A Year at Kew: Season Two

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Nature Documentary hosted by Alan Titchmarsh, published by BBC in 2009 - English narration

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A Year at Kew: Series Two Former student of Kew's School of Horticulture, Alan Titchmarsh, narrates this story of a year behind-the-scenes at The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. This UNESCO World Heritage site attracts over a million visitors each year, all eager to enjoy the beautiful gardens and magnificent glasshouses. This second series also visits Kew's country estate, Wakehurst Place, where rare creatures and plants make their home in protected woodlands and ventures as far a field as Burkino Faso and Mali where the seed collectors from the Millennium Seedbank are keen to catalogue existing plants and find new species. Back in the gardens there is a royal visit to prepare for when Her Majesty the Queen helps the gardens celebrate their World Heritage Site status although disaster strikes before the visit of Prince Charles and Prince Turki of Saudi Arabia when bad weather forces the gardens to close for the first time in 15 years There is also a unique insight into the pioneering work which is carried out in the laboratories. Each episode introduces some of the gardens monthly highlights and problems which all fall within the daily duties of Kews dedicated team of experts. These include preparing for the controversial Chihuly exhibition, creating an authentic Zen garden, a marathon pruning session and feeding the carnivorous plants.

[edit] Visit from The Queen

All the teams are busy preparing the Palm house and rest of the gardens for a visit from Her Majesty the Queen, to mark the Kew's World Heritage Site status. The Tree Anatomy unit helps out HM Customs and excise and the wild flower meadow comes to life.

[edit] Gardens Closed

Disaster stikes as bad weather forces the gardens to close for the first time in 15 years. This hampers preparations for the visit of Prince Charles and Prince Turki of Saudi Arabia as they arrive to plant some new palm trees. Kath King explains her feeding regimes for the carnivorous plant collection and the display team have some leaf cutter ants to deal with.

[edit] Jodrell Laboratory

The morning after the storm the staff assess the damage, while Dave Barnes and his team manoeuvre the new palms into position ready for planting. In the Jodrell Laboratory, Mike Fay examines the DNA of the rare red helleborine.

[edit] Wakehurst Place

At Kew's country garden, Wakehurst Place, Steve Robinson is hard at work making charcoal, while Margaret Leigh prepares for the annual plant auction. In the bamboo garden, Ray Townsend answers a call for help from London Zoo and the tree gang deal with an Italian poplar that stands in the way of the Jodrell Laboratory extension.

[edit] St Helena

Steve Alton travels to St Helena to collect seed of the island's unique plantlife for the Millenium Seedbank, while back at Wakehurst Place a rare cabbage plant is being transferred to Kew. The marathon pruning session begins on the rose pergola and a new recruit to the tree gang gets a lesson from Andy McClure, Kew's oldest tree surgeon.

[edit] The Mycology Department

Head of the Arboretum, Tony Kirkham, fights to save one of Kew's oldest trees, a Ginkgo biloba. Elsewhere the mycology department surveys the fungi of the gardens and Roselle Andrews creates a special wreath for Remembrance Sunday.

[edit] Victorian Taxonomic dispute

Botanist Bill Baker solves a victorian taxonomic dispute and pays tribute to John Dransfield who is retiring. Ray Townsend gets to work creating an authentic Zen garden around the Japanese Gateway and Kew provides a home for 50 chameleons seized by customs.

[edit] Chihuly Exhibition

Seed collectors from the Millenium Seedbank find out that simple tasks can be tough in Burkina Faso. Back at the gardens work begins to assemble the first sculpture for the controversial Chihuly exhibition. Elsewhere the keepers of the Palm house and Temperate house go head to head at the RHS London Show.

[edit] Wollemi Pine

Michiel Van Slageren uses local knowledge to find new species for the Millennium Seedbank in Mali. Curator of the spirit collection, Emma Treadwell looks after some new additions and displays curator Phil Griffiths commissions some new pots for the Temperate House. The world's media descend on the gardens to see the rare Wollemi pine.

[edit] Volunteers tackle an invasive weed

In the Jodrell Laboratory, Olwen Grace examines the chemical properties of aloes while outside a team of 300 volunteers tackle an invasive weed. Inside the Temperate house, it's organised chaos as the final preparations for the Chihuly exhibiton are underway and a bedding scheme with a difference is designed outside the Princess of Wales Conservatory.