Gardeners’ World 2021 Winter Specials episode 3: In this special episode, Monty and the team look back at some of the floral highlights of 2020. It’s a celebration of some of the star flowers of our gardens, from tulips and roses to salvias and dahlias.
There’s also another chance to see what the Gardeners’ World audience were getting up to in their gardens last year.
Gardeners’ World 2021 Winter Specials episode 3
Which rose should I grow?
Roses are one of the largest groups of plants available to gardeners, so choosing specific varieties can seem like a daunting prospect. Whether you are looking for a rose to climb a shady wall, roses for a hedge, or a rose to train up a pillar, our short guide will set you on the right path.
In terms of choosing for flower form, colour and scent, selection is very much a matter of personal taste. Whenever possible try to see roses in bloom before purchasing by visiting rose nurseries or rose gardens during the flowering season.
How to plant a rose – Gardeners’ World 2021 Winter Specials episode 3
Roses can be expensive plants, but they last for many, many years and are easy to establish if you follow a few simple steps on planting and aftercare.
Depending on the time of year you purchase your roses, you will have a choice of types of roses:
Bare-root roses: These are only available from about November to March usually mail order. These are plants dug from open ground and packed to prevent the roots drying out before sale. Bare-root plants are usually good quality, having a wider root spread than containerised plants, and they are often good value. They should be planted as soon as received, or if ground conditions are unsuitable, unpacked and kept in a container of slightly moist compost and planted as soon as conditions allow.
Containerised roses: These are at their best in garden centres from about November to March. They may be available to buy like this for longer into the spring and summer, but quality starts to suffer the longer they are kept on display. They are bare-root roses placed in pots of potting media to prevent them drying out. They should be planted as soon as received.
Container-grown roses: These are available all year round. These are roses that have been grown in containers for a whole growing season or more. They can be planted at any time, (but are usually not such good plants as bare root ones) and are comparatively costly.
Grow your own cut flowers – Gardeners’ World 2021 Winter Specials episode 3
Many garden plants can be enjoyed as cut flowers and foliage in the home, offering cheaper and diverse alternatives to florist flowers. Borders can be adapted to provide cutting material throughout the year. Alternatively, dedicate a part of the garden to growing cut flowers.
When adapting existing borders, plant larger groups of annuals, perennials and bulbs suited for cutting to allow for picking without affecting the overall appearance of the border. Do not forget to incorporate a few well-chosen shrubs and grasses with interesting foliage. Use bulbs to extend the picking season.
If space allows, dedicate a part of the garden to growing just cut flowers. The advantage of a cutting garden over picking from borders is that it avoids depleting beds and borders, as well as providing a more productive planned area for the cut flower gardener.
Plant or sow in rows; this makes weeding, staking and picking so much easier. Take the final spread of plants into account and allow access between the rows. If planted too close together, plants will fall into each other, get tangled and may be damaged, making them less suitable for harvesting. As taller plants are often grown for cut flowers, robust supports are usually needed.
Gardeners’ World 2021 –
Gardeners’ World is a long-running BBC Television programme about gardening, first broadcast on 5 January 1968 and still running as of 2019. Its first episode was presented by Ken Burras and came from Oxford Botanical Gardens. The magazine BBC Gardeners’ World is a tie-in to the programme. Most of its episodes have been 30 minutes in length, although there are many specials that last longer. The 2008 and 2009 series used a 60-minute format as did the 2016 series from episode 23.
Monty Don – Gardeners’ World 2021 Winter Specials episode 3
Monty Don was born in West Berlin to British parents Denis Thomas Keiller Don, a career soldier posted in Germany, and Janet Montagu (née Wyatt). Both of his paternal grandparents were Scottish, through whom he is descended from botanist George Don, inventors of a brand of marmalade in 1797. On his maternal side, he is descended from the Wyatts, who were a prominent dynasty of architects. Both parents died in the 1980s. Don has a twin sister, an elder brother David, and two other siblings. His twin suffered a broken neck and blindness after a car crash, at the age of 19. Don describes his parents as being “very strict”.
Don was educated at three independent schools: Quidhampton School in Basingstoke, Hampshire, Bigshotte School in Wokingham, Berkshire, and at Malvern College in Malvern, Worcestershire, a college he hated. He then attended a state comprehensive school, the Vyne School, in Hampshire. He failed his A levels and while studying for re-takes at night school, worked on a building site and a pig farm by day. During his childhood he had become an avid gardener and farmer. He was determined to go to Cambridge out of “sheer bloody-mindedness”, attending Magdalene College, where he read English and met his future wife Sarah. He was a Cambridge Half Blue for boxing.
