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Glasshouses and Shrubs

Gardeners try to save Britain's horticultural heritage. Diarmuid Gavin champions glasshouses, and Matt James wants gardeners to rediscover the shrub.

Diarmuid Gavin wants to use glasshouses to restore a sense of adventure, flair and excitement to gardens. On his campaign, he visits Wentworth Castle in Barnsley to help out with the final stages of the restoration of its elaborate Victorian glasshouse. He gives his guide to greenhouse buying and meets up with passionate allotmenteers in Nottingham who have gone one better and designed and built their own remarkable greenhouses using recycled materials. Diarmuid gives his top greenhouse growing tips, gets to grips with hothouse flowers and explores the wealth of temperate and tropical flora on display at the National Botanic Gardens in Wales.

Matt James thinks that shrubs have been overlooked and ignored for too long. He wants gardeners to rediscover and appreciate the importance of this amazing group of plants. On his journey, he visits a garden in Norfolk where shrubs are the stars of the show and inspires a group of young gardeners at Flatford Mill in Suffolk to plant shrubs in their gardens to encourage wildlife. Matt gives his beginner's guide to shrubs with the focus on colour, flower power and fragrance. And he shares his top pruning tips to help keep shrubs looking at their best year after year.

59 minutes

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Credits

Role Contributor
Presenter Diarmuid Gavin
Presenter Matt James
Series Editor Gary Broadhurst
Executive Producer Bridget Boseley

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