Bridgerton, National Trust & More | On the Gardens at The Chelsea Flower Show 2024!

It's that time of year. We are at the Chelsea Flower Show and we're with Andy who I think a lot of you are going to remember from last year at La Land and all of the other Chelsea Flower Shows that we've been to. All right let's go look at some gardens. We're now in the Octavia Hill Garden by Blue Diamond with the National Trust and I have Mary here with us who's going to tell us about it. I worked for Anne-Marie Powell who designed this garden and we've been living and breathing the Octavia Hill Garden for the last 18 months. Octavia was this amazing social reformer from the 1800s. She was born into a wealthy family but they lost all their money by the time she was 12 so she was in work and ended up teaching all the other girls who she was working with but ever since then she became passionate about giving access to the countryside and beauty to people who are living in deprived environments because she knew what she'd grown up with and she wanted to make sure everyone had access to it. She then went on to found the National Trust with two others but her real passion was for the outside space rather than the buildings that the rest of the National Trust is so we have her to thank for most of the parks and the gardens that are owned by the National Trust. The National Trust gardens have changed so many people's lives having access to those gardens. They really have and it was really important to her that it was access to beautiful space not just wild space but real beauty for everyone who's living in deprived urban areas so we wanted to think about what she would do if she were alive today because the same problems exist that less and less and less people have access to green space. In fact it's worse I think than before because the urban area is becoming more and more crowded and the regulations are less and less requiring developers to give access to green space. Octavia was passionate about outdoor sitting rooms places to actually spend time in and observe nature and be with it so that's what we hope we've achieved. You have achieved it absolutely and the planting feels quite natural. It's very gardeny we tried to bring a bit of cottage garden to the city and also we've really gone for a diverse palette. I think we've got 160 different plant species in the garden just to bring the most wildlife pollinators, birds, there was a fox in here earlier. And I love the way you've integrated the water as well. You can't have wildlife without water that is really the main draw as soon as you put water in a garden everything appears. The birds come, the insects come. We got our robin on our first day and they've been followed by blue tits and sparrows and it's just it's so magical when the ground starts filling up. It is a magical space and the water's good for the soul as well. It is. We had maybe too much of it today but good for the soul. Thank you so much. It's a pleasure. And this is very exciting because now we're with Andy Jasper who is Director of Gardens and Parklands for the National Trust. That's right. Extraordinary you have so many gardens under your control. Yeah we've got quite a few we've got 222 gardens actually it's 223 if you include this garden. We should include this garden. And we've got yeah 750 horticulturalists, we've got 110 head gardeners, we've got 50 apprentices we've actually got 10,000 volunteers who work in our gardens and I do think sometimes I've got one of the best jobs in the world but I love your job too. I think that must be one of the best. But I have to say you are bringing so much pleasure to so many people all around the world not just in Britain but those who come to visit the National Trust gardens and where would those gardens be if it wasn't for the National Trust? Oh thank you. Yeah we do look after over 500 years of horticultural heritage and if you think of it it's like from those huge design landscapes like Stow or Stourhead or you know those sorts of places all the way down to these beautiful sort of arts and crafts and sort of very intimate spaces like Sissinghurst or Hinton Ampner or Hidcote. Do you have a favourite? Oh god I don't think we're actually allowed to, no one's actually told me if I'm allowed to do that but I do I mean I love Sissinghurst, it's one of my all-time favourite gardens but there's another garden in the far southwest of England called Glendergan. Do you know it? No, no I haven't heard of it. It's right down in Cornwall on the Halford River and it's this beautiful sort of Cornish Valley garden so if you imagine plant collectors would have gone around the world and put these plants in a warm valley sort of hunkered in, oh it's just amazing. It's also the place where they've got, we've got the oldest maze in our collection and it's about 200 years old this beautiful maze, looks quite contemporary when you see it today but oh my god it's absolutely beautiful. I think we're going to be going to Cornwall soon. Oh god I will literally give you a list, I mean there are so many gardens in Cornwall, it's so lovely. Absolutely, yeah we will do that. This garden, this Octavia Hill garden is peppered with stories, represent the diversity of the conservation projects that we have in the National Trust, from building conservation all the way through to nature restoration and things like that. Now something happened last year in September when the Sycamore Gap tree, the tree that was quite famous, it was used in Robin Hood Prince of Thieves, it was felled and there was a huge outpouring of emotion across the whole of the country, in fact across the whole of the world and by Christmas time we'd collected all the seeds that were there, we took some cuttings the day that the tree had come down and we took them to a kind of secret