing up about six weeks
19:26ago and we've got some spuds and you didn't need a garden to grow them.
19:30That's what I call a result.
19:33Now, last summer we went to Manchester to visit an unusual garden belonging to an extraordinary
19:40person. Her name is Sally Berry and she'd spent a lifetime of exotic travel but in her 70s,
19:47she decided it was time to settle down and tackle a new adventure at home.
20:05When I first saw the valley, it reminded me of Michelangelo's comment that within every stone,
20:13there's a statue and I thought, well, within every piece of land,
20:19there's a beautiful space waiting to be chiseled out.
20:25I've always been a bit of an omad, everyone expects me to move on after a year or so.
20:30Very surprised I stayed here for so long.
20:34When I was 70, I went to Laos on a motorcycle and it was wonderful traveling up through the mountains
20:41but I thought, well, I think I'm a little bit old for traveling around now.
20:46When I got back, my son was a bit concerned and he said, well, I don't want you traveling,
20:52I have to come and dig you out of some swamp or something. So he bought me this piece of land,
20:58which was a swamp and said, at least I'll know where to come and dig you out now.
21:04That's fine.
21:05I think, probably, I've been trying to recreate what I've experienced.
21:16So the first part you come into is the orchard.
21:20Then you come through a dead hedge, which is a windbreak really and somewhere for insects to
21:29hide out, into what we call the arena, where people can gather.
21:36And then from there you go into the wild part, which is the real marshy bit,
21:41which has been completely reclaimed, it was just mud.
21:45And that's my favorite place where you see all the birds and the plants are sort of gradually taking over.
21:53All my life, I've stumbled into challenges and enjoyed them.
21:56There was a valley and it was just sort of calling me, really, I suppose.
22:01The biggest challenge was just frustration that I could see a beautiful space just waiting there.
22:07But I couldn't really get people to see past the weeds and the mud.
22:13The Japanese knotweed and the balsam and convolvulus, and all the other things that
22:21convolvulus and nettles had all taken over.
22:26There was nothing else here at all. It was really tall.
22:28I just scythed my way down the valley.
22:32We've got 20 foot of glacial clay here and it just sits on the top.
22:37So we decided that the idea would be to dig a pond.
22:43So a big digger came in and sank.
22:46So then we had to get another digger to dig the first digger out.
22:51And after that, I decided that probably it was a good idea to do it by hand.
22:59Bullrushes were already here.
23:02There's willow herb and the rest of it just appeared.
23:11The wildlife is very important to me.
23:13I've always wanted a garden with wildlife.
23:16So that it's a sort of interchange between people and wildlife.
23:20Hopefully, people will appreciate that they need to plant a few wildflowers and weeds.
23:28After having watched this crazy old woman in the middle of the field, you know, weeding,
23:34gradually people got involved.
23:35Other people appeared from almost nowhere really.
23:40Here's my wonderful volunteers.
23:42The valley always attracts the volunteers it needs.
23:45It's John over there.
23:48John does more or less all the heavy jobs that I can't do anymore because my knees are packing up.
23:53Una and Brian, they were married here a couple of days ago.
23:58They're doing a bit of dead hedging.
23:59We took down a willow.
24:01Since it's grown here, it feels only fair that it should sort of stay here, even though it's dead.
24:07Len and Denise have got a lovely garden.
24:09So they come along and just sort of tidy things up for me, which is wonderful.
24:15The reason I'm here is because of my daughter, who's got a house just adjoining the valley.
24:27That's great.
24:29Wonderful.
24:30Mate, it's a very nice green.
24:32Well, it was all a bit overwhelming and we all kind of really felt that she was
24:35a bit mad to actually be contemplating it.
24:38But actually, it slowly evolved and created something quite amazing.
24:42It's Sally's determination, I think, which has taken it forward.
24:45And what's amazing is this is just a fantastic little bit of countryside in the middle of the city.
24:52My life has been a series of chapters and adventures,
24:55and this has been a marvellous adventure, transforming the valley.
24:59And it's just wonderful to be able to be here after all my travels
25:04in such a lovely place with the family.
25:06What could be better?
25:08When I get to 18, a couple of years time, I shall throw away,
25:12burn all these gardening clothes, it'll all be finished,
25:14and I shall walk around with a lovely long dress and a parasol.
