Hi, Sweetpea.

Hi, Mummy Bear.

 We have another chit chat.

 Yeah, we’re back again.

 This is episode 77 this time.

 That’s right.

 And it’s Alina Hibbert.

 Yes.

 Now, Alina was on episode nine of this year’s Gardeners World Series 2026

 when she was at Malvern.

 Yes, that was it.

 RHS Malvern.

 And she was doing her first ever Show Garden,

 which was an indoor plant garden, as it were.

 Exactly.

 Where she won a whopping gold.

 A whopping gold.

 A whopping gold.

 For her amazing…

 I mean, it was so incredible.

 And you’ll remember that I went on about this incredible moss lava lamp.

 Yes.

 We do hear about that.

 We do.

 We find out more about the lava lamp.

 Yeah.

 We also hear about steaming pots of tea.

 Yeah.

 And we find out how these various things were made.

 And a lot of that was an account of Alina’s show garden buddy

 who she created the garden with.

 Yeah.

 And that was Adam.

 Now, Alina calls him Adam Cretin.

 Yeah.

 And we did slightly question where that came from

 and whether it was actually Cretin.

 We were all fairly convinced it can’t be Cretin.

 Surely not.

 Anyway, Adam, we do apologize.

 We do know that your name is Adam Critien rather than Cretin.

 Oh, my gosh.

 Which makes a whole lot more sense.

 Critien.

 So just wanted to put the record straight on that one.

 OK.

 Another part of the conversation, because obviously it’s just audio,

 so you couldn’t see what was happening on screen.

 Oh, yeah.

 We’ve got quite a lot of visuals from Alina.

 Yeah.

 One of them was when she holds up an
Alocasia zebrina.

 And we do have photos of that particular plant.

 We do.

 You can get an idea of what we were talking about at that point.

 So incredible.

 Whilst you’re listening to the episode or afterwards,

 pop over to our website, notjustgarden.co.uk.

 Absolutely.

 Chit chats, click on Alina’s face, and then you’ll get a few photos.

 So there’s that Alocasia zebrina.

 We’ve also got the lava lamp in there.

 Yeah.

 The steaming pot of tea, all those sorts of things you can find.

 Great.

 That’d be fantastic.

 Also, after our conversation, after we had switched off the recording,

 Alina talked about peat and peat-free compost.

 Yeah.

 And we had a very, very, very interesting conversation, which blew my mind.

 I had no idea this was going on, that there are some very big

 commercial compost providers who are still using peat.

 And explicitly as well.

 Explicitly.

 And it’s incredible how many nurseries are relying on that peat compost.

 And big ones.

 From this particular provider.

 Yeah.

 I mean, there have been some big rose names that we know of who use it.

 And a lot of influencers who are advertising this compost company.

 So it’s pretty poor show, I’d say, in this day and age for us to still be

 advertising that.

 And these are sort of big influencers who are, you know, bigger,

 certainly in the gardening world.

 Gardenfluencers.

 Gardenfluencers.

 Ginfluencers.

 So we were very grateful for Alina bringing that to attention.

 We are actually going to talk about it on a future Gardeners’ World recap.

 We are actually.

 Because I think also they’ve even been at, I think, was it Gardeners’ World Live?

 Yeah, they’ve been linked to Gardeners’ World.

 And so Gardeners’ World have, you know, essentially they’re advocating.

 And you’ve got Arit next door doing her peat-free compost exhibition.

 But every single time on Gardeners’ World, they say, and you use some

 peat-free compost, put it in your pot with grit or perlite or whatever.

 Yeah, exactly.

 Always making the point about it being peat-free.

 And yet they are essentially advocating this peat compost.

 So, yeah, exactly.

 They’re linked in some way.

 So it’ll be an interesting conversation to have, certainly.

 Absolutely.

 But for this episode, Sweetpea, tell us the format.

 So for Alina’s dream garden, we have garden boundary, shed of greenhouse,

 five ornamentals, five edibles, one statement tree, pond or pool plus one

 plant, and finally a favourite seating area drink and one plant for that area.

 And as always, we have links and visuals to this audio podcast on our website.

 And likewise, if you want to get in touch with us, you’ve got any comments

 or any questions, you can do so through our website, which is

 notjustagarden.co.uk

 or you can contact us on our email address, which is notjustagarden@outlook.com.