location in the southwest where we've got a plant conservation centre and we basically wanted to see whether we could propagate from that tree. So on Boxing Day, the day after Christmas, we saw a little glimmer of hope, literally, I know it's like the best Christmas present and this little green shoot started to emerge and actually it was this particular seedling, I know it sounds a bit soppy but literally that moment I just knew there was hope and I was so happy. It's a symbol of regeneration and hope and life continuing. Absolutely, so do you know what happened on Monday? So on Press Day here, a little girl came from Northumberland, never been to London before, from a school and her symbol on the school badge is the Sycamore Gap tree and she sat here with Dame Judi Dench and presented Judi with this tree to plant in our garden and you probably know what Judi would have called the tree but she said I've named it Antoninus, the son of Hadrian. Isn't that great? She had the perfect name, of course she did. We do have the stump there and we're looking for signs of growth on the stump and if there is, we might actually choose one, particularly a straight one. I mean it's such a beautiful tree, so symmetrical and so I'm not entirely sure. We'll keep our fingers crossed for signs of life from the stump then. Thank you. Thank you so much, it's been wonderful, real pleasure meeting you. Likewise, thank you. So this is spectacular. We're basically in a Roman villa. There are even people in Roman clothes standing around the edges and the whole centre, I think, looks more beautiful in the rain, don't you? Absolutely. There are lupins everywhere this year. It seems to be the flower of the year, lupins and irises in every garden and I love the Pompeian style painting around all of the walls behind the columns. The frescoes around the outside of the villa tell the story of Dido and Emmaus. Everything about this garden is designed to make you feel that you're back to the year 78 AD. It's so unlike any of the other gardens we've seen, except of course for the fact that it has both lupins and irises. It looks like we have flames there. Yes, all four corners. There's Diana with her crescent moon. That garden was delightful. I felt that we were transported in time and that's the joy of the gardens at Chelsea. Each garden that you walk onto takes you to a different time and place or a different environment. A swamp, a grassland, a tiny little bit of an industrial wasteland, a forest or a perfectly curated garden of a stately home. You're just constantly traveling. Yes, even a little balcony of a perfect little flat. They're all wonderful in their own way. I'm with Ben Wiggins on the World Child Cancer Nurturing Garden and we've got a bit of a different twist here because you're not the garden designer, you're the constructor. You actually build the gardens. Yes, we're behind the scenes. You don't see much of us but the contractor basically helped with the designer to put the whole scheme together. So whilst it's not our vision, it's not our design, we're the ones that kind of help make it happen I guess in a sense. Without you there's no garden. Yes, definitely. Last year we saw the garden that you did for Rosemary and she got the gold medal for her container garden and this garden's got a gold medal this year. So in some ways you've got two gold medals. So it could be hat trick maybe next year but who knows. I don't know if we'll be back but yeah it would be great if we were. So how do you go about it? How do you turn what's basically just a bit of grass into an incredible garden? When we arrive it's literally just grass. Well, they actually strip it so it's back to mud so we're just left with a mud patch and then we've got two weeks to turn it into what it is today. So it's high pressure. We've got a really good team behind us and then between us we just have to get it done. So it's long, long days, long hours, seven days a week. So that's why I'm looking a little bit haggard. It's the end now. It's basically just the champagne and the toast. Yeah, yeah, yeah and chatting to all the public which is great because that's the other thing that you forget about when you're building a garden is actually everybody's coming to enjoy it and when you speak to people and they're like oh it's amazing it's really nice to hear all of that. So yeah, really positive. And it is amazing, it looks as though the whole garden is woven. How is that achieved? Yeah, so the garden designer Julio designed these 3D printed blocks especially for the show and he basically didn't want any concrete in the garden whatsoever so he approached us last year and he said I've got this vision, this is what we're going to use, these are the blocks that I've designed and then we sort of had to sit down between us and figure out how we'd actually build this because building these planters, you know, the ones at the back are quite, you know, quite tall and building those without any concrete is pretty much unheard of. You know, we've been in business for 22 years, never done planters like this without any concrete, rebar, metal, anything like that. So yeah, it's a really exciting project to be a part of and, you know, it's beautiful. Thank you, we're super pleased with the results. It looks better on a sunny day. Yeah, everything does but you've done a fabulous job. I love it. Thank you so much. Thank you. Cheers. We're with Sonia Kaltschmidt in her sanctum garden and can you tell us more about it and congratulations because you've got a gold. Yes, I know, it was so unexpected. I couldn't believe it. So thank you very much everyone also to visit this garden. I designed this for people in mind who I think need a bit of a bit of a break from the mobile phones, a designated space where you detect and where you sit and