25:18Don't laugh.
25:20Wonderful for me.
25:21It's a climax of the journey.
25:38I think two things really stand out from that for me.
25:41The first is that where there is a will, there is always a way.
25:47And remarkable people will do remarkable things, whatever their age or experience.
25:53And the second thing is you don't have to have a garden attached to a house.
25:56A garden can be anywhere.
25:57It can be in a field, it can be a patch of abandoned ground.
26:01If you decide you want to make a garden wherever it is, then it's a garden.
26:06Now, I've decided I want to add some cucumbers to my garden.
26:10This is an Italian variety called Lungo Verde dei Ottolani,
26:15which basically means long green.
26:19These are seedlings that I sowed about three, four weeks ago.
26:23They've grown well.
26:24And the key thing about cucumbers is that they like to grow fast.
26:27They like heat, food and water.
26:31And I have grown them outside before,
26:34but usually I grow them in the greenhouse.
26:37And that's what I'm going to do this year.
26:38And I've got some great big pots, which I've had for about 20 years now.
26:44And they are perfect for growing cucumbers.
26:47I've grown pumpkins in them.
26:49And it's a very, very effective way of growing them.
26:53I've made up a mixture of one third garden compost,
26:58one third preparatory compost,
27:00and then the rest, an even mixture of leaf mold and gritty sand.
27:05And I just put three plants around the outside.
27:10And I've left quite a lot of space at the top,
27:12so I can flood them with water if need be.
27:21Now, having planted that up, they will need something to climb up.
27:25So I just put three canes in.
27:31Like that.
27:34I will keep this well watered practically daily
27:37and feed it with liquid seaweed or liquid comfrey feed at least once a week.
27:45Now, it is important to tie it good and tight,
27:48because I confidently expect this to have to carry the weight
27:52of quite a few very large, green and delicious cucumbers.
28:00Still to come, Mark Lane uncovers the secrets of cottage garden design,
28:05and Nick Bailey celebrates the beauty and variety of the nation's favourite flower.
28:11But first, to one of Britain's largest and greatest houses,
28:17palace really, it's Woburn Abbey in Bedfordshire,
28:19where Adam has paid a visit to see the restoration work that's underway
28:26of gardens created by one of our greatest 18th century landscape architects.
28:35Britain is steeped in garden history and has some of the finest landscape gardens.
28:41But when asked to name a famous gardener from centuries ago,
28:44I think most would say Capability Brown.
28:48There was another green-fingered giant of the 18th century,
28:51a figure that emerged from Brown's shadow,
28:54and his name was Humphrey Repton, and this year marks the bicentenary of his death.
29:01Repton was often regarded as a successor to Capability Brown,
29:05but what made him so different was his unique approach.
29:10Where Brown created big vistas and expansive landscapes,
29:14Repton designed rustic and romantic backdrops,
29:17animating landscapes and breaking down barriers between gardens and parks.
29:25For each of his clients, he painted stunning watercolours of what their garden might look like,
29:30and these were bound in bespoke red leather books.
29:35This is one of Repton's red books, so there's 200 of these
29:38that he actually made and then 400 of gardens.
29:41I'm really honest with you, my stomach's going round.
29:44I became aware of these when I was trained as a designer.
29:47And now I'm getting to sort of flick through one.
29:49They are absolutely incredible.
29:53But it was a totally different way of delivering a piece of design.
29:57He was known for doing these before and afters.
30:00He uses these sort of flip-ups, and so you look at the first painting,
30:04that's the existing landscape, and then you reveal what was ultimately the dream.
30:11The interesting bit as a designer, I think, is he doesn't just paint a landscape,
30:16he brings it alive, so the client, I suppose, in a sense, is getting what the dream is.
30:23This very book was put together with the 6th Duke of Bedford in 1802
30:28to create his dream gardens at Woburn Abbey Estate.
30:32Sadly, those gardens fell into disrepair,
30:35but today the Duchess of Bedford is embarking on a 25-year restoration project,
30:40and I have come to see how they're getting on.
30:43If I'm going to get a tour of these gardens, I'm going to do it in style, 18th-century style.
30:48Morning, driver.
30:49Morning.
30:54Drive on, old boy.
30:58This is a great way to travel and to view the gardens.
