- 8 hours 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.
00:09Now, Carol Klein and Dermot Gavin are visiting some of them, the finest gardens in Northern
00:15Ireland.
00:16You'll need buchettes, won't you?
00:18That'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.
00:27Who, like me, loves getting their hands dirty.
00:31Treasures round every corner.
00:33I can't believe it.
00:34The mother in me is beaming.
00:36I mean, what a way to grow up.
00:38I'm sharing my sniff with lots of bumblebees.
00:41What a lovely thing.
00:42Football 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 best.
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
01:13guest.
01:14Bonjour Fred.
01:17I'm Fred.
01:18I'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.
01:37But I am the king of the loan.
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.
02:07My 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've just got 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.
02:59To 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 that are grown on dwarf rootstock.
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 that will keep them to a certain size.
03:29So you can reach everywhere and you can have a lot of different apples in a smaller space.
03:34Wow.
03:35This is exactly what I need.
03:37A mini orchard in my garden with different kinds of apples.
03:40I thought you were French, but you have this obsession with lawns and 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.
04:03I thought of stringing those up and scraping them around your neck, Fred.
04:07Have you seen these?
04:08These are cucumbers.
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, pot marigold, calendula.
04:19And the whole idea is they just keep bugs away.
04:22They attract the aphys, all the green fly and everything.
04:25So they'll stay off all your other plants, all your edibles, including the green flowers.
04:30You're picking 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 and making a beautiful crumble?
04:46I can't imagine it, but I can imagine my husband doing it even more.
05:01Everything 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.
05:17And 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 and the perfect juxtaposition with everything else.
05:45It'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.
05:57I love all my foliages, all those different textures for using whenever you're doing flower arranging.
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.
06:09You have to sneak in sometimes.
06:12But I still like to grow things that I can use with my flower arranging.
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.
06:23This is why I would like to grow more cut flowers.
06:32Do you know what this is?
06:34No.
06:34So this is a native plant and it's honeysuckle.
06:37Absolutely wonderful.
06:38But 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?
06:45Exactly.
06:45Yeah.
06:45For the forest.
06:46So it'll scramble up the trees looking for the light.
06:49Really nicely scented.
06:51And what a beautiful flower.
06:52And it is the habitat for all sorts of creatures that are great pollinators.
06:58So wonderful to have.
06:59Is it an evergreen plant?
07:01No, a 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.
07:18I've been around here all my life.
07:20And I just go out into the garden each morning.
07:24Can walk around the garden.
07:26And 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.
07:35I talk to them.
07:36You do?
07:37I talk to them.
07:38What do you say to them?
07:38Honestly I do.
07:39Come on roses, get you out there.
07:42And do they respond?
07:43Oh, they do.
07:44Most of the time.
07:45They do what they're told.
07:46Well, look.
07:47Look.
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.
08:03Wow.
08:04One woman band if you don't mind.
08:07We got that.
08:09Well, Anne, from the moment we arrived, your garden made us smile.
08:13And we're still smiling, aren'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.
08:27Now we're off to Oma to visit a field of dreams, 17 acres of once barren farmland
08:33that's been transformed by Sir Bob and Lady Rosemary Salisbury.
08:38There are two distinct parts to this garden, a formal Italianate area and a large woodland
08:44planted with wildlife in mind.
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.
08:55We 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.
09:20As 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, which we always thought would not be very
09:49good for wildlife, they are.
09:51And it's been a learning experience.
09:58Lovely light in here, isn't it?
09:59It'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.
10:05Isn't it?
10:05It is.
10:06And that's a tree with a difference.
10:08It's a walnut, isn't it, Dermot?
10:09It's a walnut.
10:10Jugglands.
10:11Jugglands.
10:11Is it?
10:12So this is going to produce walnuts.
10:14With a bit of luck, yeah.
10:16Wow.
10:16Cross your fingers.
10:17But I mean, it's a very young tree, isn't it?
10:19Yes, very young.
10:20And do you know what that one is?
10:21I know.
10:23I know.
10:23It's a cherry tree.
10:24There you go.
