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RHS Chelsea Flower Show

Kathy Clugston and the panel are at Chelsea Flower Show answering your gardening queries.

Kathy Clugston and the panel are at this year's Chelsea Flower Show answering your gardening questions. Joining Kathy are regular panellists Pippa Greenwood, Matt Biggs and Chris Thorogood.

For the first time at Chelsea, we see container and small balcony showgardens, proving that you don't need a garden to be a gardener. Kathy and the team chat with designers Sara Edwards and James Smith about their sustainable and inventive creations.

Meanwhile, Peter Gibbs steps out of the chair to be our intrepid GQT correspondent, exploring all of this years' praiseworthy plantlife. He speaks with exhibitors Jacob James - Grow Tropicals, Liverpudlian gardener Don Billington, Marc Lea and Daniel Michael – Surreal Succulents as well as houseplant designers, Alice Bailey and Maddie Bailey.

Producers - Daniel Cocker and Jemima Rathbone
Assistant Producers - Bethany Hocken and Aniya Das

A Somethin' Else production for Ö÷²¥´óÐã Radio 4

Available now

42 minutes

Plant List

Questions and timecodes are below. Timecodes relate to the full length version of this show, broadcast on Sunday 26th September.

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Where applicable, plant names have been provided.

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Q – What can we plant to create a focal point in our front garden, around the path that leads to the front door? We have a yellow colour theme.

(4 minutes 42 seconds)

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Pippa –

CytisusÌýbattandieri

Choisya ternata ‘S³Ü²Ô»å²¹²Ô³¦±ð’

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Chris –

Melianthus major

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Matt –

Thuja occidentalis 'Rheingold'
JasminumÌýofficinale ‘Fiona Sunrise’

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Q – I have dug up a circular flower bed in my front garden to create a wild flower patch using plug plants. How can I get the same again next year? Will I need to plant more plants or sow more seeds? Should I cut it back, or leave it?

(8 minutes 15 seconds)

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Garden Designer Sarah Edwards tells us all about her IBC Pocket Forest

(11 minutes 36 seconds)

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Q – We have just put an old pallet in our garden to hide our bins, and we’d like to add some potted plants to make it look nicer. We have some 5 inch (12.7cm) pots hanging from it, and some room on the ground. The area is north facing.

(13 minutes 16 seconds)

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Sarah –

Dryopteris

Hart’s-tongue fern

Ivy

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Chris –

Soft shield fern

Carex

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Matt –

Epimedium ‘Wudang Star’

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Peter Gibbs shows us around the great pavilion and speaks to indoor plant exhibitors, Jacob James – Grow Tropicals, Don Billington, Mark Lea and Daniel Michael – Surreal Succulents about their displays.

(16 minutes 55 seconds)

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Q – My cactus is more than 30 years old, and about 90cm (2 feet 11 inches) high. It’s been living in a vase all these years. How do I replant it without damaging the plant, or my hands?!

(21 minutes 19 seconds)

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Q – I have a Calathea majestica ‘white star’ which has started getting black spots. I haven’t been using a humidifier and have been watering with tap water. Is this disease or is it my care?

(24 minutes)

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Designer James Smith tells us about his balcony garden.

(26 minutes 2 seconds)

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Q – I have a small, north-facing balcony that I would like to grow plants on, but every summer it is infested with fruit flies. How could I get rid of the flies, or what could I grow that will resist the flies?

(27 minutes 15 seconds)

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James –

Sarcococca

GaliumÌýodoratum

Skimmia

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Peter Gibbs bumps into Matthew Pottage at the houseplant show gardens, and speaks with designers Alice and Maddie Bailey about their house plant showroom.
(30 minutes 30 seconds)

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Q – What could I grow in my greenhouse over winter?

(34 minutes 48 seconds)

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Matt –

Kale

Mizuna greens

Red mustard greens

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Chris –

Avocado tree

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Q – My daughter has just moved to an alpine chalet, 3277 feet (998m) above sea level. They have created some terraced beds to grow vegetables, soft fruit and flowers in pots. They are south facing, the summer is warm but there is deep snow from November – April. What could they grow?

(37 minutes 58 seconds)

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Pippa –

Alpine strawberries

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Chris –

Lilium martagon

Lilium pyrenaicum

Broadcasts

  • Fri 24 Sep 2021 15:00
  • Sun 26 Sep 2021 14:00

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