Creating a garden for these two marvellous twins in their 80s was a tremendous pleasure. These ladies are one, or I should say, two of kind, and they deserve a spectacular place to relax outdoors.
One thing I noticed is that when we were given tea on this shoot it wasn’t in any rubbish polystyrene cups, it was in beautiful floral mugs of bone china. It was an absolute treat, and we knew straight away we were in a garden for a couple of ladies that were from a different era. And they made a lovely cup of tea, I’ll tell you.
Here’s me with James, one of the landscapers. We were given the task to clad the side wall of the garage, and in this shot we have just realised that the job was going to be considerably harder than what had been described to us. You can also see it’s the beginning of the season here because we have coats and jumpers on, although it did really warm up later.
This is me with Lloyd, AKA ‘Stormbringer’. He’s our expert lead soundman, but for some reason whenever he is on site we will always get some rain. He really is a cracking guy, though,2 who helps us out so much.
Here is Thea, one of the production managers. Thea sources all of the plants and many of the other materials for most of the gardens we make over. A very talented and resourceful young lady, we can always trust that she will find what we need, and here she is with one of her great plant finds amongst all of the chaos behind set.
I’ve scouted out a dry spot in the garage here, and that’s part of these shoots. You always know you need a few dry hideaways to dash to if the rain comes rolling in.
Here you can see Amy, our make-up artist, telling me she needs to apply some sunscreen. But, yes, that is in fact Gorilla Glue. Cheeky monkey!
And no, that is not a massive quiff of metallic hair, it’s just a fancy mirror on the wall behind me.
Me tucking into some gorgeous pizza that we had ordered in with Jake, who is a cameraman and director on the show at the same time.
Here are two more of our superb landscapers, fuelling up in readiness for some serious work. They may look clean and neat now, but I can tell you they won’t be so pretty by the end of the day.
Katie and I enjoying the sunshine and full of energy (because it’s the start of the day), and then getting photobombed by Frances who’s spotted us having a little fun and jumped in on the action.
Peeking through the hedging here is Jackie, our production manager. Jackie coordinates everything from our hotels to making sure all of the film and equipment gets back to the editors. Here she is telling us to hurry up (as she often has to do).
Here are Frances and I in the side alley by the tea stand. If you look in the distance you can see Katie preparing to be filmed, and Frances and I are trying to distract her with a bunch of bananas, just as you would expect mature, professional TV presenters to do…
And this is me with the lovely twins, Betty and Rita. They really are wonderful ladies, and we also gave them some tickets to the Southport Flower Show. I’ll be there with some other television friends running the Celebrity Theatre, so I’m going to make sure they are well looked after and have a lovely day. They are so full of positivity, and just a pleasure to be around. I feel very privileged that we got to meet them and create this marvellous garden for them.
David Domoney is a Chartered Horticulturalist, Broadcaster, and Author. David has worked with a number of the UK’s leading garden retailers as a plant buyer and strategic consultant. With more than 30 years experience, in horticulture, David is as passionate about plants now as he was when he bought his first plant at a village fete.
Great series. You do a great job on the gardens. Long may it continue