31:02They would have been designed with this very much in mind.
31:07I'm on my way to meet Estate's garden manager, Martin Townsey.
31:11He has played a key role in this restoration project.
31:15So this is a kid's garden.
31:16This is indeed, yeah.
31:17I mean, that's what I love about Repton, in a sense.
31:19He really wanted to engage the families, didn't he, in the gardens he's created.
31:22Yeah, and he did that here with this particular project, which is the children's garden.
31:26This is the first thing that we actually restored at Woburn.
31:29It's all about exciting the senses.
31:31So there are spiky plants and soft plants for feel and touch.
31:35So he wouldn't just stop at the safe, he would...
31:37Oh yeah, he'd take you to the danger part as well.
31:39Yeah, brilliant.
31:40The actual venue in the middle there is actually for storytelling.
31:43So that's all about the hearing.
31:44And then around the back of here, we have chamomile lawns, which are for the smell.
31:48You get the sense that Repton was ahead of his time in engaging kids in gardens back then.
31:54The aristocracy would have been, the kids would have been...
31:55Yeah, they would have been pushed away from the family.
31:57But this particular dude, he engaged with his family, pulled them in
32:01and created gardens for them to actually play in with Humphrey Repton designing them for it.
32:08Your carriage, sir.
32:09Thank you.
32:26So this is the rockery pavilion that we have on top of the rockery there.
32:29We're still where Repton viewed from, in a way.
32:32Yeah, where he intended it to be viewed from.
32:34And if we do the overlay there, there it is as a reveal.
32:38Wow, so that's our oak tree.
32:39Our oak tree there, he's actually put into the actual design.
32:42The pavilion on top of the rockery there with the planting scheme going through it.
32:46So what was this like when, you know, you first sort of took it on to bring it back?
32:51So 14 years ago, it was actually covered in trees.
32:55They all had to be removed and we allowed the rockery to resettle.
32:59The pavilion wasn't there.
33:00So we've actually taken from this painting here of the pavilion details
33:05and then they were remade and then we put the pavilion back on top of the rockery.
33:09The problem we've got at the minute is the planting is
33:12turning out to be quite a bit of a challenge in terms of putting that in place.
33:16One thing with Repton was actually sometimes the lack of detail in the planting.
33:19And that's where we struggled.
33:20Because I look at that and go, well, actually, why don't we, you know,
33:23Genensis, there's lots of plants from China, why don't we add that to it?
33:26Yeah, and I think that would link you back in with the building for sure, yeah.
33:29You can have that idea.
33:30I'll take that one, thank you.
33:47So this is your final project you're at the moment?
33:49Yes, this is basically the menagerie area of Woburn.
33:52This being the main aviary in the centre section.
33:54We rebuilt that in 2010, using the pictures from here to actually scale it
33:59and then put it back into the landscape.
34:01And then throughout that whole area there, these were the cages.
34:05And this is where we're going to actually create a hedge line all the way through there.
34:08We're not put the cages back.
34:10What happened with the menagerie there?
34:11So the carnivorous animals actually died out over a period of time.
34:15But then the herbivores were then released out into the greater estate.
34:18So antelopes and buffalo and things like that were roaming around there
34:22right up to about the 1930s.
34:25And planting there?
34:26Yeah, some of this planting in here.
34:28Actually, some of that's behind us here.
34:30These are roosting areas for the birds to actually get into.
34:33The whole journey is incredible, isn't it?
34:35It really hooks you in.
34:36I'm hooked in.
34:37I've been here 14 years.
34:38I'm hooked into this.
34:39But the team are, the Duke and Duchess are.
34:43It really is a journey and I have a love of horticulture.
34:45As a landscape designer, I am fascinated by the journey I've taken today.
34:51I wonder actually whether he ever imagined that 200 years on,
34:55not only was his work still being built,
34:58but it was influencing, you know, the likes of me.
35:01Incredible.
35:15I think the most extraordinary thing about Humphrey Repton
35:19was the way that he marketed his designs
35:23specifically towards the women of the big houses.
35:27Repton bought flowers and domesticity and that transformed everything.
35:32And still today, that influence runs through all our gardens.
35:36And it's a very, very important part of our heritage.
35:39And it's a very, very important part of our heritage.