 Shall we jump into this episode?

 Absolutely.

 This is episode 77, A Good Ol’ Chit Chat with Alina Hibbert.

 Off we go, me lovelies.

 Welcome, Alina, to A Good Ol’ Chit Chat!

 Hiya.

 Hiya.

 All right, me lovers.

 Me lovers.

 Oh, you didn’t disappoint.

 I was so hoping that would be said at some point.

 Right off the bat.

 So welcome.

 It’s really great to see you.

 We did see you quite recently on Gardeners’ World.

 You were on episode nine, weren’t you?

 On the Mormon Spring Festival episode.

 Yeah, very surreal, that.

 Oh, I can imagine, because you had a show.

 Do you call it a garden, a show display?

 A show?

 I’d say a show garden.

 Show garden, because it was judged.

 Yes, it was judged.

 And my sort of questioning over whether it’s a garden or not

 is because they were houseplants, so indoor garden, I guess.

 And you had Back to Grandma’s House.

 Yeah.

 And we got to see a little bit about you and your background

 and a little bit about some jobs that you do

 and how you do some of your displays and that kind of thing.

 But it was it was even shorter than it normally is

 when people get a segment on garden as well.

 Because then they wanted to show your garden,

 obviously, Back to Grandma’s House

 and show you the top half of the Mormon show.

 But you had Jo with you.

 So what I’d love to know is more about how you got into

 the sort of the plant world in the first instance

 and then how the Mormon show thing came about.

 Sure thing.

 OK, I’ll try and because I’m quite good at going off in tangents.

 So that’s great.

 We love that.

 I’ll try and not go too deep into it.

 But so basically, my dad is a gardener

 and he’s been a gardener since he was 16.

 Oh, wow.

 I’ve had him as a dad for a gardener for my whole life.

 And I’ve had that kind of thing my whole life,

 like doing gardening with him.

 He let me loose with like diesel leaf blowers at like 11

 and stuff.

 So this tiny child with a massive leaf blower

 and helping him cut hedges and stuff like probably

 when a kid shouldn’t have these tools,

 like even a chainsaw, like using all of these tools.

 But, you know, he trusted me and I really enjoyed it.

 So he knew I wouldn’t do anything silly.

 So when you say a gardener, so a professional gardener.

 Yeah, yeah, yeah, professional.

 So you go out to clients gardens.

 Oh, no, not in that case.

 He’ll bring the tools home.

 So if we did our garden at home, then I’d be helping him at home.

 He I come from Sherbourne, so he’s in Sherbourne

 and he is now the head gardener of the girls school in Sherbourne

 and has this manages the whole site, which is awesome.

 But as a kid, he would he would work in all the different schools

 and living in Sherbourne, if I was with my mum,

 we’d go into town and maybe see him.

 And sometimes if he was like on a ride on lawnmower,

 he’d let me sit on his lap and like drive around

 and stuff and he’d let me steer it and all that kind of stuff.

 So I’ve always had a really natural interest

 into gardening and being outdoors, being in nature.

 I’ve always had a really big gravitational pull towards it.

 So when I hit 15, I needed a job to fund driving lessons

 or whatever coming up.

 So I got my first job at the garden center in Sherbourne,

 Sherbourne Castle Gardens, and I absolutely loved it.

 And I always thought from like the age of seven,

 I wanted to be a garden designer.

 I always had that in the back of my head that that is what I wanted to do

 when I grew up.

 So working at the garden center at 15,

 I was really trying to learn more about plants and stuff.

 So I’d be outdoors or in the plants.

 But I’d also be more

 more or less positioned as the houseplant person on a Sunday.

 Oh, interesting. Yeah.

 So that’s when like the houseplants kind of first started seeding in.

 And that’s when I first discovered the Houseplant Expert book

 by Dr. DJ Hessian. Oh, yes.

 And I had a couple of people who would work with me on houseplants

 who were like, you know, above me.

 They’ve been there for a lot longer.

 And they would always teach me some tricks and stuff about houseplants.

 And I used to challenge myself as well with the Houseplant Expert

 book every Sunday. I’d look through it.

 I absolutely loved that book.

 I remember loving it so much.

