Gardeners World Winter Special Episode 4

Hello, welcome to Gardener's World. The first flowers of the season are flaring into floral glory and the days are getting longer and warmer. Whatever the weather, spring cannot now be denied. So we have a celebration of colour, scent and sound that will fill you with inspiration for the gardening year ahead. On today's program, Frances visits an exhibition where houseplants have taken over. This really takes the idea of a flower bed to a whole new place. It's a four poster filled to the brim with all different kinds of bromeliads. Advali shares her fascination with a plant craze that began in the 18th century. This is an auricular theatre and built especially to display these amazing little plants. Rachel creates a superb summer display with pots. So we've now got the large pots and that mid-story. It's time for all those pretty little pots that you can just dot in amongst those. And I have easy remedies for some very poorly house plants. Now this is a classic problem of a house plant that is looking very sad indeed and the problem is in my hand. All over Longmeadow, a wonderful parade of flowers begins to emerge, returning to the borders like old friends. The imperial fritillaries are looking good here in the jewel garden. This is rubra and we have a yellow one in the spring garden. And they both have this rather foxy smell. Some people don't like it. I love it because to me it's the fragrance of spring and on a warm bright day like today, they shine out as the most exotic thing in the garden. They also have a quality that is very unusual in so much that they are pollinated by birds. Blue tits get in there looking for the nectar and take the pollen and pass it on to the next flower. So if you see a little bird, what looks like attacking your precious plant, don't worry. It's doing you good service. As spring progresses, alliums of all kinds really hit their stride, becoming the most dramatic plants in the garden. And Carol went to Arundel Castle in West Sussex to rejoice in their wonderful array of alliums. Alliums offer a blaze of colour in late spring. Most of them are renowned for the architecture that they bring to the garden. These straight stems and great big spherical heads. Others though are dainty and delicate and of course you can eat some of them too. They're a welcome prelude to the riot of colour we expect by midsummer. Alliums are part of the onion family, a huge bulbous genus with around 700 species and they're nearly all found in the northern hemisphere in dry rocky habitats across the Mediterranean and temperate regions. In recent years, alliums have really gained in popularity and it's hardly surprising because they fit in beautifully with more naturalistic planting. The flowers in these kind of alliums have six petals. The ones on the outside open first and eventually others follow suit until the whole thing is this wonderful globe of tiny starry flowers. But this is how they start life. They're tunicate bulbs. You've only to think of your own onions to know exactly what the structure is but although it's interesting to see how they grow, this is the reason we grow them for the splendour of their gorgeous flowers. Not all alliums are big and bold. Chives, familiar from our herb gardens, are the same spherical heads as their bigger cousins but on a much reduced scale. Allium oceanum, better known as wild garlic, is a handsome plant in its own right with flat heads of white starry flowers. Although alliums have the most glorious of flowers, as they come into flower their leaves start to fade and fizzle. So it's a great idea to plant your alliums amongst other herbaceous perennials and this is a brilliant example of just how to combine them. I love it with these big bangs of centauria and then there are the little pale pink spikes of persicaria bistorta, a good clumper and therefore ideal to go with these alliums. Later as the alliums turn to seed, the clematis will really burst into flower and the delphiniums in the background will come to the fore. One of the greatest assets that alliums have is their ability to mix and mingle with other plants to just add this touch of drama and panache to a border. This one is one called purple rain with these great globose flowers and very very starry too but look at it alongside that red tulip. This is king's blood and quite soon those petals will fall to the ground but the allium will continue. When that geranium comes into flower there it will be holding its own and look at this lovely little pentaglottis which kind of rambles through but it's alliums alliums that are the forefront at the moment. Lots of us use alliums in an almost cottagey garden setting but here they're combined in the most creative way with all sorts of tropicals, really exotic looking plants. It works wonderfully well. The most striking example is this reum. This is reum falnatum and it's even putting the alliums to shame with these towering flower spikes. The whole thing combines together. It creates this really magical quite dramatic effect. When you're using alliums in your garden it's not just a question of plonking them in amongst other things. Here