Main content
This programme is not currently available on 成人快手 iPlayer

James Wong and the Malaysian Garden

James Wong travels to Malaysia in search of inspiration for a themed garden for the Chelsea Flower Show. In 2010, James and his design partner David Cubero want the gold medal.

Ethnobotanist and garden designer James Wong travels to Malaysia in search of inspiration for a Malaysian-themed garden for the world-famous Chelsea Flower Show. In 2009, James and his design partner David Cubero won a silver medal. In 2010, they are going all out for gold.

The theme for their Chelsea garden is the Malaysian concept of 'kampung', a word which means 'village or community' but also 'traditional and natural'. James, whose father is Malaysian, travels across the country meeting people who live a traditional kampung life in the midst of city skyscrapers and spends time with an indigenous community, who show him how they use plants for medicine and ceremony.

James also travels to Bako National Park in Sarawak to look for an elusive and protected pitcher plant that he thinks could be the star of his Chelsea garden. In the Cameron Highlands, he tries to understand a strange Malaysian obsession with the English country garden.

Back in the UK, he faces the final and most daunting stage of the project - the build. He and his design partner David have just 20 days to pull together a garden that is not only good enough to get a Chelsea medal but will also do justice to the spirit of 'kampung' in a 21st-century style.

59 minutes

Last on

Sat 25 May 2024 09:00

Credits

Role Contributor
Presenter James Wong
Director Kevin Jarvis
Producer Kevin Jarvis
Executive Producer Gill Tierney
Production Manager Sarah Greene

Broadcasts

Featured in...