 And I looked for it and I’d pick a plant

 and I try to challenge myself and like memorize it for the day.

 So then by the end of the day, I try to see if I can remember

 the care tips and stuff. Yes.

 For it. What a great way to learn.

 Yeah. And I really did love my gardening.

 And I was really involved with that garden center

 and hold it really deeply still.

 I mean, you were a gift to that garden center, being so conscientious,

 learning all the plants and how to care for them.

 I can imagine customers coming in just gravitated towards you, did they?

 Alina will know.

 Well, you’ll say that, but a bunch of oldies

 because Shelbourne’s like retired London Retirement Central.

 Yes. So there would there would this might have been like

 the first kind of push of a drive to prove people

 because being a woman as well,

 a lot of people have a lot of doubts about your knowledge

 and if you’re capable.

 And I remember a few incidences and one in particular.

 This this elderly couple were looking for someone to help for help.

 And their son pointed me out and said, oh, she’s free.

 Why don’t we ask her?

 And the old person within my shot was like, oh, she’s too young.

 She won’t know anything.

 And I was like, excuse me.

 Yes, excuse me.

 I was like, excuse me.

 I was like, you try me because you’ll be pleasantly surprised.

 Yes, exactly.

 And I was also like super strong as well.

 I’ve always been quite some good biceps.

 Yeah. So you get all your kind of natural heavy lifting,

 moving compost bags and stuff.

 And the garden center was always really like,

 should you be doing this at fifteen?

 And I was like lifting two at a time.

 Yeah.

 Carrying another one on your back.

 Yeah. Yeah.

 And all these old people were like, oh, my God.

 And so I had a job.

 Kept you fit.

 It really kept me fit.

 I always I really loved heavy labor work as well.

 So that I loved the garden center.

 They had polytunnels.

 So I used to hang in baskets with them.

 I learned so much in that garden center,

 like on top of what my dad was teaching me through doing our garden.

 Went there at fifteen and I left at eighteen when I went to university.

 So. Oh, cool.

 Yeah. So go.

 But first going to college, I had a choice of either doing horticultural art.

 My dad had the exact same choice when he went to college

 and he chose horticulture.

 And he knew I really loved art and visuals.

 And I loved painting at the time as well.

 I really loved painting.

 I did BTEC art in school, like for my A levels.

 So he was like, don’t do the same thing that I did, because he wish he did.

 Oh, interesting.

 Don’t waste your time with horticulture like me.

 Go and do art because you’re passionate about it.

 So when it came to college, I did art instead of horticulture.

 It’s interesting that he felt horticulture was a waste of time.

 So did you not find it useful for his career?

 Yeah, I think he probably wouldn’t say now it was a waste of time.

 But I think, you know, it’s one of those things parents do.

 They kind of make sure he regret it.

 Maybe he holds the regret of not going to do art.

 So he’s like, just making sure.

 But I kind of now wish I did horticulture.

 Oh, no. So you’re going to be telling your children.

 Oh, I don’t know if I’ll be having some to tell.

 But there’s no need, I don’t think.

 No, I’ve also got seven nieces and nephews.

 Oh, you’ve got plenty to be getting on with.

 Plenty of the kids.

 Sweet Pea, listen to this.

 I keep saying to Sweet Pea, there’s zero pressure to have children.

 No, I’m well aware of it.

 During college, there was a module in photography

 and there is a family history of photography.

 My granddad had his own dark room when it was first around

 and had colour and stuff.

 So when the photography module came around, I was like, OK,

 I feel quite comfortable with this.

 Yes, it runs in the blood.

 It runs in the blood.

 So I got really into photography, really looked at loads of different

 photographers and through college, like my main inspirations was like

 John Everett Millais from the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood.

 I got to tell you all of his painting Ophelia.

 Oh, yes. Oh, wow.

 That’s like a big inspiration.

 And then like my favourite photographers are like Nick Knight, Tim Walker,

 Gregory Crudson.

 So from there, I was like, OK, let’s do photography.

 I’m going to do it.

 And then I kind of went to uni, did my BA and did my MA in photography.

 So it’s kind of where then I was still in the back of my head

 always saying, I really love gardening.

 I would love to be a garden designer.

 I’ve always had that in the back of my head.

 And it was only kind of when I left to go to uni,

 I moved in with my ex-partner.