we're using this most marvellous way. The design that's created with them is really wonderful. It establishes this lovely rhythm right from the front of this bed through the trees and over to the other side. It lends a real feeling of distance and used amongst very simple foliage. These echium seedlings which repeat that kind of pattern right into the background. It's brilliant. This planting proves you can keep it simple and still make a really effective picture. Here in this formal cutting garden you've got lines of alliums. Here's Mont Blanc. At its feet is allium christophii with these starry purple and silver flowers and then amongst them bursting forward is round and purple. It's tight buds yet to open. You can really appreciate the deportment, the structure and the colour of these beautiful plants. It's inspired. Most alliums bloom in late spring and early summer helping to bridge the gap between spring flowering bulbs and summer perennials. What's more they're one of the few flowers that die gracefully. So both in flower and in seed their elegance adds an architectural quality to the border right the way through to early autumn. Alliums are incredibly rewarding plants. All you've got to remember is to plant them in full sun although they will take a bit of dappled shade. Make sure you plant your bulbs really really deep. Six inches isn't too much and then make sure that the soil is very very well drained. For so little effort, for so little expense you get this marvellous scintillating show. They absolutely dazzle and they introduce the beginning of the summer garden party. Of course Carol is absolutely right. You should plant alliums deep with lots of drainage and they'll be happy. But here in the jewel garden the allium purple sensation is really happy and we planted it shallowly on heavy clay soil with poor drainage which goes to show that sometimes you can break every rule in the book and get away with it. Throughout last year more and more people were growing plants from seed. So we were delighted to be sent a film from Simone and her daughter Alessandra who wanted to share an ingenious way of getting the community growing together. My name is Simone Graham and I formed a community group to restore and repurpose this beautiful old K6 phone box into a seed swap. It's for the local community if they have surplus seed or if they have any seed they've gathered from their garden they can bring it here and swap it for some seed that somebody else has left. So I've got some... Is that a foxglove? Yeah foxglove and some broccoli. So foxgloves go in a flower zaner right there. I'm gonna choose this one. This and then one of these. The box has been a real hub for the local community. We've got different community groups involved. We've got the local men's shed who has fitted out the bookcase. We've got a local running group who does a phone box dash on a Friday night between the different phone boxes that have been refurbished in town. And we've got the local horticultural groups involved as well which is really great. So if you have an old K6 phone box in your neighbourhood or you've got a corner of a store or anything to set up a seed swap is a really great and easy thing to do. If you want to send your own film to us here at Gardeners World for the coming series our website has all the details including some handy advice on how to make your films. The foxgloves have been fabulous this year and the opium poppies have never been better. In fact the ones behind me are self-sown. They are in fact growing amongst rows of yew cuttings but they appeared probably through the compost. We let them grow and now they're having their moment of glory. We will let them form seed heads, collect the seed and then we can take the plants out and get back to raising the yew plants. One of the biggest horticultural trends over the last few years is the rise in popularity of houseplants. A new generation of growers are discovering the joy of nurturing their own plants and creating exciting indoor gardens. To see the full range of potential houseplants Francis went to an unusual exhibition at RHS Wisley in Surrey. When I was a student up in Scotland I had one lone peace lily in a pot and it came with me to every room in the house and now never having had my own proper garden the collection of houseplants I have has grown to probably about 50. I absolutely love them. Houseplants as we know them are basically outdoor plants that come from hot, dry or tropical countries. They couldn't cope out in a wintry UK garden but they can thrive in our homes. There's lots to choose from so it means there are plants for every room from a dark shady hallway to a bright airy kitchen. And I hear that this exhibition provides some incredible inspiration for what you can do with them in your home. It's based on an abandoned house where the plants have taken over. So the dining room, bathroom, lounge and even the bedroom have plants erupting from every cranny. Danielle Warner is one of the creators. So you were in charge of the dining room? Yes. How did you come up with these ideas? Well luckily I've got a great team on the Glasshouse team and we all