- 4 days ago
Greatest Gardens S01E05
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00:00In town and country, passionate gardeners spend every spare moment creating their very
00:06own horticultural masterpieces. Now Carol Klein and Dermot Gavin are visiting
00:12some of them, the finest gardens in Northern Ireland.
00:16You'll need buchettes, won't you? That's it.
00:19We'll be judging them on planting, design and good gardening practice.
00:24And each week, we'll be joined by a celebrity. Who, like me, loves getting their hands dirty.
00:31Treasures round every corner. I can't believe it.
00:34The mother in me is beaming. I mean, what a way to grow up.
00:38I'm sharing my sniff with lots of bumblebees.
00:41What a lovely thing. Football terraces filled with daisies.
00:44Yeah.
00:45We're going to visit gardens of every size and shape.
00:49Today, we're focusing on three of the bests.
00:51And the winner will go through to our grand final.
00:54We have our work cut out for us, but we're ready.
00:59We're on the hunt for the greatest gardens.
01:07With three incredible gardens to choose between, Dermot and Carol will be joined by a very special guest.
01:15Bonjour, Fred.
01:17I'm Fred. I'm French, and I'm a very keen gardener.
01:21I discovered gardening in lockdown, and since then, I'm hooked.
01:26My garden, for me, is a heaven.
01:28It's a source of serenity and peace.
01:31I love my garden.
01:33The theme is called random because it really is quite random,
01:36but I am the king of the lawn.
01:39Well, self-crowned.
01:46First up, a visit to Kilkutri Barn Gardens in Fintana, County Tyrone.
01:51Here, there are two and a half acres of mixed gardens.
01:55The front of the house is filled with flower beds.
01:59There's a vegetable garden and an apple orchard.
02:06My name's Anne Johnson, and I have been here all my life.
02:11I would say it's more a cottage-type garden.
02:14If I like a plant, I buy it in the supermarket.
02:17Just stick it in, hope for the best.
02:19And I can't pass without buying something.
02:22So I just get a wee space, I just put it in.
02:25I just love sweet pea and roses.
02:27And, I mean, I think the rose is a special place in everyone's heart.
02:31I do believe that life begins when you start a garden.
02:39You can see there's so much work here.
02:41Yeah.
02:42It's very deliberate, isn't it?
02:44And the lawn.
02:45Look at the lawn.
02:45You could play golf here, couldn't you?
02:47If you wanted to.
02:48Do you like this shrub?
02:50Leicesteria.
02:51They call it Himalayan honeysuckle.
02:53It's from the Himalayas?
02:54Yeah.
02:54The berries that follow the flowers are food for pheasants.
02:58That's why it was introduced, to feed pheasants.
03:01Wow.
03:02Look at these roses.
03:03They're beautiful.
03:09What I want to create, actually, is a mini orchard.
03:12And being here, I can't believe it.
03:15This is exactly what I want to do.
03:17So the trick is to get some fruit trees
03:20that are grown on dwarf rootstocks.
03:22So an apple tree would grow three times the size of these trees.
03:25Right.
03:25But at an early age, they're grafted onto a plant
03:28that will keep them to a certain size.
03:29So you can reach everywhere,
03:31and you can have a lot of different apples in a smaller space.
03:34Wow.
03:35This is exactly what I need.
03:36A mini orchard in my garden with different kinds of apples.
03:40I thought you were French, but you have this obsession with lawns,
03:44and now your orchard.
03:45What's happening, Fred?
03:46Nobody's perfect.
03:58It's nice and warm here, isn't it?
04:00It really is.
04:01And notice the onions.
04:02I thought of stringing those up and graping them round in that, Fred.
04:07Have you seen these?
04:08These are cucumbers.
04:10Yeah.
04:10They're already setting little fruit.
04:12I love these tomatoes here.
04:14Yeah, rather.
04:15What is this?
04:16It's a marigold.
04:18It's a marigold.
04:18Pop marigold.
04:18Calendula.
04:19And the whole idea is they just keep bugs away.
04:22They attract the aethis, all the greenfly and everything.
04:25Right.
04:26So they'll stay off all your other plants, all your edibles,
04:29including your lettuce.
04:35Rhubarb rhubarb.
04:36Yes, I saw that.
04:38They are beautiful.
04:40It's looking good, isn't it?
04:41I mean, can you imagine picking up that rhubarb and going inside your house
04:45and making a beautiful crumble?
04:46I can't imagine it, but I can imagine my husband doing it even more.
05:00Everything in this garden is perfection.