 We had a garden to play with.

 I got then another job at a garden centre in Caerphilly

 in Wales. Did it feel like coming back home?

 A little bit, yeah.

 I really loved Caerphilly Garden Centre.

 I loved working there.

 The managers there were amazing.

 It was really fun. Oh, great.

 So in that garden centre, I was more of an outdoor person.

 I was under the wing of this guy called Kevin.

 And his knowledge was amazing.

 And I used to help loads of people with, you know,

 picking out plants from their borders or pots and stuff.

 And I used to love that.

 And obviously like in the back of my head,

 I was absolutely loving it.

 Cause I was like, I’ve always wanted to do this.

 I love putting things together,

 but there was house plants there still.

 So I used to bring some house plants back

 to my ex’s house.

 And this is kind of like long story,

 kind of the roundabout way of how I got into house plants.

 So I was in uni, I split up with my ex

 and I had to move into uni halls.

 And my ex partner didn’t like house plants.

 He didn’t like me bringing them home.

 He didn’t like them in the house.

 So when I split up with him

 and I moved into my uni halls,

 I went into quite a bad depression.

 It was very heavy.

 It was probably one of the darkest times of my life

 cause I was away from home, no family,

 like around me immediately.

 Didn’t know what to do kind of thing.

 Quite a big kind of point in my life.

 And there was a part where I found out

 a little house plant shop was opening up in Cardiff.

 And I thought, do you know what?

 I miss working with plants.

 I miss it.

 So I thought, I feel depressed.

 I don’t think I’m ready to go back to work,

 but I was like, maybe I can go volunteer once a week

 with him and kind of get back into house plants

 and help my mental health and stuff like that.

 And yeah, he took me on and volunteered once a week

 cause it was a dedicated house plant shop.

 I got back into learning about house plants

 and I just fell in love with them more.

 And cause I only, I didn’t have a garden.

 I was in uni halls now.

 I was like, okay, well, house plants it is.

 I’m gonna start bringing them in.

 And I did, I absolutely covered my whole uni dorm

 with house plants.

 Oh, fantastic.

 And they were like, this could be a fire hazard.

 And I was like, it could be, no,

 but I’m not going to stop.

 So when you started working,

 the voluntary work at the house plant shop,

 how soon after starting that did those kind

 of dark clouds part?

 Was it a fairly instant thing?

 I mean, it wasn’t instant just because of the severity

 of like what happened and all that kind of stuff.

 It was, it took me about a year and a bit

 to kind of really get back to myself again.

 But it was something I could look forward to every week

 and go and learn.

 And as you start off with house plants,

 you love all of the kind of basic things.

 And I’ve still got this Alocasia zebrina

 from that voluntary work.

 That zebrina was, he was gonna get rid of it

 because it was a bit rubbish.

 And I had, there was two actually.

 So I brought both of them home and recovered them.

 Nurtured them back to health.

 Yeah, exactly.

 I’ve still got like this pila pepperomioids

 is from Caerphilly Garden Centre as well.

 Cause I took it as a little baby.

 Oh, wow.

 And I brought it with me into my uni halls.

 How big is it now?

 It needs a drink, so don’t judge me.

 I’m not gonna judge you.

 But it’s, it had this crazy little thing

 and then it’s made new babies,

 but it’s just dying for a drink.

 So I’ve had a few. So quite sentimental

 those plants I imagine. Yeah, I’ve got a few.

 And I’ve got a fern as well

 that I’ve had since Caerphilly Garden Centre.

 And these plants I’ve still got since that time.

 I can’t get rid of them.

 No, of course not.

 They mean a lot.

 How do you even do that?

 Yeah, they’ve been through so much with me as well.

 And getting into health plans at that time

 really did help my mental health.

 And you hear it all the time.

 And it’s so true, but like,

 and this was pre-COVID

 where a lot of people discovered that.

 It was something I could try and grow.

 I was like getting into cuttings as well,

 learning how to propagate in the little plant shop.

 And I was trying it all out

 and I was just absolutely loving it.

 Killing some as well,

 but I feel like that’s the best way to learn.

 It’s by killing plants, but.

 We won’t use that as your tagline.

 We’re not going to print that on T-shirts.

 That’s not going to work.

 Yes, great merch.

