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0:36

Spring is stretching its limbs and

0:39

the garden is stirring into life.

0:41

As the days grow longer and

0:43

the air begins to warm, there's

0:45

a tangible energy to it. There's

0:48

a heady mix of birdsong, budding

0:50

leaves, and the unmistakable scent of

0:52

fresh soil and blossoms. April carries

0:54

that beautiful blend of anticipation and

0:57

gentle chaos, where every corner of

0:59

the garden whispers of what's to

1:01

come. In the

1:03

ornamental garden it's time to think

1:05

upwards. Now is the perfect moment

1:07

to sow annual climbers like the

1:09

bright and breezy canary creeper, which

1:11

is related to the stirsions, or

1:13

the fiery-hued Spanish flag, Ipomoea labata,

1:15

which is perfect for adding vertical

1:17

interests to walls, trellises and containers

1:19

later in the summer. For a

1:21

more naturalistic look, sprinkle sprinkle some

1:23

cosmos or field poppies directly into

1:25

any border gaps, and their delicate

1:27

blooms will bring you effortless charm.

1:30

Meanwhile, summer flowering bulbs and

1:32

corms like eucomus, gladiolus and freeges

1:35

can be potted up now, as

1:37

Guy mentioned in the podcast the

1:39

other week, and placed outside once

1:41

the risk of the frost is

1:44

fully passed. It's all about setting

1:46

the stage for a glorious display

1:48

later in the season. And on

1:50

the veg front, April marks the

1:53

moment to start sewing crops directly

1:55

into the soil. Hardie storewets like

1:57

beetroot like beetroot, lettuce, and leeks.

2:00

And if you're after a bit

2:02

of flare, why not try colrabi

2:04

or summer cauliflower? They make for

2:06

slightly quirky additions to the plot,

2:08

and don't forget the ever-reliable peas,

2:11

which are always springtime classic. Tender

2:13

crops still need a bit of

2:15

cositing, so underglaster in the greenhouse

2:17

you can get started with corsets,

2:19

pumpkins, and squashes, and cucumbers too.

2:22

These wants lovers will thrive under

2:24

protection until the final frost gives

2:26

it farewell. and returning to help

2:28

us with our veg patches this

2:30

week is Liz Mooney from RHS

2:32

Garden Whistley's Edibles team. She's been

2:35

busy sewing the season's hardy root

2:37

veg and she's going to be

2:39

sharing her expert tips for getting

2:41

the best from beetroot turnips and

2:43

parsnips. The RHS Gardening advice team

2:46

will also be joining us to

2:48

answer your most frequently asked questions

2:50

this month from how to diagnose

2:52

a crispy crispy here. I could

2:54

probably do with that advice to

2:56

the final points of pruning. And

2:59

for something truly special, we'll be

3:01

speaking with Claire Hermann, recipient of

3:03

the RHS Elizabeth Medal of Honor,

3:05

who just returned from a botanical

3:07

adventure in Madagascar. Claire's going to

3:10

be giving us a glimpse of

3:12

the enchanting world of rare and

3:14

exotic orchids. All this and more

3:16

on gardening with the RHS with

3:18

me, Gareth Richards. This spring she's been

3:20

our trusted guide for every nook and cranny of

3:23

the veg patch, sharing her know-how on everything from

3:25

chitting potatoes to exploring the weird and wonderful world

3:27

of tomato varieties that you can grow at home.

3:29

And if you've missed any of her brilliant tips

3:32

so far, don't worry, you'll find links to all

3:34

those past episodes in the show notes. And this

3:36

week, we caught up with her again. Kneeep in

3:38

sea trays and completely in her element, busily, busily

3:40

sewing her beet troop turnips and parso and parsnips,

3:43

ready for tasty harvest, ready for tasty harvest later

3:45

in the later in the later in the year.