05:03Look at this clematis.
05:04This is clematis Rebecca just tumbling over the support with these beautiful velvety flowers.
05:12You can hardly tell what colour they are, magenta and crimson.
05:18And that colour's matched across here by this Estrantia.
05:22Estrantia major and one of the crimson ones, there are loads of varieties now.
05:27Very, very popular.
05:29And this lovely little crimson thistle in the background.
05:32And the more I look at this border, the more I'm convinced that it's a flower ranger's border.
05:39Everything is in just the right place.
05:42And the perfect juxtaposition with everything else.
05:46It's just beautiful.
05:48Turns out Carol's hunch is right.
05:51As well as having had a career in banking, Anne is an accomplished flower ranger.
05:56I love my hostas, I love all my foliages, all those different textures for using whenever you're doing flower ranger.
06:02Because you can buy flowers, but you can't buy foliage.
06:05And I mean, not everybody likes you going into their garden and picking up bits and pieces of foliage.
06:08Because you have to sneak in sometimes.
06:12But I still like to grow things that I can use with my flower ranger.
06:17I like if I was doing a bouquet for somebody this time of year to include some of my garden
06:21plant material in that bouquet.
06:22This is why I would like to grow more cup flowers.
06:32Do you know what this is?
06:34No.
06:34So this is a native plant and it's honeysuckle.
06:37Absolutely wonderful.
06:39But generally it grows in a woodland and it's a climbing plant.
06:42But here it's been used...
06:43So it's wild originally?
06:44Exactly.
06:45Yeah.
06:46For the forest.
06:46So it'll scramble up the trees looking for the light.
06:49Really nicely scented and what a beautiful flower.
06:52And it is the habitat for all sorts of creatures that are great pollinators.
06:58So wonderful to have in...
06:59Is it an evergreen plant?
07:01No, semi-evergreen.
07:02Yeah, there'll be something there all year round.
07:04But midsummer, this beautiful flower and this scent.
07:12I love my garden, as you can tell.
07:15I really am a plantaholic.
07:17I've been around here all my life and I just go out into the garden each morning,
07:24can walk around the garden and just look to see what's growing or what has changed overnight.
07:29It's just paradise to me.
07:32Are the plants your pals?
07:34Yes, they are. I talk to them.
07:36You do?
07:37I talk to them.
07:38What do you say?
07:38Honestly, I do.
07:40Come on, roses, get you out there.
07:42And do they respond?
07:43Oh, they do, most of the time.
07:45They do what they're told.
07:46Well, look, look.
07:48They never fall out with you.
07:49You know what I love about your garden?
07:51There's always a bird singing.
07:52There's always something happening here.
07:54Yeah.
07:54It's not just what you see, it's what you hear.
07:56It's a full experience.
07:58Yeah.
07:58And you do everything yourself, right?
07:59Yes.
08:00I'm the head gardener.
08:01Wow.
08:01Amazing.
08:02I'm the one-man band.
08:04Wow.
08:04One-woman band, if you don't mind.
08:07We good that.
08:09Well, Anne, from the moment we arrived, your garden made us smile, and we're still smiling,
08:15aren't we?
08:16We are.
08:16We're enchanted.
08:17We are.
08:17So we're going to go away and have a chat about it.
08:20And thank you very much for inviting us in.
08:26Now we're off to Oma to visit a field of dreams, 17 acres of once barren farmland that's been transformed
08:34by Sir Bob and Lady Rosemary Salisbury.
08:38There are two distinct parts to this garden, a formal Italianate area and a large woodland planted with wildlife in
08:46mind.
08:46I was brought up just on the other side of the hill.
08:49I used to walk in these fields and I can remember flax being grown and pulled.
08:54We weren't allowed on the bog because it was seen as too dangerous, but I've made up for that since.
09:02When she was growing up here, there were skylarks, peewits, small birds all over the place.
09:07I said, I wonder if we could turn the clock back a bit and find a way of helping the
09:12birds to return.
09:14And there are the other lovely wild creatures like butterflies and bees.
09:18I think we've achieved that. As you can listen, that's what it was all about.
09:25And really that was where the idea came from, to try and create a wildlife area.
09:31One of the key things we learned in the early days was you need a mixture of habitats if you
09:37want all of the wildlife.
09:39So you need meadows, you need woodland, you need water.
09:43And we've learned as well that the formal gardens around the house,
09:47which we always thought would not be very good for wildlife, they are.
09:51And it's been a learning experience.
09:57Lovely lighting here, isn't it? It's lovely.