kind of contributed ideas as we brought the props more ideas came to light such as the Echeveria cake. And the chairs are spectacular. How do you go about kind of designing and making these? We pretty much made them up as we went along and tried to use different textures and colours. Tried to give them all their own personality. Totally, I like the spiky toddler. Yeah, I really like that. It looks like a baby kind of waving his arms and screaming. I think it's great. And why is that one there knocked over? So that was meant to be kind of a stroppy teenager who's stormed away from the table and just knocked the chair over. Yeah, doesn't really want to sit with the rest of the family for dinner. Fair enough. Families can be tricky. Yes, they can. While succulents hail from bright arid areas, the lounge is full of plants from damp forest floors which means they can handle lower light levels with their broad leaves. But they don't all have to be big. This is a miniature version of the Swiss cheese plant that we all know and love. In fact, this whole exhibition is filled with amazing inspirational little pots. Ways you can use your furniture. Makes you want to get planting. Stairs and their banisters make a perfect frame for eager climbers. But the bedroom is more airy. This really takes the idea of a flower bed to a whole new place. It's a four poster filled to the brim with all different kinds of bromeliads. Now, bromeliads in the wild have evolved to grow as epiphytes which means they grow on the bark of trees. So their roots and the water that falls into the leaf in their rosette formation is where they get their nutrients and their water from. So when you grow them at home, make sure you keep watering them into the plant itself. And in terms of compost, mix that with a lot of orchid bark because it will stop the roots from getting too waterlogged. The most famous bromeliad is probably the pineapple. And they're right here on top of the bedposts. And that is a nice touch. The bathroom is full of moisture loving plants like ferns. But they don't have to stay grounded. This is one of my favorite things in this exhibition because it makes such great use of vertical space. So any sized house can have one of these. It also shows how versatile ferns can be. They grow in the ground but also in the cracks of this lovely piece of bark. Perfect for a nice moist bathroom. These ferns need soil to grow in and it's cleverly packed behind the bark. For these living pictures, the soil is hidden in the depths of the box frame with a covering of wire netting so the plants can grow through. It's so inspiring to see houseplants used creatively. Yet we know they're not just beautiful decorations. They're also living, breathing species. And looking after them and growing them in our homes is as good for our well-being as it is for theirs. With that in mind, I've got one for my mum on Mother's Day and one for me as well. Now, I've got an array of houseplants around me and the Gardeners World team have very bravely volunteered to put up their houseplants including those that are not doing very well so that we can have a look and see what common problems are. And the more senior people get in the Gardeners World production team, the worse their houseplants are. I should stress, by the way, that the healthy ones are, of course, my own. No problems ever before the Don household. Now, this is a classic problem of a houseplant that is looking very sad indeed. And the problem is in my hand. Because if I take it out of this rather attractive grey pot, it's in a standard plastic pot. It's as light as a feather. But if I look at the pot, it's in no drainage holes of any kind. And what's been happening, I suspect, is they've watered it and the water has sat inside what is effectively a jar and it's got too wet. And it's showing classic symptoms of an overwatered plant which are drooping leaves that are turning brown. And a lot of people will see that as an underwater plant and that it needs more water so they compound the problem. So never keep any houseplant in an undrained container unless when you water it, you do so and let it drain completely. Now, we've got a plant here, one of the team brought in, a spider plant. And it's really healthy. Spider plants don't need much water. You need watering every few weeks if need be and no more. But look at the bottom. This needs replanting. So I'm going to repot this for it. Now, what this needs is really good drainage. So I've got some compost and some perlite. But vermiculite or grit will do the job just as well. And then mix that up. And we'll put a little bit in the bottom. There we go, new home for you. That needs watering. But you're looking at keeping it pretty dry but misting it daily. Auriculars are dramatically beautiful. But there's more to them than just a sensational, if rather fleeting, display. Advili invited us to her garden to explain more about their fascinating past. As a garden historian, I love having pieces of history in my garden, like old varieties of flowers. But I also can't resist a garden feature. This is an auricular theatre, popular in the 18th and 19th centuries and built especially