35:41And still today, that influence runs through all our gardens,
35:45whether they are great estates or a small back garden.
35:52Now, I'm trying to introduce a bit more colour into the dual garden.
35:55At this time of year, that's something I'm just piling in
35:58as much colour as I possibly can.
36:00And this is a fuchsia called Blackie,
36:04which I bought as a little plug for Easter.
36:07So I potted it on and it's quietly grown into a little shrub.
36:12And I think if I just put one
36:15underneath each of the four canners in the middle,
36:17this is Canna, Wyoming,
36:19for the rest of this summer, that might be quite interesting.
36:22And you've got the lovely chocolate cosmos beneath it.
36:25You've got the dark chocolatey colour of the leaves.
36:28You've got this rich, rich magenta and deep black.
36:32That's a good colour combination.
36:38Now, Nick shares a lifelong passion for roses
36:42and helps demystify what can be, for some of us,
36:46rather a daunting subject, however much we love the flowers.
37:00The rose, it is Britain's favourite flower.
37:04The rose, it is Britain's favourite flower.
37:06And it's been celebrated for generations
37:09for its myriad forms, colour and scent.
37:12In fact, you voted it as the most influential plant
37:14of the last 50 years in a Gardener's World poll last year.
37:18But with hundreds of forms, varieties and cultivars out there,
37:23you soon realise there's an awful lot to know about the rose.
37:26My career in horticulture, which began nearly 30 years ago,
37:30started on a rose nursery, and from there on,
37:34it's given me a lifelong passion for these incredible plants.
37:40The rose is certainly a vast and beautiful genus.
37:44The choice of your garden can be very confusing.
37:47Today, I'm looking at a class of roses
37:50which existed long before the rose was even born.
37:53I'm looking at a class of roses
37:55which existed long before modern cultivars, the old roses.
38:01And these are best defined as the plants
38:04which were first identified before 1860.
38:07And some of them are truly ancient,
38:10dating back to the great palaces of Rome, Persia and Egypt.
38:17The flowers became a symbol of love and beauty,
38:21and legend has it that Cleopatra scattered her boudoir floor
38:24with an inch deep of rose petals.
38:27Now, old roses have some pretty distinct characteristics.
38:30They tend to come in the pink, white and purple colour ranges.
38:34They're usually quite heavily scented,
38:36and the vast majority put on a spectacular display of flower
38:39early on in summer.
38:51One of the oldest groups of cultivated roses are the Gallicas,
38:56and this is a fantastic example.
38:58This is the Apothecary's Rose.
39:01It is Rosa Gallica var Officinalis,
39:04and it's possibly the longest cultivated rose.
39:07And there's very good reason for that.
39:09It had historic medicinal uses,
39:11and a clue is in the name, Officinalis.
39:14Old Greek pharmacies used to be called officinas,
39:16so plants that were used in a medicinal capacity in the past
39:20got that name.
39:22Now, as a garden plant, it's incredibly useful,
39:25not least that it can grow in partial shade,
39:27and it also does well in poor soils,
39:29which is quite unusual for a rose.
39:31Something I particularly love about it is,
39:33despite the fact that it's got these near double blooms,
39:37they are incredibly open,
39:39which means that pollinators can get to them very easily.
39:42The other lovely quality it has is this foliage,
39:46which has got a sort of dull, muted tone to it,
39:48which is a real difference from contemporary roses,
39:51which tend to be very glossy.
39:52Now, of course, there are other cultivars of Gallica
39:55that you can try.
39:56There's Versicolor, which is really dramatic,
39:58with a pink and white stripe,
39:59and there are several other cultivars
40:01with red, pink and white tones.
40:03So overall, it's an incredibly useful garden plant
40:07that'll give you a burst of amazing colour
40:09early on in the summer.
40:15Roses are highly adaptable plants.
40:17In fact, there's a rose for almost every part of your garden.
40:21Crucially, all roses like to be kept well-watered,
40:25and they're hungry plants,
40:26so they do like a regular feed.
40:33Grown in the Middle East since antiquity,
40:35the damask rose really is something special.
40:39The thing that makes it unique
40:41is that it has the most extraordinary
40:43and arguably the strongest scent of all the old roses.