3:53

Now we're in April, there are lots of

3:56

different things you can be doing in the

3:58

veg garden and it is a wonderful time

4:00

to be doing seeds. selling. I've been in

4:02

the World Food Garden in the free crops

4:04

I've been selling in there today are turnips,

4:07

beetroot and parsnips. Pastnips are one which I

4:09

would definitely recommend sewing in April. People know

4:11

that pastnips can be a bit tricky to

4:13

germinate, so I always sew them in sort

4:16

of mid-April time, so that if they fail

4:18

to germinate, I'll give them about three weeks

4:20

to see if they've managed to germinate, to

4:22

see if they've managed to germinate, I have

4:25

time to do another sewing in late May,

4:27

and I will still get my nice winter

4:29

crop from them. They

4:32

are quite simple to grow once you

4:34

get past that germination stage and I

4:36

would always recommend direct sewing parsnips as

4:38

a sort of tap root crop. They

4:40

don't transplant very well. The root can

4:42

end up splitting and forking and they

4:44

get more leaf and less root. So

4:46

I will direct so from into the

4:48

ground. I'll create my drills just straight

4:50

into the ground a couple of centimetres

4:52

are quite large so you can manage

4:54

trying to... clumping them too much but

4:56

I would always sow quite a bit

4:59

more parsnip than you actually want because

5:01

if they germinate brilliant you can just

5:03

go and thin them out which is

5:05

much better than you spending all that

5:07

time then they're not germinating. You can

5:09

all picture what a nice good parsnip

5:11

looks like when you put it out

5:13

the ground so you know the rough

5:15

spacing you're aiming for sort of 10

5:17

centimetres or so between them can work

5:19

really nicely. They don't need too much

5:21

water but they can be more prone

5:23

to a disease called parsnip canker if

5:25

they get overly dry. So do give

5:27

them some water in really dry spells

5:29

and then just leave them in the

5:31

ground. I find them pretty trouble free

5:33

and they are better to have a

5:35

frost before you harvest them to help

5:37

sweeten them off of it and then

5:39

you'll be wanting to dig them up.

5:42

I think I dug up my last

5:44

parsnips this year in March. They were

5:46

in the ground for getting on for

5:48

12 months at that point. The point

5:50

is in the spring you want to

5:52

harvest them before they start putting on

5:54

too much growth because their parsnips are

5:56

biannuals. So as you head... into that

5:58

second year they're wanting to send up

6:00

a flower spike but if they send

6:02

that up they'll get woody and hard

6:04

through the middle so you need to

6:06

harvest them before that happens but you

6:08

can harvest them from much earlier in

6:10

the year or from the previous year

6:12

as and when you want them something

6:14

better than when you want them something

6:16

better than going harvesting your fresh parsnips

6:18

on Christmas day or they're deep and

6:20

iron the weather because if it's too

6:22

frosty and you won't be able to

6:25

dig them out the ground the ground

6:27

I have broken or So

6:29

there are some really good varieties of parsnip.

6:31

Albian is a really nice one which has

6:33

got the RHS award of garden merit and

6:36

is quite resistant to kanker. So that's a

6:38

good one to grow. Titan is a particularly

6:40

big one to have a go at that

6:42

or tender and true is another favourite of

6:45

mine to grow in the garden. Beatroot

6:51

is a wonderfully versatile crop and it's one

6:53

of my favorite things to grow in the

6:55

garden. I just love the flavor of it

6:57

and the color which it can add to

6:59

all your dishes and your salads and so

7:01

forth, but also one of the things I

7:03

love about Beatroot is it's one of my

7:05

winter staple crops. They did perfectly well overwind

7:07

to them. I didn't do anything more than

7:09

put mohessian sacks and keep them somewhere cool

7:11

and frost free. probably wouldn't save

7:13

them until maybe March. If you've got

7:15

warm enough weather you could maybe try

7:17

to direct sewing them in March, a

7:19

bit of fleece over the top would

7:22

help to keep them warm. Otherwise, save

7:24

them inside in March or start sewing

7:26

them outside from April. And you can

7:28

save them through quite a lot of

7:30

the season. I'll probably save them up

7:32

until sort of July time and keep

7:34

them growing that way. We've got these

7:36

sort of 60 cell module trays and

7:38

when I fill that of the soil

7:40

of the soil and I'll put three

7:42

or four beetroot seeds in what as

7:44

which means that from one seed you

7:47

can, you don't always, but you can

7:49

get more than one seedling. So overall

7:51

I'm aiming for clumps of four to

7:53

five seedlings in each module and then

7:55

I won't thin out that module, I

7:57

will plant it as a clump four

7:59

or five seedlings in this multi-zone technique.

8:01

as they grow the beetroot literally push

8:03

apart from each other and then you

8:05

can successionally harvest from your multi-sown clump.

8:07

So instead of having to sow your

8:09

beetroot every couple of weeks what you

8:12

can do is you let your clump

8:14

grow and then you go in and

8:16

you twist out the largest one leaving

8:18

the clump grow and then you go

8:20

in you twist out the largest one

8:22

leaving the others to keep growing and

8:24

then later you can go back and

8:26

twist out the next largest. So that

8:28

way you get many harvest from one

8:30

sowing. good water until they get established

8:32

and they start to grow and then

8:34

you just leave them to keep growing.

