Daring and brighter skies following from the north with good spells of sunshine coming through a cooler day though with highs of it to 10 Celsius it stays dry and fairly clear for the evening at night also cold with quite a widespread Frost B.B.C. News Good morning I'm Linda McAuley and on your behalf this morning hospital parking and parking penalties grants for cancer patients for everyday things like heating and clothing but Millet cancer going to help you will have more in the program hard to get one moving house and moving phone and broadband plus keeping your old number A lister turned on your behalf when it all went pear shaped and on the day that we should have left the European Union the says to your questions on green cards and international driving permits in the event of a no deal breaks it join me 94521031 your behalf. Which is being given. Plenty of spring time. Which. Which. I have decided. To get the. Bird Life in the city where. The berries for the. Birds. To grow. So. Different types of different locations. I suppose. The sort of thing that you might see in the countryside not something that would. No that's right I mean that had just come he had just come in all sorts of forms so I think unfortunately the Leyland was that they destruction really off the hedge mindset and obviously know that the Leyland wasn't it was a was a an awful mistake the fact this should legislate to stop this type of hedge and so on you know what gives a bad image for hedges and yet hedges are just wonderful and a lot of hedges as you say you choose to hedge according to your locality I mean I suppose that the most obvious one just in the countryside at the moment as it's a very informal type hedge but it can be trimmed very formally the blackthorn hedge and on the flowers this year are sensational I've never seen anything like it you know you see them either growing up in a tight knit hedge or just loose had just and it's just beautiful I'm just lovely it produces fruit you get your slow and everything else from what you know and then you kind of end formal hedges like that too you see it from time to time and very keen gardeners keen on fruit and cylinder actually you can grow fruit like I'm just to give an example 2 really good apples varieties discovery Kitty no disease anything else you can trim those as hedges right and just planted on the heads plant repipe close and then if you want this not color you need just plant chemical or some black through them and just let them wave all the way through it makes up beautiful and formal type hedge and of course when you combine to like to form a hazard like one species as an example it could be beach it could be used could be hauling there's a vast range the hedge that if you're grown in the countryside then the ridge is really my preference and where we are we have variations off and so on then you really have a mixed hedge and then you have thorn and bait shun feed me Apple and just to hold when Hazel and stuff like that she just mix them all up out of makes a lovely hedge and then the more the species the grip of the wildlife on the to the nicer it is private probably the most. Bitter and a kind of a city location there it advantage of the privet is that very easy to grow very easy to propagate it doesn't cost a lot of money but the great thing is if it gets out of control you just reship up honest better than I ever can your plants no more us we think about the bare root season and that's a time I know that a lot of people will put in hedging because you get on with it no i start of the season and spring a lot ahead tonight does come containerized including like trucks of hedging so they're grown out in the truck and only have to do is just they are there and ship and your garden just set in the piece of hedging so I guess how Instead everybody wants ends and it's a garden igniters there that's right it does tend to dry you need really need to keep it watered rise you put them in bare root and so on the does tend to settle in much better too but the problem is you need to get that done pretty early in the year and what about prep then if you're going to put in a hedge it's going to be there for a very long time what do you need to do before you your plants need to think a little better by the soil the quality the sort whether stray and that's the Christian one just to give you an example the beach hedging is very popular makes a lovely hedge but the one thing it doesn't like as water logs or it is just devastates it just hopeless a waste of time so you really need to think about the quality of the soil the drainage and therefore if you've got a heavy sword to give an example but for some of the beach then you go for something like a hornbeam thorn hedge in which is really my favorite hedge fuel for every situation where the bee and formal clothes Cup anything it's very tolerant of a wide range of soils under some matter of then of just making sure that the sub base if you like is broken up there's not any compaction there should the rich I can go right down to hold the hand well thanks Morris for that for selling the hedge and to stay with his Because a little later in the program we're going to talk about our native primroses and violets the Knesset under hedges so. This. Fan is a funny little fellow It looks to me as if it's a pity to compare scissors and just shredded it some people don't like it but I think it's really quite. And one of the things that appeal is that it's going to be at least 150 years old I think for something in as small as steps that length of time with the associations for here in the silent you know how to grow that 1 May have Bell has a wonderful collection of plants with an Irish connection and many of them are looking their absolute best in spring so I went for a walk in her garden inside Belfast just a little bit further orange this very traditional looking one of a yellow trumpet that's truly gold which got an award of garden merit from the R.H.S. And is of course one of. Which I'm very pleased to have in the garden with many of the Irish plants that we talk about me if they can be hard to find out about this one this one's very easy richest terrific isn't it I've seen it in most of the garden centers in the autumn so I would recommend it to anyone who may have we stopped at another plants which is right at the front of your border here it's quite low lying and has a tiny little floor on it there which is a blue and move kind of color I think is a this isn't Floyd's starting eyes and it's it cropped up in the garden in Dublin just about 30 years ago there are a few