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Greatest Gardens - Season 1 Episode 5
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00:00The wait is over.
00:03The search for Northern Ireland's greatest garden is almost at an end.
00:08Five passionate gardeners have reached the finals.
00:11I'm very proud, but a wee bit nervous.
00:14Completely gobsmacked, but delighted just to see him.
00:18Very surprised to even be here in the first place.
00:21I never imagined I would ever be in the top five of a competition, so it's pretty marvellous.
00:28Yeah, he's out, right, eh?
00:29Let the games begin!
00:31After a road trip spent visiting some truly incredible gardens in Northern Ireland,
00:37Carol and Dermot are joining the finalists, their families and friends at Greenmount Wall Garden in County Antrim
00:44to reveal which one of the final five will be named the greatest garden.
00:52APPLAUSE
01:01Well, we're here to celebrate gardening greatness, and we're delighted to be joined by an audience of some of the
01:08best gardeners in Northern Ireland.
01:10All of you are winners, having lovingly created the most amazing spaces.
01:16However, based on our three judging criteria of planting, design and good gardening practice, only five gardeners have made it
01:25true to the final.
01:27Our first finalist is Colin Agnew's rustic garden, an oasis of tranquillity, hidden away in suburbia.
01:44Colin has worked in large public gardens all his life, but his Ballymina backyard is his pride and joy, amazing
01:51ideas packed into a relatively small space.
01:54Great to see you again, Colin.
01:55Can I ask, what do you bring from your job as head gardener in the botanic gardens in Belfast to
02:02your home garden?
02:03The ideas I've had from my own garden, I've plucked them from all sorts of sources, not necessarily botanic gardens
02:08in Belfast.
02:09So different places have inspired different parts of your garden?
02:12Wherever I go, I'm always on the lookout for something new, and if I think I can utilise it in
02:17some way or incorporate even a little snippet of that into my own garden, I'll do that for sure.
02:28Next is Ivy Dean Garden, spread across three acres of beautifully contrasting spaces, created by Robert Russell and his partner,
02:37Michael Connolly.
02:39Great to see you again. Can I ask a question, what does your garden mean to you both?
02:44I think the garden to me means it gives people focus, and I think it's great to just get outside
02:50and get gardening.
02:52It means everything to me. I just love it. I can relax in my garden and just, I get away
02:58from all the troubles in the world, you know. It's very good.
03:08Dundrum Bay provides the dramatic backdrop for our third finalist, Bernard McGuinness's Rose Garden.
03:18Great to see you again, Bernard.
03:20And likewise to see you both.
03:21Can you explain to me why you chose roses to be the hero plant in your garden?
03:28I thought, which plant gives me the longest flowering period?
03:33And roses really can go from mid-May right through to, for some, even up to Christmas.
03:40As far as I'm concerned, looking at your garden, you've had a true love affair with roses.
03:45It's a lot more than a long season.
03:47I just keep adding to them, and I say, well, that's another one that would make a nice rose hedge.
03:57Our fourth finalist is Broca Wood, where Sean Boyd has created a 15-acre rewilded sanctuary.
04:06I'd like to ask you, Sean, what making your garden has meant to you?
04:12It was started in 2020 during lockdown, and it meant everything to me, both physically and mentally.
04:20And does it continue to do that?
04:22Absolutely, every single day.
04:24Who's the garden for?
04:26Is it for you, for people to visit, or is it for nature itself?
04:31All three started off with, for me, and then it became, for Mother Nature.
04:39And now I hope that other people will be able to enjoy it.
04:49Our last finalist is Holly House Gardens, an eclectic space shaped by bold design, innovative planting,
04:57and Will Hamilton's singular vision.
05:01Will, your wonderful garden.
05:03You've been making it for 26, 27 years?
05:06That's correct, yes.
05:07Has the way you feel about your garden changed over that time?
05:11Well, it has, because when I first started, I just thought I would just want to garden in the countryside.
05:16I thought it would be quite simple to garden, but it turned out very, very different,
05:21because nature, of course, wants to do its own thing, and I want to do my thing.
05:24So, of course, a lot of work and a lot of experience, and I've learned a lot.
05:28I'm still learning an awful lot about gardening.
05:31Five remarkable gardens, but only one will be given top honours.
05:36Let's take a moment to look back to when Carol, Dermot, and some very special guests
05:41visited our finalists for the first time.
05:46When Carol and Dermot explored Colin's rustic garden, they were joined by guest judge Katie Piper.
05:55Dermot, this is giving secret garden vibes.
05:58I know, you found your happy place.
05:59Can you tell?
06:00Yeah.