8:37

Again, they're fairly drought resilient. They don't

8:39

need too much water unless it's getting

8:41

really dry. So I'll water them until

8:43

I see that they're growing well and

8:45

then I won't worry too much. I

8:47

might put a bit of water on

8:49

them once a week or so through

8:51

the summer and they should grow well

8:53

from that. There are so many different

8:55

varieties. I would rather grow something like

8:57

Detroit or Red Ace if you're looking

8:59

for the classic red beetroot. If you're

9:02

looking for something slightly different if you're

9:04

looking for a golden beetroot, Burpies Golden

9:06

is a good one to try. Now

9:08

be aware that with the golden beetroot,

9:10

I find that their germination rate is

9:12

not as good as with the classic

9:14

red ones and they don't grow quite

9:16

as large, but so a few more

9:18

seeds and be a bit patient with

9:20

them. The other one that I want

9:22

to grow is one called choigier. So

9:24

this when you grow it, it's got

9:26

a sort of pale red-pink skin to

9:29

the outside of it. But when you

9:31

cut into it, it is beautiful. It's

9:33

got the sort of circles of red

9:35

and white throughout the middle of it.

9:37

It's really stunning to look at. I

9:39

don't have to say it's got a

9:41

very mild flavor. So if you're wanting

9:43

a really strong, beautiful flavor, it's not

9:45

the one to go for. Turnips

9:51

are an interesting crop to grow. I feel

9:53

they're maybe not grown as widely as they

9:55

could be because they are quite easy to

9:57

grow and they are nice and tasty from

9:59

the garden. Turnips are a brassica which means

10:01

that they can be prone to quite a

10:03

few different issues but you can deal with

10:06

them when you're growing them. I find turnips

10:08

to be best for me as a spring

10:10

crop so I will sow them into modules

10:12

using the same multi-sown technique as with beetroot

10:14

and then plant them a bit closer than

10:16

with beetroot because the turnips will be a

10:18

little smaller than that. I find while turnips

10:20

can grow large my preferences to harvest for

10:22

more as baby turnips I find them much

10:24

sweeter and much tastier at that point. You

10:27

can direct save me if you want to

10:29

or do them from the modules and then

10:31

plant them into the ground. Now when I

10:33

plant my turnips I will cover them with

10:35

horticultural fleas. The reason for that is that

10:37

turnips like other brassicas like rocket and radish

10:39

and so forth are very prone to a

10:41

lovely little insect called the flea beetle which

10:43

if you let it do its work will

10:45

turn your leaves into lay dewleas and produce

10:48

nice little brown runs around the roots of

10:50

your radish or radish alternatives. Basically they won't

10:52

grow or turnips. until the moment of harvest.

10:54

So when you put your fleece on make

10:56

sure you've got a bit extra and it's

10:58

rolled at the side so you can unroll

11:00

it. There's no need to necessarily put the

11:02

fleece on top of a support or anything,

11:04

the leaves will push it up, you'll just

11:06

need to gradually loosen it. If you don't

11:09

have fleece you could use envirumesh instead as

11:11

long as it's insect proof rather than just

11:13

butterfly proof. But if you're using envirumess you

11:15

will need to suspend it on hoops because

11:17

that's heavier so it would weigh down the

11:19

plants too much. So it would weigh down

11:21

the plants too much. Some of

11:23

my favorite varieties of turnips, there's one

11:26

called Oasis which is a pure white

11:28

and it's really got a lovely sweet

11:30

flavor. I would harvest that when it's

11:32

quite small, you know, golf ball size

11:34

would be about as big as I'd

11:36

want to go with those. There's one

11:39

called Purple Top Milan, which I'd want

11:41

to go with those. There's one called

11:43

Purple Top Milan, which I have taken

11:45

a bit bigger than that. And that's,

11:47

as the name would suggest, Tamarii red

11:49

is basically the pure red or Tamari

11:52

mixed. get a mix of white and

11:54

red so if you want to mix

11:56

from just one seed packet then that's

11:58

a good one to try for. Turnips

12:00

can be really quite quick. in the

12:02

ground in terms of harvesting, they're not

12:05

as quick as radish, but I would

12:07

expect to be harvesting the turnips from

12:09

planting. So I sowed turnips in mid-March

12:11

inside. I planted them out in mid-April.