to display these amazing little plants. Auriculars are members of the Primula family and originated in Europe from the Alps. But their journey and their breeding have a long and rather beautiful story. From just a few wild plants in the 1400s, collectors began to cultivate auriculars to try and get the most elaborate range of colours and patterns. In fact, the term florist was first used in 1623 for these amateur enthusiasts who cultivated these new varieties. At first, this was a mainly aristocratic pursuit as only they could afford these rare inexpensive plants and their expert gardeners. These new plants often had regal names to match. But some were more eccentric. One was named Cockup's Eclipse, but I think it's rather nice. Auricular theatres enabled these little flowers to be displayed together, often at head height, making the plants easier to admire. But once the Industrial Revolution arrived, these ornate blooms slid down the social ladder. They became popular with working people like weavers and miners as they were able to grow these little plants on their windowsills, even if they didn't have a garden. New trends were evolving all the time, so doubles and stripes had been in and out of fashion. But then it became all about the edges, bright colours, frilly bits and even scent. This has an amazing fragrance, it's called Blush Baby. It smells heavenly. It's amazing that such a small plant can have such an intense perfume. The majority of auriculars don't have a scent, but what I love about them is the intense colouring and the amazing detail. The trends continued with auricular leaves. Most were plain green, but some varieties were cultivated with a flowery coat and fondly known as Dusty Millers. Dusties don't like getting wet, but many weavers worked from home, a bit like we're all trying to do now, and they were able to nip out and protect them from the weather. Auriculars are easy to grow, but they like well-drained compost, so I mix in grit when I'm repotting. Some people use bark. And do keep them in the shade because they'll be much happier there. They really gladden my heart in the spring, especially with their cheerful, happy little faces and their colourful history. I love auriculars too, and I like the formality of the theatre, but what we have here on this table outside the potting shed is entirely in that spirit. It's a display of plants that are carefully grouped together like a flower arrangement. And we have bulbs in spring, and now the succulents have come out, and by grouping plants together of a certain type and raising them up, you can really appreciate them. But whatever you use, and whatever space it is, it does all stem from those auricular theatres. Now, I've got cuttings here, some dahlia cuttings from David Howard, lovely orange dahlia with a dark leaf. And I took them about three or four weeks ago, and I don't know if you can see, but the roots are starting to appear at the bottom of the pot. And you know that they're ready to move on, either if you can see the roots, or you see fresh growth. Now, the thing to do is be quite careful, because the roots will be fragile and there won't be a lot of them. So I'm just going to empty the whole thing out into here, trying not to be too forceful about it. There we go. All those roots have formed. Six new dahlias. Gently tease them apart. There you are. Look at that lovely root system. So I've got a pot, put some compost in. And dahlia is like quite rich compost. That can go there like that, shake it down. And it's not too late to take dahlia cuttings, by the way. They won't flower much before October, but it's a very good way of making new plants for next year. And you might get some flowering out of them. There we go. It's generally recognised now that growing plants of any kind is good for both body and mind. And Ben Thornton sent us a film about how growing his own food changed his life. I'm 25. I have an urban allotment farm with my family in Plymouth. Back when I was 14, I became seriously ill when I was on holiday with my family. I was left paralysed from the chest down to my toes. I was told there was a high chance I would never walk again. Over the last couple of years, I have been researching and experimenting in to find the best possible way for myself to grow with the littlest work. I have a passion for heritage and heirloom veg. It's the stories that get me every time. We're growing a potato from 7,000 years ago. We're also growing a squash from the 1800s. And there's one seed that is on my list to grow next year. It's a pea that was discovered in the tomb of Tutankhamun. It's called King Tutu, purple. So that one I will be growing next year. So five things I like to do in the garden. I like to multi-sow my seeds and plant quite a lot of them out how they are. I don't thin them. I like to use as much space as I possibly can. It has to be no dig. Grow organic and let nature in. Growing has been a way for me to find myself again and to give my life purpose as well as help control my mental health. With the help from my family and friends, we have achieved something I am very proud of. Thank you. Ben certainly isn't alone in his