logo
episode-header-image
Mar 2025
56m 29s

Colour combinations at Castle Ward, are ...

Bbc Radio Ulster
About this episode

Autumn planting is rewarded with Spring colour and at Castle Ward the formal bulb display of hyacinths and primroses is at its height. David meets gardeners Searcha Kelly and Judy Walsh who, with the help of volunteers, keep the gardens of this National Trust property looking good. Could heathers be coming back into fashion? Long lasting colour and a winter food source for bees mean they are high on the list for new plantings at The Savill Garden in Windsor. Keeper of the Gardens, John Anderson also shows David some other plants used as valuable ground cover including various types of Ophiopogon. Plantsman Jimi Blake reveals his latest interest is alpines – but will he get the new borders ready before his Huntingbrook garden opens for the season? Claire McNally joins David in studio to answer questions. gardenerscorner@bbc.co.uk

Up next
Oct 4
Autumn colour arrives, what to grow now and the backyard bargain garden
With warm colours all around, Gardeners’ Corner celebrates the arrival of autumn. At the National Trust’s Rowallane Gardens, David meets head gardener Claire McNally for a walk in the woods where Acers, Sorbus, Birch and Enkianthus are stealing the show. As this year’s harvest is ... Show More
56m 28s
Sep 28
Jane Austen’s gardens: A Gardeners' Corner special
Where did the world-famous author Jane Austen find inspiration for her classic novels? Two hundred and fifty years after her birth, Gardeners’ Corner presenter David Maxwell explores the outdoor spaces closely linked to her life and writing. In Hampshire, he visits the cottage ga ... Show More
55m 34s
Sep 20
Creating a sunken garden, how to grow asparagus and the bush with a froggy smell?
In Magherafelt, David Maxwell visits Yew Cottage garden where Philip Stewart is turning his pond into a sunken garden. He hopes to turn a ‘frost pocket’ into a place for tender plants including bananas. In County Clare, Karoly Torok takes us on a tour of Vandeleur Walled Garden, ... Show More
57m 1s
Recommended Episodes
Sep 2023
175 Rose garden
It's all coming up roses as Fredericton gets set for a 175th anniversary garden project in the city's Botanic Garden. Jeanne Armstrong spoke to Steve Heard with the Fredericton Botanic Garden to get the details. 
10m 8s
Apr 2018
The BBC Food & Farming Awards 2018: Finalist stories
You know their names, now Sheila Dillon helps tell the stories of the finalists in the BBC Food and Farming Awards 2018. For the last month, our judges, including Tim Hayward, Andi Oliver, Tom Parker-Bowles and Romy Gill have travelled the length and breadth of the UK to meet thi ... Show More
28m 22s
May 2024
04/05/24 - Farming Today This Week: Border checks, cider orchards and illegal waste dumping
New physical checks have been brought in on some imports of food and plants from the EU. Products deemed high or medium risk now have to be inspected - including live animals, meat and some plant products. We report from a border control post to find out how it works.An investiga ... Show More
25m 8s
Mar 2022
164. Saint Patrick
Happy St. Patrick's Day!  No, Tom isn't turning Brixton's River Effra green, nor is Dominic distributing shamrocks throughout the Oxfordshire countryside, but they're here anyway with a very special pod on the mysterious Apostle of Ireland.  When was St. Patrick alive? Where was ... Show More
1 h
Mar 2023
Do climbing plants know where they’re going?
CrowdScience listener Eric, in New Zealand, has noticed his wisteria growing towards a neighbouring tree. He thinks that it actually knows where it’s going. But how can a plant have a sense of direction? Plants don’t have the advantage of brains or eyes, but that doesn’t seem to ... Show More
29 m
Nov 2021
121. Australia Before Cook
"Discovered this territory, 1770". So reads the inscription on a statue of Captain Cook in Hyde Park, Sydney. But did he really discover it? Tom and Dominic are joined by David Hunt to explore the long story of human settlement in Australia, and of the European explorers who reac ... Show More
54m 25s
May 2023
336: Ireland: Celts, Conquest and Cromwell (Part 1)
“In every generation the Irish people have asserted their right to national freedom and sovereignty; six times during the past three hundred years they have asserted it in arms.” The proclamation of the Irish Republic, delivered by Patrick Pearse in Dublin, marked the beginning o ... Show More
58m 45s
Jun 2022
Summer Tours Preview
With Alex Lowe in Australia and Will Kelleher travelling Down Under, Alan Dymock looks ahead to the upcoming summer tours for Ireland, Scotland and Wales. He is joined by Mark Palmer from The Times in Scotland to preview Scotland's series in Argentina, former Ireland hooker Sean ... Show More
38m 5s
Mar 2023
Daffodils with Jason Delaney
Season 4 is here, and we're kicking it off with a bang - Jason Delaney from PHS Daffodils stops by to chat about everything daffodils! Jason specializes in classic, historic, and novel varieties for garden & exhibition.  I got to ask Jason about his background in flower grow ... Show More
1h 29m