12:13

I would be expecting to be harvesting

12:15

them in June, which is really quite

12:18

a nice quick crop for them. And

12:20

by harvesting them in June, they've nicely

12:22

plugged that gap when you're still waiting

12:24

for the last frosts to finish. When

12:26

you get to June, you've got so

12:28

many options for the crops you can

12:30

plant to fill the space at that

12:33

space at that point. Thanks to Liz

12:35

there. And of course when you're not

12:37

sewing, one thing I think is really

12:39

important at this time of year is

12:41

weeding. Seeds germinate quickly, but that includes

12:43

weed seeds. So I think hoeing could

12:46

be really valuable ways of just stopping

12:48

that infestation of weeds from over running

12:50

your precious seedlings. Now hoe, I think,

12:52

is one thing that experienced gardeners use

12:54

a lot, and new gardeners might be

12:56

unfamiliar with, but seriously, hoes really are

12:59

the vegetable garden, a secret weapon. You

13:01

can just slice off those little... weed

13:03

seedlings really easily, a warm, dry, sunny

13:05

day, nice day to be out in

13:07

the garden and you can just hoe

13:09

gently among your rows of seedlings and

13:12

give them a really good start free

13:14

from competition. One particular kind of hoe

13:16

that I really love is the little

13:18

hand hoe. It looks like a mini-side

13:20

and it's perfect for getting amongst rows

13:22

of veg and being quite precise. You

13:25

can go quite close to your rows

13:27

of seedlings and it's really good for

13:29

just getting those weeds under control. And

13:31

the second best tool I think actually

13:33

as a podcast I would say this

13:35

but it's getting wireless earbuds because let's

13:38

face it weeding can sometimes be a

13:40

bit repetitive but if you can put

13:42

music or dare I say it a

13:44

podcast in your ear listen away it

13:46

can really help you just get in

13:48

the zone and you can actually do

13:51

more than you would have done before

13:53

and I know we've mentioned the frost

13:55

a few times but really I think

13:57

it's really important don't be tempted to

13:59

be tempted to protect them with fleas

14:01

or old neck curtains because frosts in

14:04

most areas will probably continue sporadically for

14:06

about the next month and if you

14:08

get a frost on your cojette plant

14:10

it is game over so yeah just

14:12

something to be aware of. Of course

14:14

it's not just the vegplots bringing into

14:17

action right now. Every corner of the

14:19

garden is vying for your attention as

14:21

the season vigorously ushers in new growth

14:23

and with so much happening it can

14:25

quickly feel overwhelming. What to prune, when

14:27

to plant, how to deal with that

14:29

mysterious patch of yellowing leaves, it's easy

14:32

to find yourself caught in a tangle

14:34

of gardening conundrums. Thankfully the RHS Gardening

14:36

Advisory is here to help us sort

14:38

it all out. The team's been hard

14:40

at work responding to a flurry of

14:42

calls, emails and messages from curious and

14:45

occasionally bewilded RHS members. And this week

14:47

we managed to borrow a few moments

14:49

of the precious time to put some

14:51

of your most pressing questions to them.

14:59

Hello, I'm James Lawrence Principal Horticultural Advisor

15:01

at RHS Whisley and today I'd really

15:03

like to introduce two fabulous advisors to

15:06

help me answer some questions. Unfortunately they

15:08

couldn't make it so instead I'm joined

15:10

by Nick Turrell. Hey, hello. And by

15:12

Chris Taylor. Hi. Okay, so we've got

15:14

a series of questions that have come

15:17

in that we'll discuss. The first one,

15:19

I have three, one metre square raised

15:21

beds which are 60 centimetometers deep. I

15:23

want to grow fruit or vegetables but

15:25

the area only gets full sun for

15:28

around three hours a day after which

15:30

it's in the shade of the house.

15:32

Can you recommend any crops to try?

15:34

And let's go to Nick first for

15:36

that. Well try to grow edibles in

15:39

the shade. can be tricky and it's

15:41

only 60 centimetres deep as well so

15:43

stick with things like spinach that grows

15:45

well in the shade plus also it's

15:47

not dappled shade it's building shade which

15:50

is deep shade so yes spinach would

15:52

work radishes would work parsley works very

15:54

well actually that's nice and of course

15:56

Coriander is very good because it hits

15:58

too much sun it just runs to

16:01

seed so I'd probably go for that.

16:03

In terms of fruit because fruits are

16:05

a good one they may crop a

16:07

little bit less in shade but you'll

16:09

still get enough for a pie. and

16:12

rubarb again can tolerate a bit of

16:14

shade and also it doesn't tend to

16:16

flop so much if you've got it

16:18

in shade. Brilliant, thanks. Yeah, gooseberries are

16:21

a really good bet and charred. It

16:23

is another one that you could try.

16:25

Great, let's move on to the next

16:27

one. I would like to remove the

16:29

lower branches of an established choicier sundance,

16:32

which is a shrub, so that I

16:34

can under plant it with ground cover

16:36

plants with ground cover plants. Can I

16:38

prune now and how much material am

16:40

I able to remove without causing any

16:43

stress to the shrub? And Chris, let's

16:45

come to you first on this. I

16:47

guess the answer is yes. You can

16:49

cut the lower branches off, but generally

16:51

people wait till after flaring to do

16:54

that. When it's finished flaring there shouldn't

16:56

be any further frosts. Sometimes if you

16:58

prune and there's a hard frost, that

17:00

can damage them. So Chris is right.