discovery of the healing power of gardening. Spending time outside in a green space surrounded by plants and immersed in a garden can transform lives. And the garden that supports a wide range of wildlife as well is both good for you and for nature. These new borders on the mound are attracting loads of insects. Mainly I have to say down to the Ami. This is Ami thisnaga. These rounded umbels of white flower which bees, hoverflies, flies absolutely love. And they mix in with the Nicotiana alata which smells fantastic in the evening. The verbena benariensis which butterflies love. But the sunflower was not planted by me. This is a gatecrasher, an intruder. And I have to say quite a welcome one too. So we'll leave them and in fact let them die back and then the stems may well become a home for a bee or two. Now still to come. We go to Dorset to meet Charlie McCormick as he prepares to enter his dahlias and giant marrow in the local show. The marrow is the one that I really want to win because so much love has gone into that marrow. And Nick explores the world of evening scented plants. The heady scent of this Nicotiana sylvestris is much loved by night flying moths. And it releases its scent just at the beginning of dusk to draw them in. But first we visit Rachel at home. She began to experiment with the arrangement of her summer pots. I think this doorway and that lovely warm Cotswold stone is just crying out for an injection of colour so that this area either side of the door becomes a real statement in the garden. And there's nothing nicer I think than just using pots to create that colour. So I've rounded up pretty much every pot I've got. I've given them, most of them, a good clean up. And now really it's a matter of placing the plants. I love using pots in the garden. They're so versatile. Either planted up with annuals or more permanent plants. They can brighten up and add interest to any part or corner of the garden. So I've just started here with a rose. This one's a beautiful English shrub rose called Gentle Hermione. That is a wonderful fragrance. A myrrh fragrance. Really sweet and delicious. And then I just want to build up a nice recipe of plants to complement it. And I've chosen just for a bit of real contrast with the colouring of the foliage this Heuchera. This is Obsidian which I think is my favourite dark-leaved variety. And of course at the moment it's also got these very pretty rather airy stems of flowers. Then I think on this side I'm going to put another Heuchera. The same one. So keeping it fairly simple. I don't want to put too many things together because there's already going to be a lot going on in this area. I'm just firming the compost right the way around all the gaps there at the back. Don't want any air pockets. And this is just a good multi-purpose compost. This is peat-free and it's also got some added John Innes. And then the last bit of this recipe is this lovely Rhodanthemum. And just look at that. You see I love the way that these little daisies. The centre of them just picks up on the leaf of the Heuchera. I think that's a really lovely combination. So there's a lot of real loveliness going on in here. I've added some foxgloves on the other side of the door to bring balance to the rows. Just so that we've got some more height. And under-planted them with Calibrachoa to bring an extra bit of zing. So we've got the large pots in position now. And I've got all those lovely soft pinks. That really dark foliage. And I'm going to pick up on that with this beautiful foxglove. It's called Firebird and it's a new one. And in its parentage it's got the Canary Island Foxglove. Which is going to give it these really gorgeous almost orangey flowers. And you've got this lovely dark stem. And this one's perennial as well. I'm going to try and get two more things in. Where there's a will there's a way. So there's this beautiful little geum. Savannah Sunset. Lovely small flowers. Quite a lot of gold in the centres there. But the little petals they are just the most beautiful pale apricot. And that same slightly rusty tint down through the stems. And I think I might use an old trick with this lovely steeper tenuissima. Which is just to take some of the compost away from this root ball. It's still sort of fairly loose in there. And this is because really in containers I think you do want things fairly close planted. It's not a long-term planting like in the garden. So very often these things are only going to be in here for a season or so. Important thing of course is to remember that you are responsible entirely for watering and for feeding. So a liquid feed for greedy plants once a week isn't a miss. And watering daily in hot weather at least once a day. It does fit. Knew it would. I can never resist a clematis or a dahlia. So they are going to be part of my mid-layer. So we've now got the large pots and that mid-storey. It's time for all those pretty little pots that we can just dot in amongst. And I just want to put individual plants into those. And the great thing about growing in pots is that you can have the growing conditions exactly that the individual plants require. So for example these thyme