40:47So strong, in fact, that it was used to make a tar of roses,
40:50which, of course, is one of the scents
40:51that you get in Turkish Delight.
40:54Now, it has particularly useful garden qualities.
40:57It makes about a five-foot plant.
40:59It has a sort of dull, muted leaf,
41:01similar to the Rosa Gallica,
41:04but there are many different colour forms
41:06you can grow in the garden.
41:07There are pale pinks like this,
41:09near-whites, and then darker pinks as well.
41:13This is called Catra Saison,
41:16and it's very unusual amongst the damask roses.
41:19Most of the damasks will flower just once
41:22at the start of the season.
41:23This fella is really special.
41:25He'll keep repeating all the way through the season,
41:28which, to my mind, means it's a great plant for modern gardens.
41:40The group of old roses
41:42probably most closely related to their hetero cousins
41:45are the albers,
41:46and what that means is that they have
41:48really good pest and disease resistance,
41:51and this is a great example of one.
41:54It's Queen of Denmark, and I love this plant.
41:57It has these lovely, matte, muted leaves
42:00with a slight bluey, glaucus tone
42:02that really makes the flowers pop out from it.
42:06What's really special for me
42:08is the different stages that the flowers produce.
42:10So they start out as this delicate little bud,
42:13then they move to something
42:14that you can almost wear in a buttonhole.
42:16Absolute perfection.
42:18Then they start to pop open,
42:20and then you wind up with these beautiful, flat-faced flowers.
42:24Now, this will grow to four or five feet,
42:26as most of the albers do.
42:36Gardeners are often cautious
42:38about introducing old roses onto their plots
42:41because they have a relatively short flowering window.
42:44But I think that fleeting perfection,
42:46coupled with incredible scent,
42:48means it's worth introducing
42:50just one or two old roses into your garden.
43:01Well, I completely share Nick's passion for roses,
43:04although perhaps at one point I slightly diverged
43:08because there is one rule of life that will never change,
43:11which is that nobody can have too many roses.
43:17And I love the climbers, too, and the ramblers.
43:19This is Wedding Day, climbing up the apple tree.
43:22A classic rambling rose,
43:24and it's filled with a mass of clusters of white
43:28and touched with yellow blossom.
43:31Now, I'm not actually going to plant a rose.
43:32This is gaura.
43:34Gaura White Sparkle.
43:36It's a South African plant,
43:39and it's got these lovely, delicate flowers
43:42that just hover like butterflies above the stems.
43:47Perfect here for the writing garden.
43:49And so I'm just going to pop them in the ground.
44:00They are actually a perennial,
44:02and they will flower for weeks and weeks and weeks.
44:06And if the winter isn't too bad, and by that I mean too wet,
44:10they will last into next year,
44:11but they do like good drainage and lots of sunshine.
44:19However, I'm now going to move to the orchard beds
44:22to plant something that should last and flower for years.
44:36I'm going to plant a couple of clematis into these orchard beds.
44:41And whereas most clematis are climbers,
44:44and you need support, whether it be tripods or a wall or a fence,
44:48these are herbaceous,
44:50and herbaceous clematis are really useful in a border.
44:55They can either grow laterally
44:57and act as a kind of grass, or they can grow in the middle.
44:59So I'm going to plant a couple of clematis
45:01into these orchard beds.
45:03They can either grow laterally and act as a kind of ground cover,
45:07or they can sprawl through a shrub.
45:10And if you plant them carefully,
45:12they make a really good double act, particularly with roses.
45:16Now, the first is clematis Heraclifolia cassandra,
45:21with multi-stems that grow to about three, four foot tall
45:24with these intense blue tubular flowers that are fragrant.
45:30Whereas most clematis like water-retentive soil
45:33where its roots never really dry out,
45:36this is one that prefers to have well-drained conditions.
45:40So if you have a garden where you struggle to grow clematis
45:44because your soil is too light or it's too warm,
45:47this is one of the ones you definitely should try.
45:51Now, let's go down into here.
46:00Most clematis like to be buried deep.
46:03However, that is not true for cassandra.
46:06You should plant this so the height is at soil level.
46:17Now, obviously, even though it likes good drainage,
46:20this will need a really good soak.
46:22And I'll come back and give it to it
46:23when I've planted the second one,
46:26which is similar in some ways, but very different in others.