17:02

If you wait for it's finish, it's

17:05

finished. The only other thing I would

17:07

say is don't try to remove too

17:09

much in one go so probably not

17:11

more than 20% otherwise it can stress

17:13

the plant out a bit. I've got

17:16

a border which is directly under a

17:18

neighbour's large hedging conifers. The soil is

17:20

dry and the border is shaded. I've

17:22

tried various plants over the years and

17:24

they always struggle. Please can you suggest

17:27

some tough but attractive shrubs and herbaceous

17:29

perennials for this tricky location? Well... I'm

17:31

going to start with this one because

17:33

actually this sounds like half of my

17:36

garden is in these conditions. It is

17:38

really trickier but there are some shrubs

17:40

and perennials that can do well in

17:42

those conditions. The secret really is to

17:44

choose the right plants but also keep

17:47

them fairly well watered the first year

17:49

to get them established and then once

17:51

they're established they've got a much better

17:53

chance. So from a shrub point of

17:55

you you could try something like one

17:58

of the Viburnum tiner. or things like

18:00

mahonias which give you some nice winter

18:02

colour and kind of track pollinators in

18:04

the winter and in perennial wise I

18:06

would go with things like epimediums or

18:09

some of the perennial geraniums. Nick, have

18:11

you got anything else to add? Yeah,

18:13

these conifers will burn through the organic

18:15

matter in the soil. So when you

18:17

have a really close look, you'll notice

18:20

that soil has often been turned to

18:22

dust. So get as much organic matter

18:24

in there as possible, well-rotted manure, homemade

18:26

compost, because that will help put the

18:28

guts back into the soil, which helps

18:31

hold on to that moisture. And as

18:33

you say, you need to water them,

18:35

whatever you put in, even if you

18:37

know it's going to grow really well

18:39

in dry shade. Whatever you put in,

18:42

you have to water it, that's certainly

18:44

the first season, maybe even two, until

18:46

they get established. You four be a

18:48

Robbie I, I've used, that works very

18:51

well. The little Ketoniaster horizontalis, that will

18:53

work well. But yeah, it's a tough

18:55

one. I've got some similar conditions to

18:57

you, James, and I found a few

18:59

things that work. I really like Aruncuscus,

19:02

that seems to come up well, so

19:04

that's a sort of frothy perennial perennial

19:06

with lovely finely cut leaves and white

19:08

flowers and white flowers. Again, similar to

19:10

James, geranium, geranium theme, works well in

19:13

shade, and... Grasses as well, surprisingly, particularly

19:15

Malaica uniflora, which is actually, I believe,

19:17

one of our native grasses, but it's

19:19

beautiful and has little seeds that look

19:21

like rice grains, which is quite pretty.

19:24

And if you want a bulb, then

19:26

cyclamen heterofolium is always a really good

19:28

bet. And it's got lovely leaves, heterofolium,

19:30

because the leaves look like ivy. And

19:32

if you want any other suggestions you

19:35

can head on to our website where

19:37

we've got some really good pages on

19:39

plants that do well in dry shade

19:41

we call them sustainable planting combinations and

19:43

there's three of those that are specifically

19:46

about dry shade so that gives you

19:48

an idea of what plants might work

19:50

well together with each other so go

19:52

online and have a look at those.

19:54

I have a wildlife pond. It's now

19:57

two years old. The water is already

19:59

quite green and last year I was

20:01

removing lots of algae every few weeks.

20:03

I don't want to use chemicals. Are

20:05

there any other ways of getting clearer

20:08

water? Nick. Too much sunlight will encourage

20:10

that sort of algae to grow. So

20:12

you need some kind of a way

20:14

of shading the surface. water lilies of

20:17

some sort, any kind of vegetation that

20:19

will cover about 50% of the surface

20:21

area because that will put it in

20:23

a bit of shade if you've put

20:25

it in the wrong position basically. But

20:28

also you need to think of nutrient

20:30

levels. You don't want too much nutrient

20:32

levels in a pond because that will

20:34

encourage this to grow. So scoop out

20:36

any kind of dead leaves or anything

20:39

like that's an important one to take

20:41

into account. And you can put a

20:43

barley straw. like a little sack of

20:45

barley straw and that discourages any new

20:47

growth. It won't necessarily clean up what

20:50

you've got there already, but it's a

20:52

good way of preventing new stuff from

20:54

coming. Yeah, I agree that getting some

20:56

marginal's in to cut the light from

20:58

the surface. Another way to reduce the

21:01

nutrient content is to try and stop

21:03

detritus getting in in the first place

21:05

and increasing those nutrients levels. So perhaps

21:07

in autumn you could just stretch a

21:09

piece of netting over the pond just

21:12

to catch those leaves. Or if you

21:14

don't want to do that because you

21:16

want to leave the water open for

21:18

wildlife, you could just when you see

21:20

the leaves just quickly get them off

21:23

before they sink to the bottom. They're

21:25

all really good points. The only other

21:27

thing I would say is this is

21:29

only two years old and I think

21:32

sometimes ponds take you know two or

21:34

three years to get into their natural

21:36

equilibrium. I have a

21:38

Calathea house plant which has developed brown

21:40

tips and edges to the leaves. The

21:43

colour also seems a little faded. It's

21:45

grown in good light but not direct

21:47

sunlight. Any advice on how to improve

21:49

the plant's health would be appreciated? Now

21:52

I know Chris you're a bit of

21:54

a house plant guru. Yeah I love

21:56

my house plants. Calathea is a common

21:59

name but it covers quite a few

22:01

different species. of plants and a few

22:03

of them are tough to grow in

22:06

in our houses in a glass house.