10:00It's lovely. But you know what? I love being in woods.
10:02And this is a garden with a difference, really.
10:04Yeah. Isn't it? It is.
10:06And that's a tree with a difference. It's a walnut, isn't it, Dermot?
10:09It's a walnut. Jugglands. Jugglands.
10:11Is it? So this is going to produce walnuts. Walnuts.
10:14With a bit of luck, yeah, cross your fingers.
10:17But I mean, it's a very young tree, isn't it?
10:19Yes, very young. And do you know what that one is?
10:21I know. I know. It's a cherry tree.
10:24There you go.
10:25You know my name, Cyriex? Yeah.
10:27It means cherry. Does it?
10:28In the local dialect, because where I come from, there's a lot of cherry trees.
10:32Ah.
10:33And the famous recipe, the clafoutis, which is made out of cherries.
10:36Yeah. So there you are. This is where I'm from.
10:37Oh, right. I'm a cherry.
10:46Oh, quite a bit of geometric shape, isn't it?
10:49Yeah, they're walls of plants, until we get to here.
10:52Oh, look at this, though. Or rather, have a sniff. Go on.
10:59Oh, that's lovely.
11:00Beautiful. Yeah.
11:01Mock orange.
11:02Philadelphus.
11:03And a sort of nod to a herbaceous board.
11:05A vignette.
11:06Yeah.
11:07It's a theatrical set.
11:09A wonderful theatre.
11:11But then your eye goes up, doesn't it, to all these trees.
11:14Oh, yes.
11:15That's the background.
11:16Look at this.
11:17Look at the rose.
11:19Oh, going up.
11:20Yeah, and that's going to go and go.
11:21I think that's rambling raptor, you know.
11:24That's fab.
11:25What about this?
11:27The ball.
11:28Do you know what it is?
11:29Camellia, isn't it?
11:30It's a camellia, but do you know what it's related to?
11:33Tea.
11:35I had heard that.
11:36Had you?
11:37Come around here.
11:39But more geometry.
11:40Look as you go up.
11:49Just picture the scene.
11:51I'm a cardinal, okay?
11:53I'm so fed up.
11:54I haven't been elected pope.
11:56So I want to show the pope who I am.
11:59So I pick a hill in Tivoli, just outside of Rome.
12:02Yeah.
12:03I build my palace on the top.
12:05And I terrace the ground, stepping down, stepping down, stepping down.
12:10And on each terrace, I tell a story of how important I am.
12:13Yeah.
12:14How important my family is.
12:15I have waterworks.
12:17I have statues.
12:18I have symmetry.
12:19I control all the plants.
12:21And it's all to be all powerful.
12:25Yeah.
12:26And here?
12:28Here, this is what they've done.
12:30You know, 500 years later, they've used exactly the same rules of symmetry,
12:34of control of plants, of creating terraces, of taming the landscape.
12:39But here, they've used some pretty traditional sort of plants.
12:42I've never seen mixed conifers used as a hedge.
12:47And they continue this idea of these geometric conifers, or box, or laurels, or bay laurels,
12:55or whatever, that actually follows the line of these steps.
13:06You know what I like, Dermot, here?
13:07There is no noise pollution.
13:09All you can hear is the sound of the birds.
13:12The sound of nature.
13:13And the wind through the trees.
13:15Yeah.
13:25That's a birch, a common native species, but you would rarely see one of this age.
13:31And it's an ordinary tree that will sustain a huge amount of life.
13:37Right.
13:38So it's so useful and so beautiful.
13:40But you look at that tree over there, that birch, it's covered in ivy.
13:44That has pollen in the middle of winter when there's very little pollen available.
13:49So for creatures and biodiversity, and as a habitat, for birds nesting, it's wonderful.
13:55So interesting, because I always grew up believing that this was a parasite.
13:59You and everybody else.
14:00But no, it uses the tree as a host to the ivy.
14:04There you are, you see.
14:05I'm learning something.
14:13I love this pond that's been created.
14:16It's one of a number of ponds in the garden.
14:18I think this is the highest one.
14:20They dug it out, but they didn't have to line it.
14:22So it's just that heavy clay that they were able to kind of tamper down.
14:26So they have none of the usual issues.
14:27What do you call that?
14:28Puddling, don't you?
14:29Yes.
14:30I think it's called puddling.
14:31Puddling the mud.
14:31It's called puddling.
14:32Puddling the mud, yeah.
14:34Oh, it's a new English word.
14:35I have never heard before.
14:37You puddle the clay and that makes the barrier between the earth and the water.