46:30So let's have a look.
46:41Now, this is another herbaceous clematis,
46:44but it is very different and actually more typical
46:47of most that you're likely to come across.
46:49It's a clematis integrifolia, and it's one called twinkle.
46:53And what I really like about it
46:54are these delicate, almost grey flowers.
46:58Best in tandem with another shrub.
47:00And what I like to use them for is with a rose
47:04that can support it.
47:05You plant it near the base of the rose
47:07and then it tangles through the branches.
47:09And as the rose finishes flowering,
47:12the clematis takes over and the batten gets passed to it.
47:16They make a really good team.
47:18And because it's herbaceous,
47:20you can prune it back right to the ground
47:23and it doesn't interfere or block in any way
47:26the performance of the rose.
47:28I'm going to plant this right in there
47:31and try not to do any damage as I tiptoe through the roses.
47:38Luckily, they're not too thorny.
47:41Right.
47:50This, like most clematis,
47:52will like shady roots and sunny flowers.
47:56And I'm digging a deeper hole for this
47:58because I'm going to bury this one
48:00just a little bit deeper in the ground.
48:02This is where I disappear down into the undergrowth.
48:14Right, that's down in the cool.
48:17And that will quickly grow up
48:18and the flowers will appear as though part of the rose.
48:22Now, it is important that I give both these clematis
48:25a really good soak.
48:27No clematis likes to dry out.
48:29Other than that, they are no trouble whatsoever.
48:33These will grow up, scramble through, flower
48:35and then die back in winter.
48:37A little bit of a tidy up in early spring
48:39and that's all you have to do.
48:40And this style of planting,
48:42where plants sprawl and scramble and mingle freely,
48:48is very typical of the cottage garden style.
48:51And Mark Lane gives us a masterclass
48:54on how to make the most of a cottage garden.
49:05When it comes to garden design,
49:07fashions come and go.
49:09But there is one style that has timeless appeal.
49:12It's the classic cottage garden.
49:15The art of a cottage garden is informal design.
49:19Masses of ornamental and edible plants
49:22are partnered to complement each other,
49:25but appear to grow with wild abandon.
49:28The garden is a jumble of floral delight,
49:31each plant jostling for space,
49:33full of grace and charm,
49:35rather than grandeur and formal structure.
49:40Today, I'm going to show you
49:43Today, I've come to Goodnessden Park in Kent,
49:47where Paul Backshaw is the head gardener.
49:50The instrumental person behind all this was Lady Fitzwater
49:54and it's a very full, romantic style
49:57with very pastel colours.
49:58There's not one bit of border that's bare.
50:00It's all full of plants and flowers
50:02and that was her style.
50:04Now, of course, cottage gardens grew from outside a cottage.
50:07How on earth do they come to such a stately garden as this?
50:11Well, I think if you look at the origins of cottage gardens,
50:14they evolved out of necessity
50:16and people had to supply their own needs to some degree,
50:18so they had to grow their own vegetables
50:20and perhaps there was livestock involved as well.
50:23And then as they had more money and they had more resources,
50:26then they were able to grow more flowers,
50:28partly to begin with.
50:29These were herbs and they had their own use,
50:32but towards the end, they had more aesthetic value as well.
50:35So that's how the cottage garden evolved.
50:42So how do you create the romantic charm of a cottage garden
50:45in your own outdoor space?
50:48If you love this style,
50:49the first thing to bear in mind
50:51is what conditions you're working with.
50:54Cottage gardens can work anywhere there is plenty of sunlight.
50:58Think about the type of soil you have
51:01and choose your plants to suit.
51:07The other thing to consider
51:09is how much maintenance you're going to need to do.
51:12And I'll have to be honest,
51:13cottage gardens require a fair amount of work.
51:16Depending on the plants you choose,
51:19you could be constantly deadheading,
51:22pulling out all those seedlings that have gone everywhere,
51:25tying in the plants,
51:27and staking those really tall plants.
51:31But if you do have the time,
51:33it really is worth the effort.
51:39For me, a cottage garden is all about creating
51:42an intimate space brimming with flowers.
51:47Here, they've used tall plantings
51:49to create a sense of enclosure.
51:53But you can do the same with picket fencing or trellis.