22:08

They're grown in perfect conditions and then

22:10

we get them home and sometimes they

22:12

struggle and Calathia's one of those. But

22:15

this does sound like a humidity issue

22:17

if they're getting brown tips to the

22:19

leaves because if you've got dry air...

22:22

the edges are going to go first

22:24

down the tips of the leaves. So

22:26

I think raising humidity levels is really

22:28

going to help this plant. You can

22:31

do that in a number of ways.

22:33

You can sit the pot on a

22:35

wide tray of pebbles and you just

22:38

top up to just below the top

22:40

of the pebbles with some water and

22:42

then as the water evaporates it creates

22:45

a sort of humid microclimate around that

22:47

plant. Another way to do it is

22:49

you can group plants together. and then

22:51

they share humidity so give it some

22:54

friends and I think it'll perk up.

22:56

Right that's all the questions that we

22:58

had today so I would just like

23:01

to thanks to Nick and Chris. Thanks

23:03

a lot. Thank you very much. Thank

23:05

you. Bye. Thanks

23:16

to James Lawrence, Nick Tarl and

23:18

Chris Taylor from the RHS gardening

23:21

advice team for sharing some of

23:23

their expert tips. So my connection

23:25

goes back a long way. My

23:27

father was a fellow of the

23:29

RHS and as a child he

23:31

took me to the RHS shows

23:33

and I used to grow succulents

23:36

on my window seal as a

23:38

child and it was only when

23:40

I met my husband who originates

23:42

from Belgium. that we started to

23:44

grow orchids because orchids in those

23:46

days and the 70s were very

23:48

expensive exotic things whereas over in

23:50

Europe they were seen much more

23:53

as a pot plant what we

23:55

now regard more as a pot

23:57

plant but they were exotic and

23:59

we could afford them. as students

24:01

you couldn't afford much. So even

24:03

better they came into flower again.

24:05

So when we were hooked. Claire

24:10

Hermans is a leading authority on

24:13

Madagascar and orchids and the Erie

24:15

otherworldly Dracula genus, which is native

24:17

to Central and South America. She

24:20

became the first woman to chair

24:22

the RHS Orchid Committee, now known

24:24

as the RHS Orchid Expert Group,

24:27

since its founding in 1889. And

24:29

this year the RHS honoured Claire

24:31

was a prestigious Elizabeth Medal of

24:34

honour. recognizing her exceptional contributions as

24:36

an author, educator and conservationist. We

24:38

caught up with Claire to delve

24:41

into her enduring fascination with Madagascar

24:43

orchids and the stories behind these

24:45

rare and remarkable plants. There's always

24:47

an orchid in flower. It won't

24:50

necessarily be the sort of European

24:52

orchids, they are definitely seasonal, whereas

24:54

the tropical ones different... genre are

24:57

in flower at different time. So

24:59

if you go into a forest,

25:01

a rain forest, say in Madagascar

25:04

or in South America, there'll be

25:06

something in flower so long as

25:08

you can spot it. That's a

25:11

challenge of seeing orchids in the

25:13

wild. Orchid history. I mean, there's

25:15

a lot of orchid writings. A

25:18

lot of people wrote about them

25:20

in the 19th century, the explorers,

25:22

and there's some fascinating characters being

25:25

involved. All sorts of people. Some

25:27

of the film stars have been.

25:29

James Bond? I can't remember which

25:32

one of the baddies in one

25:34

of the James Bond movies has

25:36

got an orchid in there, but

25:39

there's all sorts of weird and

25:41

wonderful connections. They're a fantastic group.

25:45

Dracula's come from South America and

25:47

they're very ephemeral. They have to

25:49

have a very moist environment and

25:51

when you actually look at them

25:53

close up they have amazing faces.

25:56

They'd been likened to monkeys, some

25:58

of the faces. of the Dracula,

26:00

and in fact one of them

26:02

is named after as a monkey,

26:04

Dracula simia, which means monkey face.

26:06

And I got interested in them

26:08

in the early 1990s when they

26:10

only just started becoming available through

26:13

orchid nurseries and it was due

26:15

to the road development in places

26:17

like Ecuador and a lot of

26:19

the orchids were brought out or

26:21

saved, you probably could nowadays say,

26:23

and brought out from the road

26:25

making. They're not like a daffodil

26:28

you put them in a vase

26:30

and they'll last for 10 days.