10:25You know my name, Cyriex?
10:27Yeah.
10:27It means cherry.
10:28Does it?
10:29In the local dialect.
10:30Because 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.
10:36So there you are, this is where I'm from.
10:37Oh, right.
10:38I'm a cherry.
10:47Quite a bit of geometric shape, isn't it?
10:49Yeah, they're walls of plants.
10:51Until we get to here.
10:52Oh, look at this, though.
10:53Oh, rather, have a sniff.
10:56Go on.
10:59Oh, that's lovely.
11:00Beautiful.
11:01Yeah.
11:01Mock orange.
11:02Philadelphus.
11:03And a sort of nod to a herbaceous board.
11:06A vignette.
11:06Yeah.
11:07It's a theatrical set.
11:09Wonderful.
11:10See about it.
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, look at that rose.
11:19Oh, going up.
11:20And that's going to go and go.
11:22I 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, OK?
11:53I'm so fed up.
11:54I haven't been elected Pope.
11:56So I want to show the Pope who I am.
11:58So 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.
12:43I've never seen mixed conifers used as a hedge.
12:47And they continued 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.
13:25That'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.
13:37So it's so useful and so beautiful.
13:40When 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, but no, it uses the tree as a host to the ivy.
14:04There you are, you see, I'm learning something.
14:14I 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.
14:19They 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, I think it's called puddling.
14:31Puddling the mud.
14:31It's called puddling.
14:32Puddling the mud, yeah.
14:33Oh, it's a new English word I have never heard before.
14:37You puddle the clay, and that makes the barrier between the earth and the water.
14:42And the water stays where it is and doesn't sink down.
14:45So that allows you to build into it, you won't puncture a liner.
14:48But it's very natural.
14:49Very natural, very good for marginal planting, very 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 centre.
15:16When we first set out on this, it was an accident really, because we are naive gardeners and naive designers.
15:23But I think it's lifted our spirits on seeing how it's come together.
15:27Nature applauds the optimist, doesn't it?
15:30It's a wonderful place to walk around.
15:33The best bits for the garden, and for me, it's the old wood.
15:38Just standing in there in the morning, trying to identify the birdsong.
15:42And we've measured 66 different species from nothing.
15:48And that really does your heart good. It lifts your spirits.
15:52I think my father would be proud of us, because he created that old wood.
15:55He was the first to come up with the idea 50, 60 years ago.
16:00Well, that's a project that had been started a long time ago.
16:03Yes, yes. I'm sure everyone thought he was mad for planting trees.
16:07Who wants to plant trees?
16:09But now he'd be applauded, wouldn't he?
16:12Yeah, absolutely.
16:13But if everybody does something, then the whole balance changes.
16:17And you certainly have done that.
16:19We have loved our visit, and thank you so much for sharing it with us.
16:23And well done on creating such a beautiful garden.
16:36The final garden brings our judges to the shores of Ross Glass Beach,
16:41overlooking Dundrum Bay in County Down,
16:43to visit an artist's labour of love.
16:48Where the mountains of morn sweep down to the sea,
16:51over the past ten years, Bernard has created a rose garden.
16:58I started with the back garden, planted a hedge, first of all,
17:01into the old thorn hedge for shelter.
17:03So then I created beds of roses, and then planted climbers around the side.
17:09So I made a complete rose garden.
17:12People ask me all the time when they come to visit,
17:14it must be wonderful to sit here with a book.
17:16And I look at them and say, well, that's just not possible,
17:21because if I were to sit down, I see something it needs doing,
17:24so I'm up at it, and there's a weed somewhere or grass
17:27popping up through something or other, so it's just constant.
17:30So there's no time to sit.
17:39What a setting for a garden! Look at that!
17:41You've got the beach here, the Mons Mountains.
17:43The last time I was in the Mons Mountains,
17:46I was cycling up them, and it was raining cats and dogs.
17:49Not today, Fred. Look at this colour.
17:51Roses!
17:52It's all about roses. All about roses.
17:56And what roses? Look at them already!
17:58And there are more, you know, up here.
18:00Do you know what they're growing here?
