Gardening with the RHS

Latest Episodes:

Picking the perfect rose May 05, 2022

Show notes

This week we meet Michael Marriott, one of the UK’s foremost rosarians. Michael shares his expertise from a lifetime of rose growing, which is distilled into his new book, RHS Roses: An Inspirational Guide to Choosing and Growing the Best Roses. Plus troubleshooting tips on rose growing from the RHS Gardening Advice team.

Matthew Oliver, horticulturist and veg grower extraordinaire continues our greenhouse growing mini-series with a piece from the beautiful glasshouse at the heart of RHS Garden Hyde Hall. Hear seasonal GYO advice and first-hand hints on how to grow melons with exceptional flavour.

Useful links: ►RHS Roses: An Inspirational Guide to Choosing and Growing the Best Roses►RHS advice on how to grow roses ►Global Growth Vegetable Garden ►How to grow melons

200 years of knowing your onions! Apr 28, 2022

Show notes

Join us as we celebrate 200 years of spreading gardening knowledge with RHS educational programmes. Whether you want to travel the world on botanical adventures for a Master of Horticulture qualification, or for your children to learn how to plant seeds, we are there for you. An RHS course can open the door to a fantastic career in gardening, and we hear from students past and present who share their stories.

Study & learn with the RHS

A Cumbrian garden gem, seasonal Q&A Apr 21, 2022

Show notes

Out of more than 200 gardens nationwide, only one can take the coveted crown of RHS Partner Garden of the Year. The 2021 winner has just been announced as Larch Cottage Nurseries in Cumbria's Eden Valley – we meet owner Peter Stott to find out the story behind his piece of horticultural heaven. Back at RHS Garden Wisley, horticultural advisors James Lawrence, Nikki Barker and Julie Henderson get together to answer queries on compost-making, wildflower growing and how to get year-round fragrance in your garden. Plus we talk to Sui Searle, curator of the alternative gardening newsletter Radicle, to hear about her journey into gardening and the changes she hopes to inspire within the horticultural world.

Useful links

RHS Partner Garden of the Year
Larch Cottage Nurseries
How to make compost
Radicle newsletter
Join the RHS for free access to RHS Partner Gardens at selected times

Scented shrubs mentioned

Winter honeysuckles (Lonicera fragrantissima and Lonicera x purpusii)
Osmanthus x burkwoodii and Osmanthus heterophyllus
Elaeagnus x ebbingei
Daphnes

Time-travelling plants Apr 14, 2022

Show notes

Today we're taking a trip back in time with Dr Chris Thorogood, Head of Science at Oxford Botanic Garden. Enter long-forgotten worlds of the weird and wonderful plants which flourished before, during and after the age of dinosaurs, and discover their descendants that still flourish today. Ferns are among these 'living fossils', and RHS Gardening Advisor James Lawrence shares some favourite varieties to grow in the garden* in discussion with colleagues Nikki Barker and Julie Henderson.

Plus, an alternative look at ancient plants with Sarah Gerrard-Jones, aka The Plant Rescuer. She's built a huge online following charting her journey into rescuing abandoned plants and championing houseplant heirlooms passed down through generations.

Useful links: ►RHS info on ferns ►RHS info on houseplants ►When Plants Took Over the Planet: The Amazing Story of Plant Evolution by Chris Thorogood ►The Plant Rescuer – The Book Your Houseplants Want You To Read by Sarah Gerrard-Jones

Contributors: Chris Thorogood, Sarah Gerrard-Jones

A Chelsea garden with a difference Apr 07, 2022

Show notes

In the aftermath of the Grenfell Tower disaster Tayshan Hayden-Smith brought a traumatised community together through gardening. In almost exactly 5 years his gardening journey has taken him from neglected London street-side spaces to a garden at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show. It's a tale of resilience, resourcefulness and horticultural heroism – and homage to the bravery of 1970s activists whose legacy lives on today.

There's bravery in admitting your mistakes too, as BBC Gardeners' World presenter Adam Frost shows as he shares one of his gardening fails. Plus, RHS advisors gather to answer queries on daffodils that won't flower, growing lawns in shady spots and veg growing in raised beds.

Useful links: ►'Hands Off Mangrove' garden at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show ►Grow2Know CIC ►Search RHS advice online ►Join the RHS for free, personalised gardening advice ►Houseplant care ►Lawns in shade ►Grow your own fruit and veg

Adam Frost's garden projects, bog gardens and seasonal veg growing advice Mar 31, 2022

Show notes

To celebrate the publication of his new book, The Creative Gardener, Adam Frost joins us this week to share some of his favourite creative outdoor projects. From simple yet stylish benches to a planted coffee table, there's a host of wonderful features you can make with very little cash.