26:32

They will maybe last one or

26:34

two days, but you've got to

26:36

keep them humid. So they've come

26:38

back into favor nowadays for people

26:40

with terrariums where they can be

26:43

kept high humidity and you can

26:45

still enjoy them and see them.

26:47

When we grew them, we grew

26:49

them in a greenhouse. with a

26:51

high humidity so high that it

26:53

rotted the electrical circuitry and our

26:55

electrician had to come in and

26:57

put it on the outside and

27:00

put waterproofing electrics on the outside

27:02

because the inside was so wet

27:04

it just short-circuited the lot but

27:06

that's when you're growing on a

27:08

big scale much easier to control

27:10

when you're growing in terrariums. I've

27:12

been very lucky to see them

27:15

growing in the wild and they

27:17

are interesting. They grow... Quite low

27:19

down, quite low light levels, impossible

27:21

to photograph in the while because

27:23

it's so dark and they need

27:25

the darkness to, that's why they

27:27

call Dracula. And we knew the

27:29

man who gave them the name,

27:32

someone called Carl Arndour. He was

27:34

a very interesting surgeon in fact

27:36

from America who was an amitobotonist

27:38

and studied them. and he created

27:40

the name Dracula. They were called

27:42

Mazdevalia before that, but Kaldur gave

27:44

them the name Dracula because they

27:47

like the dark. I think it's

27:49

probably a very nice name and

27:51

appropriate. Madagascar

28:02

has a high rate of something

28:04

called endemism, which means that they're

28:06

not found anywhere else in the

28:09

world. It's a bit like their

28:11

leemas. We've just come back from

28:13

there, and in the rainforest you

28:15

have the injury, which is the

28:17

big willy leema, was a wonderful

28:19

cry. They're endemic, and something like,

28:22

I don't know, I think it's

28:24

75 to 80, maybe even higher

28:26

percent. of the orchids are endemic

28:28

and there's over a thousand different

28:30

ones and they're constantly being found

28:32

and discovered like a lot of

28:35

things if you start to look

28:37

in forests that hasn't been too

28:39

destroyed you find new things and

28:41

that's also quite interesting and nice

28:43

to know that there are still

28:45

things out there that we haven't

28:48

seen before. They range from tiny

28:50

tiny green small flowers probably something

28:52

you would call very boring to

28:54

amazing dramatic big things and not

28:56

only white they're all multi-colored and

28:58

we saw some move ones and

29:01

what else we see we saw

29:03

some lovely big green things ephemeral

29:05

and they just a sort of

29:07

whole range and they mostly unique

29:09

which is another nice thing We've

29:11

been there over 35 years. We've

29:14

been all over. So we've been

29:16

down to the sort of very

29:18

dry part, which is down south,

29:20

where they have what they call

29:22

the spiny forest, which are the

29:24

big spiny trees called eludias. And

29:27

there are all kids that grow

29:29

on those. And there are lemas

29:31

that live on those as well.

29:33

Goodness knows how they jump between

29:35

them with all these spines, but

29:37

they do. And then there's the

29:40

sort of wet rainforest with the

29:42

leaches and other delightful things you

29:44

don't really want to know about.

29:46

No poisonous snakes, which is nice.

29:48

Amazing beetles, bugs, spiders, you know,

29:51

you name it, they've got them.

29:53

And not only is it the

29:55

orchids, all of those are endemic

29:57

to that island. So there's all

29:59

sorts of weird and wonderful things.

30:01

If you don't like creepy crawlies,

30:04

probably not the best place to

30:06

go, because they've got a lot

30:08

of them. And they've got their

30:10

own version of a hedgehog called

30:12

a ten-wreck, which is a little

30:14

spiny thing that runs around on

30:17

the forest floor. And then there's

30:19

a lemice, and they're fantastic. Maybe

30:21

you would talk about something we

30:23

saw on this most recent trip,

30:25

which was in Angrecom, and they

30:27

tend to be large white flowers.

30:30

The most famous famous one. people

30:32

will have heard of it, there's

30:34

something called angreconcesco, dull. And the

30:36

reason people know about it is

30:38

because Darwin predicted a moth that

30:40

would have a long enough proboscis

30:43

to pollinate it. And there's another

30:45

one called angreconcerorium, which whose flower

30:47

isn't quite as big, but is

30:49

similar in size with a very

30:51

long spur. In other words, another

30:53

hawk moth would need to pollinate

30:56

it. And this was growing underneath

30:58

some tapia trees, which are... slightly

31:00

shrubby sort of tree, not huge,

31:02

around boulders and it was in

31:04

full flower in February, March just

31:06

when we were there and slightly

31:09

scented in the day but nighttime

31:11

it's much more scented and they're

31:13

stunning. They're about eight centimeters across

31:15

bright white flowers with a ten

31:17

inch spur just shining against the

31:19

rocks or granite rocks and it's

31:22

just as magical. There's

31:27

a lot of economic threats to

31:30

them and probably the same for

31:32

the South American as for Madagascar.

