The Great British Garden Revival.

[rufc15lizzie]

what are the plants a little like hosta that were in the guess the hardy plants?

I think you'll find it was hosta.

I thought it was an aspidistra wasnt it that they compared the hosta against in the guess the hardy plant bit.

[fern Rob]

It was good but to be honest I was kinda hoping there would be more palms on there. And I didnt realise tropical gardening is so untrendy right now either?

I think gardening overall is untrendy.

I think you have a point there Rob. I get really enthusiastic when talking about gardening and my garden. Sometimes I feel like I'm setting myself up for a real p!ss taking comment when opening up about what my hobby is. I guess that is why I love this site so much as everyone has the same enthusiasm and interest!

For me some people just see a tree fern as a fern and thats it.

[Alexander]

I was disappointed that the presenter insisted on using "common names" and pretty spurious ones at that, and daft things like putting a Trachycarpus in a pot barely big enough to take its roots was just asking for trouble. Some nice shots of plants tho

Well for people without a garden maybe. If you have only a balcony and you want a easy coldhardy palm there.

Alexander

[Alexander]

Thank you Kris.
Wow ...I m spechless... the man is definitely an exotic plant wizzard.After seeing the short preview I instantly became a fanatik fan of this man. he is a GOD.
This man proves the words of the famous Albert Einstein who said that "only the ones who attempt the absurd will accomplish the impossible".
How cold it gets in Norwich? may be he is helped by the climat.

Well he said -11c so id say quite cold. He's not that far from me really, the cold east of England. We received -14c in 2010. Quite ironic though how in order to create his microclimate for his tropicals he has to plant tall growing native trees and north american conifers.

Well Norwich gets still a bit warming up from the North Sea when you get a nasty cold wind from the East during winter. Here in the Western parts of The Netherlands winters can be even colder as there is nothing between here and Russia then land. And when you get lots of snow...

Alexander

[Alexander]

Yes it was good and thankfully it didn't give too many secrets away!
I love having different and unusual plants in my garden and as soon as I start finding things that I grow turning up in garden centres, then I feel that I need to find something different! I know this will happen with time but for now at least i like to stay a couple of steps in front.
A good programme for people starting out though, good ideas and inspiration!

Well both my first outside Chamaerops and Trachycarpus fortunei where bought at a gardencenter. And the start of my exotic gardening in 1979/1980.And its good that they offer them in gardencentres. The more, the better, then they will turn up in more gardens like T. fortunei does now here in my area.

Alexander

[Alexander]

Brilliant!

I did not know that exotic gardening was allready very populair in the Victorian Era. Well it took more then hundred years to get it to this side of the murky waters. And it needs to get much more known by a boader public I think. Otherwise it keeps going to be pretty dull overhere for the near futur...

Alexander

[parkeey]

I don't think tropical gardening is untrendy i think the normal working person hasn't the time and effort for it, and more for hobbyists like all of us.

I liked the tiny glimpse of Nick Wilson garden in wales, the thatched hut, walkways through the jungle with koi ponds and huge foilage plants.. nice ideas with mostly hardy plants mixed in.

[bordersboy]

These huts/houses on stilts may be the future on the flood plains in southern England. Gunnera thrive in boggy soil too

[phoenix]

I was disappointed that the presenter insisted on using "common names" and pretty spurious ones at that, and daft things like putting a Trachycarpus in a pot barely big enough to take its roots was just asking for trouble. Some nice shots of plants tho

Well for people without a garden maybe. If you have only a balcony and you want a easy coldhardy palm there.

Alexander

What i meant was putting a Trachycarpus in a pot thats barely able to contain its roots would mean that watering properly would be difficult and because the plant has large solid leafs it would be blown over every time the wind blew

[bordersboy]

Made worse by putting it in a terracotta pot.It would need constant watering from spring till fall. No osmocote either ?

[stephenprudence]

I was just able to watch the show, with the part about exotic gardening, I thought myself it was an excellent program, which was very enthusiastic about the idea (as James was). It doesn't matter much about what you call the plants, as it's reaching out to people who have no interest in gardening, and don't care much for botanical latinised names.

For us it just drives us on..

[phoenix]

I was just able to watch the show, with the part about exotic gardening, I thought myself it was an excellent program, which was very enthusiastic about the idea (as James was). It doesn't matter much about what you call the plants, as it's reaching out to people who have no interest in gardening, and don't care much for botanical latinised names.

For us it just drives us on..