flurries and they are spring flowering usually completely blue this one's got quite white outline all through the blue at the moment the looks very shabby but when it puts on some new leaves in another week or 2 it's a great growing plant with spring color the way you've paired it with other plants here is is really lovely as well may have because with the the palm an area which are dotted right through your borders on our own food limit the moment. We've got hellebores here both creamy green and colored blooms and darker blooms as well and then more Narcissus this one just gorgeous behind it here yes that's Jenny rich one of my favorites otherwise I thought I'd make a bit of a spring patch because this is very shady I can see it from the harsh. It's. A thicket of. Yes you see it disappear the seed in. The jury. Yes. There will be any sign of the enemy. A little tiny bit of it in the garden but it's sort of it's sort of seems to be taken it's time to get going to see a big thicket of. Me if we wandered a little further up the borders and we've come to a top. Floor which is absolutely one of my favorites in the garden and not as the kind of woodland an enemy. I would know of and and have indeed in my own garden it is number 0 So that's sort of quite common really. But this one we're looking at is slightly different. But. It's come. As a very paying move very soft with almost anything else in the garden at this year and and as a carpenter and the Robinson comes from William Robinson who was the great sort of Victorian and into the Edwardian who probably don't for getting away from the formality of Victorian green for very wild look at you have Robinson in gardens like. Done in country. And he he originally came from here and he trained in the kind of gardens in Glasnevin So I like that association we need to clear some back don't we because he's often referred to as a kind of a father of the English. Yes. Behind it another enemy shining through there with lovely little very delicate yellow blooms as well yes. And I was given it as a present I like wooden enemies very much they really like your garden as well may have because just in the distance here we see a rose just beginning to to come in to fill leaf there but Iran that there's an absolute thicket of of the one I would have in my garden the white blooms is a great value aren't they they can apart from my previous garden I didn't know I was a brain it and I see B. Years just. Which is which is great they look wonderful for a couple of months then they die away other things take over and fabulous value you get these little Britain rich that are but an inch or so under the sari and I don't do anything they get on with it themselves which is great regard. Yes easy gardening something everybody wants me of Bel-Air and if you want to find out more about plants with a connection to this part of the world you can find out more about the Irish garden plan society on their website it's just Ari's garden plan society dot com dead easy now a few weeks ago we visited groovin country cork a Gram's garden that's been bought by the Irish government and is currently being restored to its former glory before opening to the public next year. Is one of those involved in taming a garden which well has got out of hands and we rejoin him on the Rainbow Bridge over the river or back which flows through the garden. It's a fascinating mystical part of the garden and it was really colorful as a little ditch on the other side which had lots of little plank bridges and you'd you'd wonder through and on the other side of the all of this is the called a half river where the rivers being sort of diverted there was little windy paths and there was. All sorts of plantings of things like door mirror tell tots and and . With a big leaf things and then with that was a whole series of drafts like monocultural even this plans like Iris library Dianella knife OFI is Iris is just a fabulous mix so there's big broadleaf plants which are still survived contrast it by all this sort of not fitting Leafs stuff including pompous grass. They will come along see they were dendrite in garden I'm you can see that there are a few here which are are very mature one tarring above us at the moment with these lovely crimson red flowers in full bloom but also a lot of new rhododendrons being planted here and I can see labeling the baboo sticks with which you have bent in this garden and with labels on them what are you trying to achieve here are you sticking to a plan of rhododendrons that were here previously or trying new things a bit of both but we are trying to source the rhododendrons that were here Richard Grove honestly sponsored Frank Kingdom Ward several times there is a tradition here of you know of the fine sort of Himalayan India and Burmese rhododendrons and we have records of the hybrids that he fancied he liked things with Grierson Iain I'm in the middle of the sort of orangey rhododendron Dyke Show I'm from also another orange another Orange called Cinna Brian I'm and these were his favorites along with a beautiful red called Tom Sunny I So we have a lot of information about what Richard was really excited by and he also had a friend called democracy of Headfort who he also his gardener was hybridizing plants which were then brought back trans grow. So it was actually quite a significant collection of rhododendrons and other woodland plants and that's what we're going for and also because he was such an plant enthusiastic we're going from putting the all the thing that he didn't know about that would probably love you mentioned a few times Neal the name honestly and of course anyone who knows gardens and Northern Ireland will know that they honestly garden is. Tremendous arboretum that there is there is a link I think they were basically the same family with just different branches so there is this quite a lot of photographs here Grove of the formal garden the walled garden. And our formal walled garden is a bit similar but it's different in lots of details but the fact that they do have on a mental walled gardens is in Commons it's a family tradition I think. Need we've come to the walled garden and work again going on to restore this we're looking Dyna an avenue of you on either side which is being clipped back into formal hedges probably about 67 feet high and then the borders themselves where they've been turned over and I think you've been adding some manure to those to get them ready for planting on the right and left of us here there are formally clips a box edging which have to say looks absolutely grace and some roses