06:01Over the past 35 years, Colin has turned a small slice of suburbia
06:06into a sanctuary of winding paths, lush corners, and secret retreats.
06:18Colin planted all the trees here, and he's planted my favourite tree in the garden,
06:23which is this ginkgo biloba.
06:27Oh, look at this.
06:29Now, I think that this pond fits in beautifully here, and it's a really difficult thing to
06:35achieve.
06:35It's good.
06:36It's very good.
06:39Wow, this is the garden that keeps on giving.
06:42I had no idea any of this was around here.
06:45No, I think that's the whole point of the garden, isn't it?
06:48There's all these secret places.
06:50This is a very clever thing to do.
06:53This shows literally the depth of his imagination.
06:57Yeah.
06:58It's quite something.
07:04Guest judge Penny Lancaster joined Carol and Dermot when they first visited Ivy Dean
07:10at the height of spring.
07:12Wow.
07:14Look at that.
07:15This is magical.
07:16It's like that moment when the gates of the chocolate factory open.
07:22Robert and Michael have created three contrasting spaces, an elegant formal garden, a magical
07:31secret garden, and brimming with colour and life, a wildflower meadow.
07:39All the hues of the different purples and lavenders coming together.
07:45Look at that, the orange ball tree.
07:47Pom-poms.
07:48Yes.
07:50I've found this kind of courtyard area.
07:54This is magic in a small space.
07:58The garden is just full of roses everywhere, for every description.
08:04Ah!
08:05Little Chinese lanterns.
08:07Gorgeous.
08:10I just love the meandering part in the meadow.
08:15You just feel like running in it.
08:18It's so beautiful.
08:25When Fred Syriex joined the judges, Bernard's rose garden was a wonderland in full bloom.
08:34It's all about roses.
08:36All about roses.
08:38Look at them already.
08:40A blaze of roses and climbers framed by the drama of the Mourn Mountains.
08:47What a setting for a garden.
08:50Dermot, there is so much work in all these boulders.
08:53There is so much here.
08:55It's packed.
08:56The roses are exuberant.
08:57They're very happy.
08:58And it's in an extraordinary seaside location.
09:03Look at this cabbage rose.
09:05Some of these old roses have a charm that nothing else can match.
09:11I think what we're looking at is pure extraordinary.
09:14It's almost like folk art.
09:15It looks very natural.
09:17Totally natural.
09:19It's as pretty as a picture.
09:23Do you know, lads, it's not just about roses.
09:26You're right.
09:27It's the location.
09:29Look where we are.
09:33Guest judge Patrick Grant enjoyed getting close to nature when he explored the wonders of Broca Wood with Dermot and
09:41Carol in late spring.
09:42The setting is wonderful, isn't it?
09:44It's pretty as can be.
09:46It's a wonderland.
09:48Wow.
09:50Created in memory of his wife, Linda, Sean's 15-acre woodland garden features a rewilded pond, a native wildflower meadow
09:59and a woodland walk leading to a peat bog.
10:05Can you see the reflection on these buttercourt fettles?
10:08They're just shiny, aren't they?
10:10Oh, it's an absolute joy, isn't it?
10:12This gorgeous buttery swathe.
10:14Oh, it's wonderful.
10:20These lilies are extraordinary.
10:22That's quite a vista, isn't it?
10:25What makes it so healthy?
10:27It's got fantastic margins.
10:29It's a marginal plant.
10:29Lots of stuff floating on the top in case of any fish.
10:32And loads of oxygen out of it.
10:34It's lovely seeing it from the pond side.
10:38Yeah, it is, isn't it?
10:41We're learning about our bogs now and conserving them, and I suppose that's part of the garden project here.
10:47And I think it's one of the most wonderful things I've seen.
10:59The judges paid their first visit to Holly House back in spring, this time with guest Prue Leith.
11:06It's very pretty.
11:08This is quite a garden for a farmhouse.
11:11For almost three decades, retired civil servant Will has been shaping it into a truly distinctive space,
11:19combining bold design.
11:21I love that extraordinary iris circle.
11:26With a diverse mix of planting, striking water features, and a rewilded woodland.
11:37It's very eclectic, don't you think?
11:40Yes.
11:40Straight away.
11:42He's got an amphitheatre and then filled it.
11:46Isn't it just glorious everywhere?
11:49Oh, you look.
11:49It's a triumph.
11:51Yeah.
11:54Look at all these amazing little plants.
11:58Little alpines on this raised bed.
12:00The space that they really love.
12:03This is the first flat rockery I've ever seen.
12:07It's a plateau, isn't it, rather than a mountain, but doesn't it work brilliantly?