14:41And the water stays where it is and doesn't sink down.
14:45So that allows you to build into it.
14:47You won't puncture a liner.
14:48But it's very natural.
14:49Very natural.
14:50Very good for marginal planting.
14:52Very good for making an island.
14:53It's the easiest way if you have that type of clay.
14:56And what I really love about this is the green auditorium around it.
15:01It's almost like a huge garden room with a puddle and an island at its center.
15:16When we first set out on this, it was an accident really.
15:19Because we are naive gardeners and naive designers,
15:23but I think it's lifted our spirits on seeing how it's come together.
15:28Nature applauds the optimist, doesn't it?
15:30it's a wonderful place to walk around the best bits for the garden and for me
15:36it's the old wood just standing in there in the morning trying to identify the
15:42bird song and we've measured 66 different species Wow nothing and that
15:49that really does your heart good it lifts your spirits I think my father
15:52would be proud of us because he created that old wood he was the first to come
15:57up with the idea of 50 60 years ago well that was that's a project has been
16:01started so a long time ago yes I'm sure everyone thought he was mad right for
16:06planting trees who wants to plant trees you'd be applauded wouldn't see yeah
16:12absolutely but if everybody does something and the whole balance changes
16:17and you certainly have done that we have loved our visit and thank you so much
16:22for sharing it with us and well done on creating such a beautiful garden
16:36the final garden brings our judges to the shores of Ross glass beach overlooking
16:41Dundrum Bay in County down to visit an artists labor of love where the mountains
16:49have worn sweep down to the sea over the past 10 years Bernard has created a rose
16:54garden I started with the back garden planted the hedge first of all into the
17:02old thorn hedge for shelter so then I created beds of roses and then planted
17:07climbers around the side so I made a complete rose garden people ask me all the
17:13time when they come to visit it must be wonderful to sit here with a book and I
17:16look at them and say well that is that's just not not possible because if I were
17:22to sit down I see something it needs doing so I'm up at it and there's a weed
17:26somewhere or grass popping up through something or other so it was just
17:30constant so there's no time to sit
17:39what a setting for a garden look at that you got the beach here the moons
17:42mountains the last time I was in the moons mountains I was cycling up them and it
17:47was raining cats and dogs not today Fred look at this color roses
17:52it's all about roses all about roses and what roses look at them already and
17:58there are more you know up here do you know what they're growing different times
18:02every different roses look at this that's I can't wait to see what you're in a rush
18:07what's going on here take your time I want to see these roses look here I'm coming down here look
18:14at
18:14this cabbage rose you can really see why it's called a cabbage rose
18:19they're a mini shoe the roses are exuberant they're very happy they're smiling they're
18:24popping up about to flower and it's in an extraordinary seaside location hard on
18:30the roses yes to establish them to get them going but I think he's doing really well
18:37this is just beautiful it is Rosa Alba otherwise known as great maiden's blush so it's a really
18:45really old rose a lot of the roses in this garden quite modern hybrid teas all sorts a huge variety
18:53but some of these old roses have a charm that nothing else can match I hear from Bernard that this
19:01rose was in this garden before he was born and he can remember it from his childhood and although
19:08it won't fly all summer long there are still masses of buds to come really worth having and so easy
19:15to look after
19:23Fred i think what we're looking at is pure extraordinary it's almost like folk art we have a
19:28field of barley in the background we have birch just growing up we have red valerium then we have
19:33this blue rope draped over the posts and behind that we have a row of really beautiful pink double
19:41roses the daisies as a snapshot i think that's one of the nicest things i've ever seen it's pure art
19:49in
19:49a garden it looks very natural totally natural it's as pretty as a picture
20:04i've got a confession to make i was looking at this lovely black baccarat this beautiful florist rose
20:11earlier and one of the flowers had fallen and i couldn't resist just picking them up and scrunching
20:19them and the perfume is just divine and putting them in the pocket for later
20:26this on the other hand it's a very recent development it's a kind of rose of persica
20:32and it's called for your eyes only and the great thing about these roses is that they're single
20:38so the centers can be so easily accessed by insects and i love the color it's got these sort
20:46of dark centers to the petals it's so attractive and then this one is straight out of thomas hardy
20:54it's gabriel oak it's got such double flowers that the pollinators couldn't possibly get in there
21:01but on the other hand it's got delicious scent and it's a very beautiful rose so not so great for
21:09bees
21:09but perfect for gardeners
21:23there is so much work in all these borders look at that there is so much here it's packs
21:32i love to think that they started out as potato drills he planted into those lines but you're