like really sharp drainage. So we've got a little bit of multipurpose compost with some horticultural grit just to make sure the roots don't sit in moisture. And this is going to be so popular with the bees while it's in flower. And equally popular with me because I'm going to pick the stems and use them in cooking. Another good reason to have it right by the door. These smaller pots give me a chance to grow some of my favourite little plants. Things like the dianthus, the saxifraga and succulents. All of which actually like sharp drainage so I can give them the conditions they need. It's a bit like painting a picture. You need to know when to stop and I think I'm just about there. Just can't resist though this lovely little tilbagia. It's called purple eye. Lovely little flowers. Not completely hardy so it's going to need a bit of protection over the winter. But that really is the beauty of pots. It means that you can bring the changes with the seasons. You can move things around as and when you feel you want to. And also give the plants the right conditions that they need. So I think that's a jolly good day's work. As Rachel shows, a pot is both an arrangement and also something that has the dimension of time. It's going to change and you need to manage that change. I'm under-planting this cabir with a bidens. This is one that glories in the name of Biden's Bee Dance Orange Splash. And I grew it first a few years ago and love the way that it holds this intense orange, slightly caramel colour for months. This will go on looking good well into September if not October as long as it's watered and fed. And that's the key to good pots at this time of year. Is planning their future so that they look as good at the end of summer as they do now. Well the cabir has got a few weeks before that looks really good. But I think a little bit of colour at its base will make all the difference. As well as all the incredible range of colours that plants can bring, many are also deliciously fragrant. And scent is a vital component in any garden. And Nick went to Cambridge University Botanic Garden to savour some very special scented plants. There's a whole host of plants that wait all day until the evening light before they release their magical floral scent. These are the mysterious night scented plants. Just like us humans, every species of plant has their own circadian rhythms which control the timings of when to flower, grow, set seed and lose leaves, as well as give off scent. Plants even adjust their timekeeping with the seasons which helps them to grow most efficiently and means they know when to flower during the day to attract the most amount of insects for pollination. And evening scented flowers are as appealing to us as they are to some of our most vital pollinators, moths. As the flower opens, it releases a combination of microscopic compounds and oils unique to each plant which dissipate into the air. Moths can detect the scent from several miles away and that's the signal they need to visit the flower. Once a flower has been pollinated, they reduce the amount of scent released which directs insects to un-pollinated flowers and ensures they get a good meal in return. The heady scent of this Nicotiana sylvestris is much loved by night flying moths and it releases its scent just at the beginning of dusk to draw them in. Now around the world, moths and butterflies have co-evolved with species like this to have especially long tongues so they can get to the good stuff at the bottom of the flower. Now there's not a UK species of moth or butterfly that can get right into these corolla tubes but there is a different form of Nicotiana you can grow called a larta. Now it's an annual and you can grow it very easily through the borders. It's perfectly good enough to bring in our moths and butterflies. So if it's good enough for them, I think the scent's good enough for us too. There are over 2,500 species of moth in the UK compared to just 59 species of butterfly but sadly their populations are in decline. But by planting evening scented nectar-rich plants which have specifically evolved to attract nocturnal insects, we can give our moths the sustenance they need. This gorgeous plant is Brugmansia, better known as angel trumpets and for me I think it's got the best of the night scents. It's heady and exotic and it can fill a whole garden very easily. You can just sow a seed in February, keep it under glass, grow it on through summer and extraordinarily it'll get to six foot or so by late summer and start producing these fantastic trumpet blooms. But it's part of the Solanaceae family or the deadly nightshade family. For that reason it's extremely poisonous so you need to wear gloves when you're dealing with it, keep it away from children, make sure all those precautions are in place and you'll have a gorgeous deliciously night-scented plant. One of the easiest ways to get exquisite night scent into your garden is to grow jasmine. Now there are many forms and varieties available, this particular one is jasminum officinali. Now it's self-twining so it's very easy to grow on a trellis, you can cut it down hard each year and it'll produce