12:11It does, it does.
12:13Beautiful.
12:14It is gorgeous.
12:19As this is the final, the judges are raising the stakes.
12:23They've added a new judging criterion, year-long interest, and are revisiting each of the finalists
12:29in the autumn, three months later, to assess how the gardens have evolved across the seasons.
12:40How do you feel about autumn gardening?
12:42What does your garden do?
12:43What does it show off?
12:44Well, I do like the agapanthus this time of the year, to be honest.
12:47You know, even when the flowers perish, you still have the lovely seed heads, and they're very attractive.
12:52I like that a lot.
12:53And the grasses too, even when they start to change colour, I keep the foliage on for a long, long
12:57time.
12:58Let's see how Colin's rustic garden measured up in autumn when Carol and Dermott returned.
13:04Give us a hug.
13:07It really is a garden of steps, isn't it?
13:11We're at the end of summer, and so many things in the garden are tired.
13:16And yet, you come to Colin's garden, and you find a whole stairway of geranium palmatum.
13:21And the flower comes up to about here, and it's full of pink froth.
13:26It's like if you get a pint of stout, and that cream rises to the top and settles.
13:31And it just paints that picture of hope for next year.
13:33I love it.
13:34Exactly.
13:42Do you know, I think this epitomises Colin and his attitude to gardening, a palagonic underneath a holly edge.
13:50It's really quite extraordinary.
13:52So you have this native evergreen, great pollinating plant full of berries for the birds,
13:57and then these kind of football fans and bright colours.
14:02It's traffic light gardening, isn't it?
14:05It's original.
14:10I love it.
14:12Every feature of any successful garden is a place to relax in.
14:17And really, they don't get any better than this one.
14:35How do you feel about making the final five?
14:38We're very excited.
14:40If 518 won, I'd be thrilled, because this beautiful person has created this beautiful garden,
14:46and everyone gets to see it.
14:48So I think that'd be great.
14:49In the autumn, is there anything particular that you look forward to seeing in the garden?
14:54Yeah, in the harvest time, the apples.
14:56Apples, mostly apples.
14:57Yes, absolutely.
14:58A lot of apple pies.
14:59Yes, oh yes, he's great at cooking.
15:00Oh, it's fruition, really, isn't it?
15:03Everything coming to that.
15:04Yes, it is.
15:05Yes.
15:07Carol and Dermot had a chance to sample those apples themselves on their autumn Ivy Dean visit.
15:14You know, this garden, every place you look, it gives more, doesn't it?
15:17Every season now.
15:19Yeah, it does, every season.
15:19How lovely to see it now and see the changes.
15:22Look at that.
15:23Wow.
15:24That is so sweet.
15:25I know exactly what you're going to do.
15:27Do you remember Adam and Eve?
15:28You're going to tempt me, yes.
15:31It's just wondrous.
15:33Have a bite.
15:33No, I'm not going to.
15:34Go on.
15:35I'm saving it for later and putting it in my pocket.
15:38I can't.
15:38Is it good?
15:39It's delicious.
15:42These were just a bean green when we were here last and now.
15:46Brilliant.
15:46And yet the phlox is still flowering with them.
15:49Yeah.
15:50What I love about this garden is that it's never about a single plant, it's always about combinations.
15:57That verbena is perfect with this euphobia.
16:00And you don't expect to see euphobias at this time.
16:03At the end of the summer, into the autumn.
16:04But that's their plant knowledge.
16:06You know, they really know what they're doing.
16:08And look at that.
16:09The rugbeckia.
16:10Yeah, it glows.
16:11And everything seems to dance and sway in the breeze.
16:18But you know what I find amazing?
16:20Very unusual.
16:21They've crossed an apple tree with nasturtiums.
16:24And they've produced this plant that flowers in fruits at the same time.
16:27It's very dramatic.
16:28Look at that.
16:29Have you ever seen this?
16:30I think it's...
16:31At last I've been able to show Carl Klein something new.
16:34They've planted seed at the back and he's just made the most of it.
16:38Such poetry in all that they do.
16:40It's gorgeous.
16:41It is.
16:42It's brilliant.
16:43And loads of seed on there for next year.
17:00What has it meant to you getting through to the final five of the competition?
17:03With the garden open to the public and really raising money for charity,
17:08hopefully I can raise more money for the Marie Curie Foundation
17:13to which I subscribe.
17:16Carol and Dermot returned for their autumn visit
17:18to see how Bernard's rose garden was faring as another season began.
17:23Oh, it's lovely.
17:26You know, when we were last here, it was all about roses.