21:39absolutely right they're mass planted so he doesn't use one rose when he can use 30 all planted
21:46together but there is a method look there is the hydrangeas here there's a roses here this one i don't
21:50know what it's called that is called elephant ears but it's repeating a pattern isn't it yes he's got a
21:56formula and he keeps repeating it
22:04i love taking cuttings i think it's probably because my mum whenever she was pruning she'd just
22:11get the good bits and stick them into the ground and almost invariably they grow and all you do is
22:18try
22:18and find one that's got no buds this wood down here is just right it's sort of bendy and yet
22:25it's quite sort
22:26of and i've got a sharp knife and i'll just go straight there right across there and i'll strip
22:34that off and i'm going to stick that around the side of a pot of really gritty compost all straight
22:41in the ground up to the next sort of leaf node there but i'm not doing that with this one
22:47because
22:47i'm going to ask bernard if i can take it home
22:55look at this it's a place of wonder it's extraordinary it's a linear garden you're
22:59initially seduced by that beautiful rose garden down below and then you make your way up against this
23:05hedge you reach the seating area you walk around this corner you see a bit of bernard's art and you
23:13start rolling down this hill on one side still part of the garden you have the field of barley on
23:21the
23:21other side we have wild grass we have mallows we have oxide daisies but you look around and there
23:30is your final bonus
23:34it's so beautiful i was wondering why roses what's the inspiration with the roses where does it come
23:39from well the main reason is it's a long season flooring season they come every year so that's the
23:46lazy bit of it i suppose but it's such a natural garden but you're using everything you have around
23:53you effortlessly and there you are you have this beautiful result so beautiful and it works so
23:59brilliantly this is probably an impossible question to answer bernard but i'm going to ask it just the
24:05same if you've got to choose a favorite which one is it going to be probably this one here uh
24:11lady of
24:12shallot uh because it reminds me of my school days and learning the the poem we're of an age we
24:20read the
24:20same books definitely and i'll tell you what i bet we love the same roses too well bernard it's been
24:28amazing a real privilege for us all to be standing with you in your garden today as the sun is
24:35setting
24:35we're going to take our leave because we have a lot to talk about thank you thank you so much
24:41but before they leave bernard's beautiful garden there's time for one last moment with the mountains
24:47do you know lads it's not just about roses you're right it's the location look where we are
25:06the judges have seen three wonderful gardens but only one can go through to the final
25:13anne's garden if you're a gardener i think it's a heaven it was as lovely as can be i thought
25:18it was
25:18immaculate everything is arranged everything is beautiful everything is so cared for and you could
25:26just feel the love she has for that garden and just how important it is to her her garden was
25:32full of
25:33color full of vibrancy full of life full of animals there are loads of elements that i liked i mean
25:39the
25:39orchard for example this is something i want to bring to my own garden i'll bait on a smaller scale
25:44but
25:44that gave me a lot of ideas bob and rosemary's garden is a particular style of garden and for me
25:54it's akin to the style of the victorians who would have these big parks and create big arboretum but
26:0120 years ago there was nothing there look what they've created out front you had this italian
26:08series of terraces that central walkway down to water and then you got lost in the woodland we went
26:16for a stroll there i thought it was magical yeah it was i mean all you could hear is birds
26:20it was really
26:21beautiful it was really magical and i admire their intentions and their achievements in terms of providing
26:28really marvelous habitat to me bernard's garden was one of the most poetic gardens i've ever been in
26:42and it's the kind of garden that you go in and you like it a little bit but by the
26:48time you leave
26:49you like it so much more and i found it raw emotional tortured quite practical and pragmatic
26:58and yet very romantic and it was rough really rough but so elegant at the same time wasn't it
27:04he chose roses because he felt they'd be the most resilient and long-lasting giving plants
27:11i loved it i loved it too
27:18three great gardens but only one is going through to our final i know the one i'm going for
27:28carol will you reveal to us your winner this week interesting oh and fred
27:39and maybe no surprise i knew it did you yes i knew it unanimous unanimous that's it
27:58oh hello hello come out i don't believe it congratulations thank you very much we just
28:05wanted to call and say just that thank you very much well done to you and the roses thanks ever
28:11so
28:11much and we'll see you at the final that's tremendous thank you see you then bernard will join four other
28:19finalists all with their eyes on the prize each hoping that theirs will be the greatest garden
28:49one of our stories we can see you then we'll see you there all along with
28:52and go together we will see you there all along with this
28:54and just look like me
28:57and I'll see you in the past
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