51:59You can also use pathways
52:00to lead your eye to a pretty gate or archway,
52:04ideally overflowing with roses or honeysuckle.
52:09When cottage gardens first originated,
52:12they had to be practical.
52:14They provided food and sustenance
52:16for the families who owned them.
52:18So it's okay to mix your edibles with your ornamentals,
52:22and that's what they've done here.
52:24And just look at this pineapple mint.
52:27It has this beautiful, rosy,
52:30and a little bit of a minty flavour to it.
52:32And it's a great way to give your garden
52:34a little bit of a touch of colour.
52:36And then there's this Moroccan mint.
52:39It has this beautiful, ruffled texture to it,
52:43and it's variegated,
52:45and it has the most delicious scent.
52:49But there's also Moroccan mint and apple mint.
52:55And then there's thyme, which gives you purple flowers.
53:00The list is endless, so it can be youthful and beautiful.
53:06A key element to any cottage border is a vertical interest.
53:16And what better than these beautiful Eremurus,
53:19the foxtail lily.
53:20Here we have Eremurus robustus with its salmon pink flowers,
53:25and then slightly lower, Eremurus cleopatra
53:29with a vibrant orange.
53:30That's a really good tip.
53:32Two different varieties, different heights,
53:35but they add movement and drama to the border.
53:55A perfect plant for ground cover is this beautiful Nepeta.
53:59It has a blue haze to it,
54:02and every time you stroke it,
54:03it releases this incredible perfume.
54:10And what would a cottage garden be without roses?
54:17Roses just ooze romance and elegance.
54:22Training them over a doorway gives the instant cottage look.
54:26One variety that's a great climber is Buff Beauty,
54:30and best of all, the scent is of old England.
54:38The art of cottage gardening is to make it look relaxed and effortless.
54:43Even though a fair amount of effort is actually needed,
54:47if you can create something as dreamy and as romantic as this,
54:52if you can create something as dreamy and as romantic as this,
54:57then surely it's worth it.
55:15Mark is absolutely right when he says that it takes
55:19quite a lot of work to make cottage gardens look as though nothing has happened at all.
55:25But I like that work.
55:27This is how you relate to the garden.
55:30This is how you enjoy it.
55:32The whole thing becomes very, very personal,
55:36and cottage gardening lends itself to that kind of relationship
55:41more than any other style.
55:44Well, there's always lots to do in a cottage garden,
55:49but if you haven't got a cottage garden, don't think you're going to get off,
55:52because here are some jobs for you too this weekend.
56:04Sow lettuce seeds for harvesting in early autumn.
56:08Sprinkle the seeds onto a container,
56:11cover them over,
56:13and they should be ready to prick out in about three weeks' time.
56:19At this time of year, some pots completely dry out,
56:27and when you try and water them, it just bounces off the surface.
56:31So fill a shallow container with water and stand the pots in overnight.
56:36They will absorb enough moisture
56:39so that thereafter you can water them normally from above.
56:49Now is a good time to take semi-ripe cuttings of woody herbs,
56:53like lavender or rosewood.
56:56Choose nice, strong growth, including a little bit of riper stem.
57:01Strip off all the lower leaves except for the top inch or so,
57:04and then cut them to size.
57:06Place the cuttings around a container that has been filled
57:10with a very free-draining compost.
57:13Water them and put them somewhere sheltered to root.
57:19Who wants a raspberry? Do you want one now?
57:22Here. Look at that. There's a good girl. Take it gently.
57:27Do you want one too, matey? There you go.
57:31I absolutely love raspberries.
57:33These are the summer fruiting varieties.
57:36They start giving us fruit that ripens about the middle of June,
57:39and then they start to ripen in the spring.
57:41They're absolutely fantastic.
57:42They're a great source of vitamin C,
57:45They start giving us fruit that ripens about the middle of June,
57:48and go on for perhaps a month,
57:51certainly no more than to the end of July here at Longmeadow.
57:54But while they last, we eat them daily.
57:57They're absolutely delicious.
58:00Well, we've run out of time today,
58:03and next week, wait for it,
58:06we are back on Wednesday at eight o'clock.
58:11Different day, different time.
58:13But Nellie, Nigel and myself will be here at Longmeadow.
58:18So I'll see you next Wednesday.
58:19Till then, bye-bye.