have the greenery at your eye level to appreciate the different greens and that's why it's quite subdued to have this more of a quieter atmosphere. It's a beautiful idea and you also get the texture of it as well. You just want to grab it. Yeah, I like green gardens a lot. It's magnificent. I think we actually need a bit of our garden at home where no one's allowed mobile phones but all the time. Yeah, I'm overwhelmed these days with it. I'll be honest, it's one up after another, even driving for me to London, another up and I'm sorry it's just getting too... You can't switch off. It's too much for me. I have missed the 80s, you know. We all miss the 80s. I really seriously miss the 80s. I love the 80s. I love Madonna and like a virgin and all that. Not really, I do. 20 years ago you spoke to your neighbour on the plane or on the bus stop, in the train. Although it enables you the openness, it actually really isolates you, I think. Yes, people are isolated in their own world but that's what you've created here. I love the fact this is big enough for two. It's nice to escape with someone. Yeah, it is. It's nice to sit with you here. I'm thoroughly enjoying it. Thank you. Thank you so much. I'm with Sam Croctor on her absolutely beautiful container garden. So this is the water saving garden and the message of this garden is about saving water as much as possible. So the idea is we're capturing the rainwater from an imaginary roof in this beautiful copper gushering. It trickles down the rain chains and is then stored in these very glamorous water butts either side, fixed to the wall. And then from there, there is an automated system which is piping water just underneath the roots of the trees and planting, enabling them to take up water through capillary action from underneath, which actually saves 30% of water you would normally need for watering from above because there's no evaporation in the soil. And are these drought resistant? So these are all drought tolerant succulents. They store water in their leaves, so they don't need a lot of water at all. I'd say on a day like today, it's hard to imagine needing to water. We haven't been very blessed by the rain gods unfortunately today. No, but I have to say that back in France, the last few years have been a drought. So we're so happy to see it raining now. That's what inspired this garden, that hot summer of 2022. And so the tips, if you've got containers, pots planted up in your garden, my tips would be to arrange them together. They create a little microclimate to keep each other moist and have larger ones as much as possible. Well, thank you so much. It's beautiful. Thank you very much. So nice meeting you too. You too. The wonderful thing about this garden is that it's not drought resistant plants other than the ones that are on the wall. It's actually plants that like moisture. So Sam's showing us it is possible to use plants that like moisture, that love to be watered regularly without wasting water. I'm Italian, so I went back to my heritage. The brief says that the garden is for mature couple who enjoy traveling and they wanted to recreate a slice of Venice on their balcony. They have an old building and this is a sunny spot. And so the pergola and the placement of the plants frames the views and creates dappled shade. That's beautiful. It does feel like Venice. I mean, I see the bottle of Aperol. Thank you. And Venice is my favorite city. So obviously I love this garden. I grew up very close to Venice. So I remember it really well. Yeah, you're very lucky. Thank you so much for showing us. I'm Holly Johnston, the designer of the Bridgerton Garden. Well, congratulations. It's absolutely beautiful. Thank you. We're very proud of it. It's just nice to see a garden that takes something from the screens and brings it to life, especially when it's such a beloved love story like this one. And what gave you the idea? So the inspiration is all around this one character, which I'm sure you know, Penelope Featherington. And it's her journey from essentially a wallflower into the spotlight. She's overlooked by society. She's kind of seen as someone of no significance. But we, as the viewer, also know that she harbors the secret as Lady Whistledown. And so she writes the secrets of the town and essentially sells them back to them. So this garden was designed to be really a sanctuary for her in the corner of a big country estate, maybe up in Windsor, quite woodland adjacent. And I kind of saw this young woman running to it for privacy, for seclusion, anytime she was upset, anytime she just needed to be able to reconcile the fact that she was Penelope, but also Lady Whistledown. What I wanted to do with this Moongate was frame it with a portal-like opening, so it felt like you were stepping into her own personal world. It's very kind of blousy country, informal styling on the outside, just to give it that relaxed and organic feeling. One of the biggest things that I wanted to achieve with this garden was to feel like it hadn't just been built. I wanted it to feel like it could have existed 100 years ago. So as you walk through, obviously we've got this incredible wisteria framing the portal, which had no idea. I mean, that was the biggest goal. I had no idea whether it would come to life. It is slightly later for it to be blooming, especially after quite a wet and warm winter spring. But this is a late flowering wisteria. It is beautifully fragrant. It really frames that portal. I can smell it from here. It's wonderful. We somehow managed to get it to make it look like it has been growing on here for many, many years. So that was a real thrill. And then if we want to go inside to Penelope's sanctuary, we come down to the sunken seating area. And the reason we sunk it was to give a sense of enclosure that the main goal