18:01But there's different types.
18:02Every different type.
18:04Look at this. I can't wait to see.
18:06What, you're in a rush? What's going on here? Take your time!
18:09I want to see these roses.
18:11Look here. I'm coming down here.
18:14Look at this cabbage rose!
18:15You can really see why it's called a cabbage rose.
18:19They are a mini shoe.
18:21The roses are exuberant, they're very happy,
18:23they're smiling, they're popping up about to flower,
18:26and it's in an extraordinary seaside location,
18:29hard on the roses, to establish them, to get them going.
18:32Well, I think he's doing really well.
18:38This is just beautiful.
18:39It is Rosa Alba, otherwise known as Great Maiden's Blush.
18:44So it's a really, really old rose.
18:46A lot of the roses in this garden are quite modern,
18:49hybrid teas, all sorts, a huge variety.
18:53But some of these old roses have a charm that nothing else can match.
18:58I hear from Bernard that this rose was in this garden before he was born,
19:04and he can remember it from his childhood.
19:07And although it won't flower all summer long,
19:10there are still masses of buds to come,
19:12really worth having and so easy to look after.
19:23Fred, I think what we're looking at is pure extraordinary.
19:26It's almost like folk art.
19:28We have a field of barley in the background.
19:30We have birch just growing up.
19:31We have red valerium.
19:33Then we have this blue rope draped over the posts.
19:36And behind that, we have a row of really beautiful pink double roses.
19:42The daisies as a snapshot.
19:45I think that's one of the nicest things I've ever seen.
19:48It's pure art in the garden.
19:50It looks very natural.
19:51Totally natural.
19:53It's as pretty as a picture.
20:04I've got a confession to make.
20:06I was looking at this lovely black baccarat,
20:09this beautiful florist rose earlier,
20:12and one of the flowers had fallen.
20:16And I couldn't resist just picking them up and scrunching them.
20:19And the perfume is just divine.
20:22I'm putting them in my pocket for later.
20:26This, on the other hand, is a very recent development.
20:29It's a kind of Rosa persica.
20:32And it's called For Your Eyes Only.
20:34And the great thing about these roses is that they're single.
20:39So the centers can be so easily accessed by insects.
20:43And I love the color.
20:44It's got these sort of dark centers to the petals.
20:49It's so attractive.
20:51And then this one.
20:53It's straight out of Thomas Hardy.
20:55It's Gabriel Oak.
20:56It'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.
21:06And it's a very beautiful rose.
21:08So not so great for bees, but perfect for gardeners.
21:23There is so much work in all these borders.
21:27Look at that.
21:28There is so much here.
21:30It's packed.
21:32I love to think that they started out as potato grills.
21:37He planted into those lines.
21:38But you're absolutely right.
21:40They're mass planted.
21:41So he doesn't use one rose when he can use 30.
21:45All planted together.
21:46But there is a method.
21:47Look, there is the hydrangeas here.
21:48There's roses here.
21:50This one, I don't know what it's called.
21:51That is called elephant's ears.
21:53But it's repeating a pattern, isn't it?
21:55Yes.
21:56He's got a formula and he keeps repeating it.
22:04I love taking cuttings.
22:06I think it's probably because my mum, whenever she was pruning,
22:10she'd just get the good bits and stick them into the ground.
22:14And almost invariably, they grow.
22:17And all you do is try and find one that's got no buds.
22:21This wood down here is just right.
22:23It's sort of bendy and yet it's quite sort of.
22:27And I've got a sharp knife.
22:29And I'll just go straight there.
22:31Right across there.
22:33And I'll strip that off.
22:35And I'm going to stick that around the side of a pot of really gritty compost.
22:40All straight in the ground.
22:42Up to the next sort of leaf node there.
22:45But I'm not doing that with this one because I'm going to ask Bernard if I can take it home.
22:55Look at this.
22:56It's a place of wonder.
22:57It's extraordinary.
22:58It's a linear garden.
22:59You're initially seduced by that beautiful rose garden down below.
23:03And then you make your way up against this hedge.