masses of new growth and then these delicious night-scented blooms. But a particularly special thing about this plant is that the flowers are so pale and so white that they glow out of the twilight while at the same time emitting a delicious scent. Research shows that pale colours are the last to disappear at dark which means the flowers are more visible to the moths. But they also stand out for us too, so if you scatter pale-coloured evening-scented plants through your garden they'll be the very last colour to disappear at dusk. Perhaps the most iconic of all the night-scented plants is this, anethra bionis or the evening primrose. Now it's very easy to grow from seed and does quite well on poor soils. It will also self-seed so you need to make sure it doesn't spread too widely in the garden. But up here is where the magic happens. So this is the remnants of last night's bloom, it will have stayed open all night and emitted that delicious lemony scent and then tonight this is the one that's going to open and bloom through till dawn. During the day this little fella looked like a series of red berries but in fact what it was was all the petals closed up and they're red on their backs and they give that effect and then as dusk starts to fall they slowly open and reveal this luminous white tone. Now this is a Zeluzianskia and it's one called Varta. It's great for growing on rock gardens or you can grow it in pots as well and it has a very delicate night scent but if you want a really powerful night scent the one to go for is Zeluzianskia capensis. It's absolutely sublime and it can fill a whole back garden with the smallest of plants. As night falls the evening primrose have finally popped open, they're beautiful flowers and are releasing scent. So by introducing night-scented plants like this to your garden you can know that they're both good for you and good for the moths too. Perhaps one of the headiest scents of all comes from lilies and as well as being one of summer's most dramatic flowers their fragrance can fill a garden. This is Casablanca and it's been a very good year for lilies but this one has stood out. It's enormous, it's flowered for weeks, the fragrance is heavenly and I'm growing them in relatively small pots. Three bulbs to a pot and they're doing fine. If you've got a border with nice loose friable soil with a cool base then it'll be very happy planted out too. Really crackingly. One of the great advantages of growing in pots is that they can be moved to perform in the best possible position when in flower and then tucked away when it's all over. There are also endless ideas as to what you can actually use as a container. Aaron Greco sent us a film to show us the success that he has had using a bit of ingenuity. Hey what's up gardeners world? My name is Aaron and I'm from Nottingham and I'm about to show you my two homemade raised tyre planters. When I was building the tyre I made sure that I lined the inside making sure all the soil was kept inside and underneath I made plenty of drainage holes for the rain to escape. And I've used these metal poles which used to be from an old gazebo. So as you can see in the centre I've used a lavender plant that attracts all the pollinators to this planter and either side of it I've got two yellow flowers and at the back a random tomato plant. And in the shady area I've got a baby strawberry plant which I rescued from the mother plant. Moving on to my second planter this one's probably my favourite one out of the two. I just love how all the different plants are working together. It's a bit overcrowded you could say but I think it looks good like this. So at the front I decided to plant a strawberry plant. As you can see there's some strawberries already growing. It's probably my favourite plant, berries and cream. It smells amazing and it attracts all the bees to this planter. And unlike the other planter this one's actually got a hanging swinging plant box and I decided to plant a pepper plant in it. And over here my first ever pepper is growing. And this actually gets watered by the rainwater leaking through the bottom of the tyre. So yeah these are my raised tyre planters. I hope I've inspired you guys to maybe make your own. I'm very impressed by the range and variety of plants that Aaron is growing in his tyres. It is amazing the richness and diversity of wildlife that almost any garden can contain. And your garden can become a wildlife reserve wherever it is and however small it is. Just sitting here in this little patch of the herb garden with the daisies and the sage and the fennel and it is positively humming and buzzing with insects. I can hear many different types of birds and probably there are little frooze and voles running around in the undergrowth. But there is one secret to really noticing them and that is to give yourself the time to stop and look. As spring unfolds into the long days of summer it's time for those quintessentially British plant fairs and village flower shows. And for Charlie McCormick and Dorset it means the climax of a year's hard work in the garden. The show bug for me started in New Zealand growing up on a farm. And my