31:34

The South American, it's forest felling

31:36

for planting other things, all cattle

31:38

growing. For Madagascar, it's felling the

31:40

forest to plant rice, to feed

31:42

the people, the families who have

31:44

got no land. They move in,

31:46

they burn the forest, and then

31:48

they plant hill rice. And then

31:50

the land is no use afterwards.

31:52

It's similar, I think, the world

31:54

over, that it's economic. I mean,

31:56

Madagascar is one of the poorest.

31:58

in the world, I think it's

32:00

the fourth poorest. So conservation is

32:02

a challenge there, and it's also

32:04

educating the locals that keeping forests

32:06

can be a source of income

32:08

for them, and that's probably the

32:10

wider thing is trying to encourage

32:12

them to see value. In other

32:14

words, bringing people to stay in

32:17

hotels that they can then work

32:19

for, come and act as guides

32:21

to take people around, and then

32:23

keeping the forest intact. but they're

32:25

tensions, the tensions the world are

32:27

over and no one has an

32:29

easy solution. You can always look

32:31

at it the other side to

32:33

any solution. There are lots and

32:35

lots of protected areas in Madagascar,

32:37

varying degrees of protection. We've been

32:39

visiting for the last seven, eight

32:41

years, a local village project where

32:43

the villagers are encouraged to... monitor

32:45

their own forests, prevent any burning

32:47

and a little bit of funding

32:49

has been provided and they've set

32:51

up a school to educate the

32:53

kids because the literacy rate is

32:55

so low and only through that

32:57

will you hopefully in the longer

32:59

term help stem the tide of

33:01

removal whichever way eyes are collecting

33:03

or felling and hopefully raising the

33:06

awareness will bring people in and

33:08

bring the money into these countries.

33:10

Hopefully. Thanks to Claire there. And

33:12

if you're interested in seeing orchids

33:14

in the wild, but don't want

33:16

to go to Madagascar, don't forget

33:18

that we've got more than 50

33:20

native species of orchids in the

33:22

UK. And now is the beginning

33:24

of the really good time of

33:26

year to see them. So for

33:28

example, if you're going out into

33:30

a bluebell wood, you might see

33:32

an early purple orchid. It has

33:34

these beautiful spikes of real sort

33:36

of bright magenta pink flowers and

33:38

the leaves have these lovely purple

33:40

spots on them. It's a really...

33:42

distinctive and beautiful thing. And closer

33:44

to home, quite often people will

33:46

find beaw kids in their lawn.

33:48

And over the winter I've seen

33:50

this on a few Facebook groups

33:53

that I'm in. You'll find people

33:55

saying, oh what's this plant in

33:57

my lawn? Because they have something

33:59

that looks a bit like a

34:01

plantain. So it will be a

34:03

little rosette and it will have

34:05

these slightly shiny glossy leaves, but

34:07

they're kind of grayish at the

34:09

same time. And it's a little

34:11

rosette and it will be in

34:13

your lawn. And it's a beaw

34:15

kid. Isn't that amazing? That beaw

34:17

kid will actually seed into people's

34:19

lawns, particularly if your soil isn't

34:21

too fertile, if you haven't put

34:23

loads of fertilizer or weed killer

34:25

on your lawn, they're actually fairly

34:27

frequent visitors to our gardens. But

34:29

of course you have to stop

34:31

mowing to allow them to really

34:33

identify them. So that's yet another

34:35

really good reason to do no

34:37

mow may or not mow a

34:40

part of your lawn until late

34:42

summer. Until late summer, you may

34:44

well summer, you may well find

34:46

that actually you may well find

34:48

that actually you have some fantastic

34:50

wildflowers. And a good way to

34:52

kind of like see whether this

34:54

might be a good idea is

34:56

to look at your grass. And

34:58

if it's actually not much grass

35:00

in there at all, if there's

35:02

loads and loads of daisies and

35:04

clovers and other wildflowers in there,

35:06

why not just mow a path

35:08

around the edge, mow a path

35:10

through the middle, mow the edges,

35:12

make it look intentional, but then

35:14

leave areas of it to grow

35:16

and you will get brilliant habitat

35:18

for wildlife. It will be alive

35:20

with grasshoppers, there'll be butterflies, and

35:22

who might find a wild orchid

35:24

too. Well

35:27

that's all we have time

35:29

for this week, so for

35:32

me, Gareth Richards, goodbye and

35:34

thanks for listening. Want an

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