 It is, it generally is though.

 You’ve got to kill a few plants

 before you know exactly what you’re doing.

 Oh, I’m on board.

 I’ve done the same.

 Yeah.

 And so I was taking photos of them for my Instagram

 and my friend at the time, he was like,

 can you stop like posting pictures of plants?

 And I was like, okay.

 But this is like before a time,

 like plant Instagram was a thing.

 You know what I mean?

 Like 2017, 2017 or whatever.

 So I was just like, oh, okay, fine.

 And then I just made my own plant Instagram account

 at that time when he was like, can you stop?

 So yeah, that’s when I then started like dedicating,

 taking pictures of plants more for Instagram,

 but doing photography in my, through uni,

 nature has always like been a massive input

 to all of the art I do, everything.

 And in my MA, I really discovered

 who I was as a photographer.

 And I would say I’m a botany documentary photographer.

 Right.

 And I like, I take photos

 of what nature wants to present to me

 rather than me seeking it out.

 So.

 So is that your profession now as a botany?

 I don’t do it as a job, but you could,

 I mean, with the degrees, you could,

 you would say I’m a professional, which is nice.

 But I haven’t pursued it though.

 What is your job now then?

 So my job currently is working in a house plant shop.

 So coming full circle to Moven,

 I submitted my design for last year’s show,

 but didn’t get accepted.

 But they were like, they just said,

 hey, we love your concept.

 Please try again for next year.

 And I was like, okay, okay, okay.

 Just on that.

 So when you submit a design,

 what’s their criteria in terms of whether they’ll accept

 or not accept you?

 They kind of ask you to create a room.

 So whether you do a room in a house,

 which is kind of the obvious thing to do,

 or you kind of think outside the box

 and make a room of something.

 So I was finding my feet from being able to live

 with my partner in our own home,

 not brought, but rented.

 I was discovering my love of 70s furniture

 and retro stuff, love all that kind of it.

 So I was just kind of like,

 oh, I’ll just make a design of like what my dream

 kind of living room would look like,

 what I’d love to have.

 And I was kind of like, oh, you get a grant.

 Maybe this could be a great excuse

 to buy all the furniture I want.

 What sort of grant do you get?

 So they’ll give you some money towards it,

 but it’s not a lot.

 So you do have to try and find sponsors.

 So the grant is from the RHS?

 Yes, yeah.

 Is that standard across the board

 for all the different show?

 So the house plant ones get less than the gardens.

 The gardens get way more.

 How much do you get for them?

 For the indoors was four and a half grand.

 Do you know what it is for the outdoor ones?

 Outdoors, I think it was like 10.

 It sounds like a lot of money.

 I can imagine.

 But you spend it quickly.

 It’s spent really quickly

 because you get nothing but two walls.

 So you have to get everything.

 And house plants aren’t cheap either.

 So a lot of the money is spent

 and because we did terrariums

 with like kind of rarer plants.

 Oh yeah, that’s good.

 It was so easy to spend that money.

 So you submit your design

 and then they come back to you and they say,

 do they tell you you haven’t ticked certain boxes,

 we’re not taking it all,

 sorry, we’re just full this year

 or how are you kind of rebuffed?

 Last year when I got the rejection,

 they didn’t necessarily say why I didn’t.

 They just said what they liked

 and just said try again next year.

 So I think they might have an intention of visual

 how they would want it to look for the show maybe.

 So when you then came to do it this year,

 did you submit exactly the same design?

 No, I altered it.

 So you kept the things they said we like these,

 you kept all that.

 Yeah, I kept some of it

 because I submitted the design

 with like an aquascape and some terrariums

 but not as heavily as I did when I redid it.

 And at that point as well,

 when I went and visited last year’s show,

 I saw my friend Adam and I was like,

 hey Adam, I did apply this year

 but I didn’t get in

 but they’ve asked me to resubmit for next year.

 I was like, do you wanna join?

 And like me and Adam, we get on really well.

 We have so many common interests

 in aquascaping, terrariums.

 This is Adam.

 Cretin.

 Cretin.

 Cretin.

 Yeah, I’m not sure if I’m saying that right.

 I’m so sorry, Adam, if I’m not.

 But you’re sure it’s Cretin.

 I know how to spell it.

 But I do apologize Adam.