with this garden was to make it feel intimate, secluded, and really safe, because it had to be her personal space that harbored all her secrets. And then planting-wise, we split it in two halves up the garden. The intended journey is to walk this way around, down the right-hand side of the garden, past this ornate water feature, which is nearly 90 years old and very much the traditional Regency Georgian style. It is a part shade to full shade border. So it is full with your structure plants, which are your topiary, your Prunus lucitanica, and then with your herbaceous, like, clusters, tons of different ferns and pops of color, hinting towards the second part. So it's subdued. It's subdued. And I really wanted to work on the layers here. I wanted to feel kind of like a creeping, crawling tapestry of secrets, because she is one in the shadows, which we give enclosure through the wall and the hedge. But we also know that she harbors the secret. So we wanted to add that into the planting with ground covers, with herbaceous, with structural shrubs, with the climbers climbing up the wall, up the trees, and then with the canopy of the trees. It's definitely a mystery here. It is, yeah. She's a complex character, right? She's not straightforward, and I wanted it to show the messiness of the human experience, but the beauty of it as well. It is a muted color tone, but it is really beautiful. It is lush, and there's a lot to see. And has real elegance. It has real elegance, absolutely. And as a fun little hint to Her Lady Whistledown secret, if I can just show you something behind you, we actually installed... Oh my goodness! Real props from Bridgerton in the wall. That is incredible! This is a moment where Eloise finds all the Lady Whistledown scandal sheets underneath the wall. So we've got the parchment, we've got quill, we've got an ink pot in there as well. And I kind of imagined Penelope sitting here sharpening her quill and writing the secrets of the Tongue. And we've got this beautiful unintentional seating area, which is incredibly lush, really quite mysterious, very, very enclosed. And again, it signifies a sense of safety. She can be fully enclosed. And here you're at the farthest point. The furthest point of the garden. And it's designed so she could be sitting here, and she could see if anyone were coming up the path. So it's her secret garden. There's no element of surprise. She's in complete control in this garden. Whilst it's quite organic and formal planting, we've mixed moments of formality with the topiary, which was obviously a nod to Bridgerton itself. So this is an amazing single piece of sandstone from Yorkshire. It was carved by this incredible young sculptor who is completely self-taught. What we wanted to do here was create something that felt like it was almost being swallowed up into the hedges. Hedges were starting to grow around it and give it a period elegance with essentially a silhouette that for anyone who didn't know, it could be anyone of the time. But we know this is the silhouette of Lady Whistledown. We've got a reflection bowl here. We've got the little Bridgerton bee. This is my favourite part of this. It's such a beautiful detail. It is. It was live sculpted on site. Also, I like the fact that it represents that there's a little sting even in a wallflower. Be careful. Absolutely. Absolutely. She will not go lightly. I love the phrase. The phrase is the underlying theme of this entire garden. Even a wallflower can bloom and that's the step change in Penelope's journey. We're signifying her evolution throughout the story and that's when you come to this full-bloom border which signifies not only her physical evolution but the way that she kind of shared the opinions of society. She grows into her confidence and she is suddenly the main character. She is stepping into the light and she's owning that proudly. In this border we've got a combination of kind of unabashed romance and whimsy. Spectacular. And it was really important that that was included in this planting border because it had to feel feminine. This whole garden is a very feminine feature especially with the curves. But the roses around it, they are David Austin, Desdemona and then I built it around a colour palette of lilac and periwinkle blue. We know blue is obviously the Bridgerton family colour and lilac is used repeatedly throughout this episode. So we've got the wisteria at the gate and the wisteria used in the irises, the capennula, both the capennula, tychon blue and the ground cover capennula. We've got geraniums popped throughout and then we've got a range of irises also in periwinkle blue to go with foxgloves and these beautiful kind of maroony pink with flecks of orange in the lupins. And it's so romantic and it's something that Penelope's having to fight within herself in the first couple of series, a sense of unrequited love, not allowing herself to feel that. Yes, she almost tries to remove herself from that and say it's not an option and this moment, whether you're a fan or not, everyone's gone through that change in their life where they can suddenly just share the opinions of others and have the courage to step into the light and that's what this signifies. I love this garden so much but because of that meaning which is not just relevant to Penelope but to everybody. It is, absolutely. Everyone has that moment of transition and evolution in their life so I want people to be able to relate to this. I think it's a garden that gives people hope that they can step into the light. Absolutely, I hope so and it's going to live on at Addenbrookes Hospital so it will be gardened by long-term cancer patients and it's also going to be surrounded by a maternity ward so it's going to be a sanctuary for many people to come. I give a lot of joy. Thank you so much.