Meanwhile at RHS Garden Harlow Carr, horticulturist Aimee-Beth Browning explains how having wet or boggy ground can open up a whole world of planting possibilities. Plus a look at how to up your gardening game with a greenhouse and Guy Barter shares his timely tips for vegetable growing.

Useful links: ►The Creative Gardenerby Adam Frost ►Explore RHS gardening design inspiration ►Streamside, RHS Garden Harlow Carr ►Plants for bog gardens ►Further information about bog and aquatic plants ►Choosing a greenhouse ►RHS Grow Your Own

Selected plants mentioned: ►Harlow Car primulas [note spelling] ►Rodgersia ►hostas ►astilbes ►Iris ensata ►RHS Find a plant

Orchid special Mar 24, 2022

Show notes

Welcome to the contrary and fascinating world of one of the biggest plant families on Earth. 'Orchids are plants of great contradiction but always astonishing beauty' - says James Armitage, botanist and Editor of The Orchid Review magazine, who shares insight into what draws people to these strange and wonderful plants.

Historian Abra Lee tells the tale of a young enslaved man in Reunion who solved the riddle of how to pollinate vanilla - the only orchid out of 25,000-plus species that's commercially grown as a food crop. Did you know you can grow orchids as garden plants? Jeff Hutchings of Laneside Hardy Orchids gives tips on how to grow them outdoors - why not make an orchid meadow in your garden this year?

Colin Newlands tells the tortuous tale of our rarest native orchid, the lady's slipper orchid (Cypripedium calceolus). Thought extinct in the early 20th century: a chance encounter in the 1930s on an isolated hillside led to decades of botanical intrigue - and even personal protection for the plant. We discover how this exquisite wildflower is faring almost a century after its assumed disappearance.

Useful links

The Orchid Review
Tips for growing orchids indoors
RHS Orchids (book)
Laneside Hardy Orchids
Orchid Show at RHS Garden Wisley
The Wildlife Trusts
BSBI maps (Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland) (for discovering your local native orchid species)

Selected plants mentioned

Hardy orchids: Bletilla, Calanthe, Dactylorhiza, Cypripedium, Pleione

Indoor orchids: Phalaenopsis (moth orchids), Cattleya

The A-mazing guide to hedges Mar 17, 2022

Show notes

Our Chief Horticulturist Guy Barter wanders into Hampton Court Palace's historic yew maze to meet Gardens Manager Graham Dillamore. Once haunt of kings and queens, this 300 year old spread of tortuous topiary now welcomes thousands of visitors and contains valuable lessons for modern-day gardeners too. Guy offers hedge planting and maintenance advice before handing over to Dr Stephanie Bird who shares the latest thinking on box tree moth, a recent arrival to Britain that can devastate plantings of box (Buxus sempervirens).

Did you know that hedges have some powerful environmental benefits? Recent RHS research shows they can reduce pollution levels, help prevent flooding and even provide habitat for wildlife and food for pollinators. RHS scientist Dr Mark Gush explains more, and shares details of the best plants to use.

Useful links

Hampton Court Palace maze
Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival
RHS advice on growing and maintaining hedges
Box tree moth (includes info on planting alternatives to box)
Hedges with environmental benefits

Plants mentioned

(to find suppliers please visit RHS Find a Plant or the RHS online plant shop)

Yew (Taxus baccata), western red cedar (Thuja plicata), hawthorn (Crataegus) and cotoneaster (Cotoneaster franchetii and others), beech (Fagus sylvatica), pyracantha, Japanese barberry (Berberis thunbergii), cherry laurel (Prunus laurocerasus), holly (Ilex aquifolium), hornbeam (Carpinus betulus)

Keep your garden buzzing Mar 10, 2022

Show notes

This week’s programme is all about being kinder to the earth and the creatures we share it with. Guy Barter meets the founder of Riverford Organic Farmers, Guy Singh-Watson, to discover how he turned a family dairy farm into a byword for sustainable food. Dave Goulson, author of Silent Earth – Averting the Insect Apocalypse shares his thoughts on how gardeners can be more active in the fight to save our bees, butterflies and all manner of threatened insects. Plus RHS Gardening Advisor Nikki Barker offers advice to gardeners who grow on sandy soil.

What's in a name? Mar 03, 2022

Show notes

Plant names and their pronunciation can be a vexed business. If you’re overwhelmed by long Latin plant names, take heart: botanist and author James Wong comes to the rescue and explains why the botanical names matter and how a little knowledge of them can give us clues as to how plants look and perform. He explains that since Latin is a dead language, there’s no-one around to correct your pronunciation – so just go ahead and have a go!

When familiar plant names are changed, it can be a source of annoyance for us gardeners. But James Armitage, Editor of The Plant Review, explains there is method behind the apparent madness of this; plus, after the storms, what you need to check in your garden this weekend.

Useful links

The Plant Review

Promoting garden plant diversity (RHS website)

Meet the RHS horticultural taxonomy team