done that the middle of the lot as well and you could tell us a little but those are standard roses the boxes looking a bit like a chain you know really so in the circle in the middle is like 13 circles all continuous and in the middle of each circle is a standard of Flora bond Margaret Merrill which is a beautiful scented white rose and underneath we're going to plant Russell hybrid Lupin's from the 1920 S. We're going to use a blue and white one called the governor which will just look great maybe 3 round the base of each rose and then I've thought of getting a little Chilean climber called Tweedy Kyrandia petal I'm Karunya and training that up the stem of the rose which has China Blue that will flowers which is pretty a nice little touch if you could make it work it will to push the boundaries that. This is an exciting space isn't it because while there are some existing plants Senate you know a lot of it is a blank canvas to kind of put in what you want here and I mean for me particularly this. Imagining what that will be like in a year or 2 you know just just fills me with excitement Yeah we had a French student and she was here last summer and part of her job was to design the border so with my help and Declan his the gardener here and Donna we can to help her and says come up with a blue and white scheme which I think will be lovely. It will take me to source all the plants but certainly this year we'll have a reasonable display albeit slightly late because the plants are just going in his divisions so what's the plan then for the future if someone wants to come and have a look at Anne's groove when will it be open are when can they get a sneaky look out but we're going to open it weekends from April to June 8 weekends and you can have a guided tour from either myself or one of the gardeners here or somebody from Opie W. The office of public work so that'll be available there also be informal tours through the week. For groups and things and then we need to shut down when the summer comes to get the next tranche of work done and we hope to open entirely Easter 2020. Dragonflies out of this you know down to. The to 5 now to. The. Day and that's what I mean. And this. And. I have decided the share trying grow a lot of climbers from seed because as you look around the garden you can see that there are a lot of fences that go into you know a good half of the garden 6 foot high wooden fences that many of us have and they're not really the most exciting by crop for plants so I thought in the meantime for the US and coming year of a don't get the chance spend them at least I could cover them up by growing claimers and I decided to share to grow them from saved because you know I have a big expense to cover and if you are by and climbers you know to cover a lot area I would caution quite a bit Conrad McCormick is preparing for. Summer in his north coast garden near Bali castle and as you heard the most cost effective way to fill your garden with color is to plant seeds right now I and that's just what Conrad's been doing with the aim of clothing his fence in vigorous flooring climbers Hello Mark met up with him the 1st run of gone far as copious Condon's which is known as a cup and saucer vine purchases flowers are like sort of wade open. Trumpets we are trying to it's almost the so they're like a deep purple color and then green backs and they're called a cup and saucer by and just because of the ship of the flour you know if you turn it up it has almost looks like there's a saucer in the base of the floor it's lovely as tender but I have a friend who has grown up before and I'm a runner at survived over the wonder for him right so that's a gorgeous one the love that vibrant purple and the slightly sort of Triffids effect of the the flare you know these stamens a Suppose they are just sort of reaching out at you that's lovely and then the 2nd one of chosen as the purple Belding it's really been a true sanguine to us and at just it's just green leaves but then the flowers themselves are hanging down almost like Bales they're a kind of reddish color and then from the center they are actual Flora self drop sign from that reddish bright and opens it's a really dark chocolate purple the color so it's quite unusual and that science is there that might cover quite a lot of the seasons activity within the plant and joy that you can receive from it yeah and again you know that can grow up to 3 metres high and only 50 centimeters wide so it can grow sort of quite Tolan not not overly overweight to 2 lovely ideas I'm looking back at the fences that you have you know obviously you inherited these when you moved into the house and so they are these upright planks which are you know almost standing next to each other with tiny gaps in the become a bit Greenstein So that is a huge job ahead if you. But this is a lovely interim measure So what are we going to do is our 3rd specimen on the last one as known as the black eyed Susan normally when you see these if you come across them they're if they're yellow or. White color and they were black center to the floor but these are on your street in that are called Sunset shields so they commonly Tara called a sort of sort of terra cotta yellow is shared so there are or about different than the normal normal type and is that a neat little flower I'm it looks like a primrose sized flower is thought a lot about it similar and ship to Primrose but it's maybe they compare 2 inches across so that they can pick origin off the ground extending Hopefully yeah hopefully if you get the suing Right exactly so let's have a shot at that what do you think is the best procedure to ensure success. So what's your medium 1st of all. I'm using seat and cutting the slicks a quick really good quality seed compost quite open and light and then I'm just starting with say 3 inch part which I will fill. Almost to the top. And you keeping it dry at this stage I tend to water after so I will so the saved and the part and then get a late covering of compulsion over the top and then I put on a tray of water and then water from beneath and then that means I'm not stirred in the sage because if he even a very light spring going to war you can purchase a jolt to the side of the pot What are you going to go for 1st go with he really came in the purple velvet and is the principle for all 3 that you have is going to be the same there's no special treatment for them yeah so if you check the back of the pike this one says cover lightly with the final means there really. Doesn't need light to terminate it OK The Black-Eyed Susan is the same while you