I agree it was good to showcase the kind of plants we grow especially to those people who garden "normally" but when the information presented misleads potential new exotic gardeners then it leads to disappointment. Many of these people believe that you cant grow these kind of plants in the UK so when they dabble and have failures due to inappropriate care based on poor advice then it only goes to prove what they believe. A Trachycarpus, or Canna or any of the other plants that were used to demonstrate potting exotics is going to need a lot of water and feed throughout the growing season, this was not explained, nor was increased risk of frost penetration of plants in a pot and the size of the pots was way too small for the plants shown.
The use of latin names is important, many common names change by locality and it can lead to people buying plants that are not what they thought they were, when i started working in the exotic plant business i thought that using latin names was pretentious and unnecessary but i quickly changed my mind, proper identification of the plants using the correct latin name is vital in ensuring that the buyer gets the right plant especially when plants from the same genus or species display different degrees of hardiness/ drought tolerance or other traits that make them suitable for our use and to be fair the use of latin has become much more acceptable since the publication of Harry Potter.
It would also have been good if the presenter tipped his hat to this and other hardy exotic forums, this is where new exotic gardeners can find the best information which is based on actual experience rather than the hypothetical information you find in many formal publications

[doncasterpalmguy123]

I was just able to watch the show, with the part about exotic gardening, I thought myself it was an excellent program, which was very enthusiastic about the idea (as James was). It doesn't matter much about what you call the plants, as it's reaching out to people who have no interest in gardening, and don't care much for botanical latinised names.

For us it just drives us on..

I agree it was good to showcase the kind of plants we grow especially to those people who garden "normally" but when the information presented misleads potential new exotic gardeners then it leads to disappointment. Many of these people believe that you cant grow these kind of plants in the UK so when they dabble and have failures due to inappropriate care based on poor advice then it only goes to prove what they believe. A Trachycarpus, or Canna or any of the other plants that were used to demonstrate potting exotics is going to need a lot of water and feed throughout the growing season, this was not explained, nor was increased risk of frost penetration of plants in a pot and the size of the pots was way too small for the plants shown.
The use of latin names is important, many common names change by locality and it can lead to people buying plants that are not what they thought they were, when i started working in the exotic plant business i thought that using latin names was pretentious and unnecessary but i quickly changed my mind, proper identification of the plants using the correct latin name is vital in ensuring that the buyer gets the right plant especially when plants from the same genus or species display different degrees of hardiness/ drought tolerance or other traits that make them suitable for our use and to be fair the use of latin has become much more acceptable since the publication of Harry Potter.
It would also have been good if the presenter tipped his hat to this and other hardy exotic forums, this is where new exotic gardeners can find the best information which is based on actual experience rather than the hypothetical information you find in many formal publications

To be fair though, its not like they really gave us much growing tips on any of the episodes! Each revival only had 30 min's to wow the crowd so there was not really time to go into detail for every species. Surely if someone wants to try one of the plants from any of the separate revivals they will research or ask specialists at nurseries/garden centres how best to grow, i know i do when ever i get a new plant. Haha only a moron wouldn't… we don't like to kill our plants off, i don't think it makes a difference if they told us how to care for each plant, i suppose were just lucky to have this forum as one source for advice.

[Yorkshire Kris]

I agree the bit showing a Trachycarpus being planted in a terracotta pot that wasn't much bigger than the pot it was coming out of was silly but the overall programme for non-tropical gardeners was hopefully very inspiring. It was also nice to see a Yorkshire Tropical garden to show exotics can be grown up north!

[Alexander]

I was disappointed that the presenter insisted on using "common names" and pretty spurious ones at that, and daft things like putting a Trachycarpus in a pot barely big enough to take its roots was just asking for trouble. Some nice shots of plants tho

Well for people without a garden maybe. If you have only a balcony and you want a easy coldhardy palm there.

Alexander

What i meant was putting a Trachycarpus in a pot thats barely able to contain its roots would mean that watering properly would be difficult and because the plant has large solid leafs it would be blown over every time the wind blew

Yes,

You are riht. And a Chamaerops would be an better option to use in pots. Stiff leaves, it stays smaller. And in Rome they had many good ones in larger pots.

Well they make those programmes for a broader public. And some things they could do much better. There was one last week where they where making a small sort of Terrarium with A sarracenia and some other planyts. Well they did use the wrong compost and that terrarium was to small to start with.

But I compair this BBC programme with the crappe they show here on television. My God this Saturaday again it was something stupid they created in a Dutch garden...

Alexander