17:30And although some of them are still looking pretty good,
17:34now your attention's drawn to all these walls.
17:37You know, and all this verticality.
17:39Look at this Virginia creeper coming down.
17:41I know you're just about to give us that autumn colour.
17:44I mean, these blackberries are already fruiting.
17:46Very tempting, aren't they?
17:47Yes.
17:47So always.
17:48Also ivy.
17:49Wonderful in terms of the ecosystem of the garden
17:52because when all of these finish flowering,
17:56that will still be producing...
17:58You can already see a few sort of anthers and stamens.
18:01So for these late butterflies, wonderful nectar.
18:07Carol, look at this.
18:08It's a mallow just outside Bernard's house.
18:10And what I really want to show you...
18:12What are you doing?
18:12I'm just snipping a little bit.
18:14Look at that.
18:15That open flower.
18:16And that's full of pollen.
18:18A great plant to kind of fill space
18:22as you're getting established in your garden.
18:24That's enough.
18:25Leave some for the insects.
18:27That'll do.
18:28Come on.
18:29What do you think you are?
18:32APPLAUSE
18:41So, Sean, how do you feel about making the final five?
18:45Very proud.
18:47Not just for myself, but for Mother Nature.
18:50What happens in your garden in autumn?
18:52What do you enjoy observing?
18:55The butterflies this year compared to last year.
18:58It's been a wonderful year for wildlife.
19:01It also means your garden is making a difference, doesn't it?
19:04Oh, completely.
19:05Completely, yes.
19:07The test for Sean's broca wood,
19:10are its seasonal changes enough
19:12to win over the judges on their second visit?
19:15So it's still got that lovely feel, hasn't it?
19:18Exactly the same.
19:20Symphony of Greens, isn't it?
19:22It is.
19:24Even at this late stage, butterflies abound here.
19:27Yeah.
19:28Butterflies drinking nectar.
19:29And everything's just been left to do what it wants to do.
19:33Yeah.
19:33So that's the beauty of this garden.
19:38This Rosa rugosa's really come on everywhere, hasn't it?
19:42Yeah, it's magnificent.
19:43The thing is, just full of red emeralds.
19:46This is the sort of autumn hatch.
19:48You know, they have another generation.
19:49Yes.
19:50And love fruit.
19:51The hips on the Rosa rugosa,
19:54they provide so much food for wildlife.
19:57But to see...
19:58To see it in action.
19:59Yeah.
19:59The Red Emeralds are glad, aren't they?
20:01Thrilled with themselves.
20:04It's full of life, isn't it?
20:07Everywhere.
20:08Lovely, isn't it?
20:10It really is.
20:11Yes.
20:24What would it mean to win Greta's Gardens?
20:27It would be just amazing.
20:29I mean, when I started all those years ago,
20:31I never considered, never thought,
20:33I'd be nominated for the final.
20:35So it'd be terrific.
20:37What do you think about autumn in your garden?
20:39I love autumn in my favourite time of the year
20:42because of the colours.
20:43Obviously, the leaves are turning
20:45and we have quite a bit of colour.
20:47As our judges discovered
20:48on their recent return to Holly House.
20:52Oh, look at this light.
20:55I love what Will has done here.
20:59Avenues that he creates in the garden,
21:01but always with an eye on succession of interests.
21:04Over here, we have the red-hot pokers
21:07from South Africa buzzing.
21:08They're just designed for smaller insects, aren't they?
21:11Yes, yeah.
21:12And then on this side,
21:14you have this kind of miscountess.
21:16So you have this colour that's just emerging.
21:19So it's texture, it's colour, it's interest.
21:22And they're going to go on through the winter too,
21:24and they're looking glorious.
21:26Such atmosphere in this garden, isn't there?
21:28There is.
21:35Such good gardening practice, isn't it?
21:38Because this border's just as interesting
21:40as when we were here earlier.
21:42It is, but look at this.
21:43Small tortoiseshells,
21:45these beautiful little butterflies.
21:47It's kind of getting drunk.
21:48It's absolutely full of manna for insects.
21:51Brilliant.
21:52And again, he propagates,
21:54he plants en masse,
21:55and the effect is just wonderful
21:58and welcoming and vibrant.
22:00Yeah.
22:12We've done the easy bit,
22:14nosing around these gorgeous gardens.
22:17We've seen lots of beautiful planting,
22:19unique design,
22:20good gardening practice,
22:22and year-round gardening.
22:23But now comes the hardest part.
22:25How can we possibly separate
22:26these five glorious gems?
22:29We've got a lot of thinking to do,
22:31so we're going off to consider the evidence.