grandparents were big into the showing world and they got me into showing vegetables and flowers. This year I'm trying to just focus on a couple of things the giant vegetables and the dahlias. Dahlias for me are an exciting flower because there's such a range. You can get cactus and then you can get giant like dinner plate ones and then there's the tiny pom poms and they come in the most outrageous blousy garish colours which just make you so happy. We moved down here to Dorset. I got involved in the community and I realised there was a milk plant show which is basically like living in New Zealand because it's all exactly the same how it works. Sheep, horticulture, floristry, baking, preserves. I've got about 30 entries in this year. I'm going to pick as much as I can. Three years ago I decided I wanted to grow more flowers for some crazy reason so I decided to dig up the lawn. This is Bearberry Pip. It's my first year of growing it but it definitely needs a cover over it just because the purple varieties tend to fade in the sun so they lose their true colour around the bottom. I like the colour so I just grew it this year and it's great for in the house but I don't know how well it will do at the show. I'm a bit nervous about the dahlias but I'm quite excited about other things about my marrow. The marrow is about to be cut to go to the show and my husband Ben hopefully is going to help me lift it. With the marrow and the pumpkin competition it all goes on weight. It's not about beauty or anything. It's first or nothing. The marrow is the one that I really want to win because I mean so much love has gone into that marrow. The umbrella over the marrow is to allow the marrow to grow without its skin getting hard because if the direct sunlight hits the marrow it means that the skin will harden which means that the marrow can't expand as quickly as you want it to. Is this the one you want? Yeah. That's perfect. The beast is revealed. This is quite terrifying. Okay. Yeah. Look at that. That is revolting. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I'm feeling pretty mixed about how the show is going to go this year because I know that there's always quite stiff competition but I'd be very happy if I got a few prizes. Showing definitely takes me out of my comfort zone. When I arrive at the show I'm quite a sort of reserved shy person but once you're in there and you sort of start chatting to people you get really revved up. 44.6. Pretty good. What was that last year, right? Yeah. Good. 15 kilograms heavier than last year. Don't know how I feel about the competition. Fingers crossed about the marrow but all will be revealed tomorrow. Judging is such a strict part of the flower and vegetable world. The judging normally takes about three or four hours and then all the cards get written out and placed on the exhibits. When it's first open it's like this mad rush because everyone wants to see how they've done. And shall we give that a highly commended? The judging is always such a tense moment so I'm pretty nervous. Those are far too young. What a shame. People have their own views but when it comes down to the judge's decision that's final. Melbourne Show this year has been an amazing, amazing, amazing show for me. I'm so happy with how my dailies have done this year. I got awarded six first prizes and I won the daily cup which is given to the person who has gained most points out of all the daily classes. Now it's the terrifying bit. How did my marrow do? I am so excited that my marrow has won first prize because that was the one thing that I really, really, really wanted to win at the show and all that sort of nurturing it's got for the last three months and to win first it's just amazing. You'll often hear people refer to gardens in September as fading elegantly and of course they do by and large but not the jaw garden here at the very heart of Longmeadow. In September it reaches its richest intensity. All the canners and the dahlias and the sunflowers and the buddleja work together to make something that is positively pulsating with rich colour. But there's one plant this year that has given me a special pleasure. Last year somebody gave me a couple of gingers and I put them in a border and they grew perfectly well and then I lifted them and kept them in the protection of a greenhouse over winter and bought them out again in spring and instead of planting them in the border I put one each in a large pot. And they've done very well. It's not just that they're healthy and they're starting to flower but they form such a good structure in a pot. They've got grandeur and presence and they're clearly very happy and that's how I'm going to grow them next year. It's a really good development for me. Well I'm afraid that's it for this week but the good news is that I will be back at Longmeadow with Nellie and Patty for the beginning of a brand new series starting next Friday at 9 p.m. Don't forget that if you want to send in a film to show us what you're doing in your garden we would love to see it. Go to our website for all the details of how to send it and also for some handy hints on how to make it. But I'll see you next week.