23:06You reach the seeding area.
23:08You walk around this corner.
23:10You see a bit of Bernard's art.
23:13And you start rolling down this hill.
23:16On one side, still part of the garden, you have the field of barley.
23:21On the other side, we have wild grass.
23:23We have mallows.
23:24We have oxeye daisies.
23:27But you look around, and there is your final bonus.
23:34I was wondering, why roses?
23:36What's the inspiration with the roses?
23:38Where does it come from?
23:39Well, the main reason is it's a long season, a flowering season.
23:44They come every year, so that's the lazy bit of it, I suppose.
23:49But it's such a natural garden.
23:51But you're using everything you have around you effortlessly.
23:54And there you are.
23:56You have this beautiful result.
23:57So beautiful.
23:58And it works so brilliantly.
24:00This is probably an impossible question to answer, Bernard.
24:03But I'm going to ask it just the same.
24:05If you've got to choose a favourite, which one is it going to be?
24:09Probably this one here, Lady of Shallot.
24:14Because it reminds me of my school days and learning the poem.
24:19We're of an age who read the same books.
24:21Definitely.
24:22And I'll tell you what, I bet we love the same roses too.
24:26Well, Bernard, it's been amazing.
24:29A real privilege for us all to be standing with you in your garden today.
24:33As the sun is setting, we're going to take our leave because we have a lot to talk about.
24:39Thank you so much.
24:41But before they leave Bernard's beautiful garden, there's time for one last moment with the mountains.
24:48Do you know, lads, it's not just about roses.
24:51You're right.
24:51It's the location.
24:53Look 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.
25:16It was as lovely as can be.
25:18I thought it was immaculate.
25:20Everything is arranged.
25:22Everything is beautiful.
25:23Everything is so cared for.
25:25And you could just feel the love she has for that garden and just how important it is to her.
25:31Her garden was full of colour, full of vibrancy, full of life, full of animals.
25:37There are loads of elements that I liked.
25:39I mean, the orchard, for example.
25:41This is something I want to bring to my own garden, albeit on a smaller scale.
25:44But that gave me a lot of ideas.
25:50Bob and Rosemary's garden is a particular style of garden.
25:53And for me, it's akin to the style of the Victorians who would have these big parks
25:59and create big arboretum.
26:01But 20 years ago, there was nothing there.
26:04And look what they've created.
26:05Out front, you had this Italianate series of terraces.
26:10That central walk right down to water.
26:12And then you got lost in the waterland.
26:15We went for a stroll there.
26:17I thought it was magical.
26:18Yeah.
26:18It was.
26:19I mean, all you could hear is birds.
26:20It was really beautiful.
26:21It was really magical.
26:22And I admire their intentions and their achievements
26:26in terms of providing really marvellous habitat.
26:36To 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.
26:47But by the time you leave, you like it so much more.
26:51And I found it raw, emotional, tortured, quite practical and pragmatic,
26:57and yet very romantic.
26:59And 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.
27:10I loved it.
27:12Hmm.
27:13I loved it too.
27:18Three great gardens, but only one is going through to our final.
27:23I know the one I'm going for.
27:28Carol, will you reveal to us your winner this week?
27:33Interesting.
27:34Wow.
27:35Oh, and Fred?
27:39And maybe, no surprise.
27:42I knew it.
27:43Did you?
27:43Yes, I knew it.
27:45Unanimous.
27:46Unanimous, that's it.
27:58Oh, hello.
27:59Hello, come out.
28:00I don't believe it.
28:02Congratulations, Fred.
28:03Thank you very much.
28:04We just wanted to call and say just that.
28:07Thank you very much.
28:08Well done to you and the roses.
28:10Thanks ever so much.
28:11And we'll see you at the final.
28:13That's tremendous.
28:14See you then.
28:15Bye.
28:17Bernard will join four other finalists, all with their eyes on the prize,
28:23each hoping that theirs will be the greatest garden.
28:33We'll see you again soon.
28:35Thanks again.
28:38We'll see you then.
28:39We'll see you then.
28:43We'll see you then.
28:50Bye.
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