22:34Talk amongst yourselves, relax.
22:36I know you've got lots of gardening stories
22:38to tell each other.
22:39We'll see you soon.
22:42Five outstanding gardens,
22:44but only one can take the title.
22:46For Carol and Dermot,
22:48it's crunch time,
22:49as they measure each garden
22:51against the judging criteria.
22:54First of all,
22:55rustic garden,
22:56Colin.
22:57In terms of gardening design,
22:59I thought it was miraculous.
23:01The atmosphere he'd created
23:03by planting wonderful trees.
23:05And one of the things
23:06about Colin's garden
23:07that comes across straight away
23:09is just his concern
23:10for sustainability.
23:12You know,
23:13everywhere you looked,
23:14he was salvaged material,
23:16stone used beautifully.
23:17It was a little slice
23:19of suburban heaven.
23:20What he achieved was fantastic.
23:24Ivy Dean,
23:25Robert and Michael's garden.
23:27It's trying to be a cottage garden,
23:28and it does that really well by design.
23:31The whole thing is planted
23:32for succession as well.
23:34It's really beautifully thought out.
23:37In terms of gardening practice,
23:38if we just take it as a category...
23:40Do you know what?
23:41It was all there.
23:42It couldn't be faulted.
23:43It couldn't be faulted.
23:45The rose garden,
23:46Vernon.
23:47He knows the stuff.
23:48He grows roses
23:49because of the long season.
23:51When we revisited,
23:52there was still plenty of rose colour.
23:54We saw ivy beginning to flower.
23:56So there was succession planning.
23:58In terms of sustainability,
24:00I mean, for a start,
24:02he grew his own plants.
24:04Did you think
24:04it was a bit of a single-issue garden?
24:06It's a bit of a single-plant garden,
24:08but so what, you know?
24:11Maybe so what.
24:12When it's done beautifully.
24:14Yeah.
24:15Brocklewood and Sean's garden.
24:16It was a remarkable endeavour.
24:19But as a garden,
24:20what did you think?
24:21It was a garden,
24:22but it was also
24:24very much a nature reserve.
24:26There was some wonderful planting.
24:27Oh, there was some brilliant planting.
24:29In terms of design,
24:30it did what it was intended to do.
24:33What an achievement.
24:35Absolutely marvellous.
24:37Holly House and Will.
24:40Extraordinary garden.
24:41The work of an individual mind.
24:44I've never seen a garden like it anywhere.
24:46It was totally original.
24:48I think top marks for design.
24:50And in terms of gardening practice,
24:52sometimes things could have been
24:54a bit tidier,
24:55a bit more deliberate,
24:56but he knows his plants inside out.
24:59Sustainability,
25:00I think it was all there.
25:01Reusing, propagating all the time.
25:03And he planted that whole wood.
25:05Yeah.
25:05So as far as wildlife are concerned,
25:08we loved it.
25:09Yes.
25:09But it's for them.
25:11It's tough,
25:12but we have to make a decision.
25:14A very difficult decision.
25:16Under the criteria for greatest gardens,
25:18though,
25:19what are we challenged by?
25:21In a few cases,
25:22a choice of plants.
25:24Finally,
25:25after much debate and discussion,
25:27Carol and Dermot
25:28have reached a decision.
25:30Are we agreed?
25:33We're agreed.
25:34Right.
25:35Well,
25:36I think we'd better let the gardeners know.
25:47this hasn't been an easy decision,
25:50because every one of your gardens
25:53has shown us originality,
25:55passion,
25:57and personality.
25:59We've decided
26:01who the top two gardeners are.
26:03And those top two are...
26:16Will.
26:27and Robert and Michael
26:37five great gardens but only two remain
26:41Will's Garden Holly House was specially praised for good gardening practice
26:46the judges loved the magical wild woodland and the iris circle
26:51propagated over a number of years from just two plants
26:54Robert and Michael's Ivy Dean impressed with its design variety
26:58range of considered and creative planting
27:01and year-round attention to excellent gardening practice
27:04Two amazing gardens
27:06however there can only be one winner
27:10it gives us enormous pleasure
27:12to announce that the winner of greatest gardens is
27:25Robert and Michael
27:38our winners of greatest gardens
27:57enjoy
27:59it's great great I can't believe it's complete shock I can't believe it you know I really can't it's lovely
28:06to be able to share in the garden with other people and knowing that so it'll be nice for us
28:11to look back at it and I can't believe it
28:11yes it's been a great process since we've enjoyed it we have and we have a trophy to take home
28:16well done
28:17well done
28:18that's a great
28:18thank you
28:21thank you
28:31you
28:51You
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