 What’s Adam’s role?

 What does he do?

 So he is a data analyst, I believe.

 I just know he looks at a lot of numbers

 and he’s really good with numbers

 and he’s really good with patterns

 and he’s really good with money.

 And what about with plants?

 With plants, he loves his terrariums, paludariums.

 He has frogs.

 He’s really awesome.

 So he’s a plant guy.

 He’s a plant guy through and through.

 And yeah, we met at Gardeners World Live

 like four, five years ago.

 I was on a stall and sold him a plant

 and we chatted about this caudex plant

 and he absolutely loved that.

 And I was like, I love this too.

 And then we were like, wow, nobody appreciates it.

 So we had like such a good conversation.

 I was like, oh, do you have Instagram?

 It’d be cool to keep in touch.

 And we did.

 And we met up like kind of at social events

 and chatted and stuff.

 And we just get on so well,

 even though there’s like quite a big age gap

 in between us.

 So you approached Adam and said, I’ve got this design.

 I want to enter it into more than fancy doing it with me.

 Yes, pretty much that.

 I see.

 Okay, great.

 So then you’re a team,

 which is always more fun, isn’t it?

 And I’m so glad I did

 because I think if I did more of it on my own,

 it wouldn’t be as good.

 But not as fun though, as well I imagine.

 No, totally not.

 It’s nice to do it with someone.

 Yeah, so I changed the design a bit as well

 to then incorporate more things that Adam likes.

 So he’s made a living wall

 with one of his previous houses.

 He’s got a whole blog about it.

 And it’s really impressive.

 It’s one thing I like remember chatting to him about.

 So I incorporated the living wall into the design

 because I was like, yes, I’ve done the design,

 but you’re now doing it with me.

 I need to put some Adam into it

 and some things that he can control

 and make himself because he is creative.

 He’s really good at this stuff.

 So that’s when we like bombarded the design

 with more like terrariums.

 But we were just like wanted to do

 so many unusual terrariums

 and just like different ways to display plants.

 And this is when I like,

 I added more of the placerums

 that was in my first design,

 but we added a few more to like emphasize it and stuff.

 Those are the board mounted.

 Yeah, they’re the mounted ferns.

 Yeah.

 So for anyone who hasn’t seen them,

 the way I picture them is they’re like a sort of

 taxidermy stag head, but much nicer.

 It looks like the antlers doesn’t.

 Yeah.

 Well, their nickname are staghorn ferns.

 So yes, absolutely.

 It makes sense.

 We were really interested

 because you showed on Gardener’s World

 on your episode how you put those together,

 but I couldn’t quite visualize what was going on.

 You had your oak board.

 Yeah.

 Then you screwed in some screws kind of in a circle.

 Yes.

 Could you describe how you go about actually mounting this?

 Yeah.

 For me, I’m just thinking surely gravity

 is taking that out of this opportunity.

 But somehow it looked really solid.

 Yeah, no, so you get your board

 and then you put your screws.

 I kind of make like a star shape

 so I have like five or a pentagon.

 So as if it’s the points of your star.

 Yeah, so they’re gonna be your anchor points

 because when you put your moss down

 and you fern and you put your moss in,

 you get a fishing wire

 and then you kind of absolutely go mental

 with covering it and anchoring it down

 and all sorts of different directions

 like Willy Wonka’s glass elevator.

 So you’ve got your staghorn

 which you put in the middle of these screws.

 And the staghorn is in some sort of substrate.

 Yeah, they kind of come either like in bark

 or some moss and mine was in some moss already.

 I try not to mess with the roots too much

 because they’re quite sensitive.

 So they’re not in a pot.

 They can come in a pot.

 They will come in a pot.

 But you don’t put the pot in the mound.

 No, no.

 So that comes off.

 That comes off.

 So you’ve got roots and bark.

 Yeah, that goes on.

 You make like a bed of moss first

 in the middle of the screws

 and you put your fern on top of that.

 And then you kind of chuck a load of moss around it

 to make a ball.

 And then that’s when you go haywire with the-

 Haywire with your wire.

 Haywire with the wire.

 With the wire.

 Yeah.

 And then how are you-

 It could be.

 Very catchy.

 We’ll save it for another podcast then.

 Yeah, yeah, yeah.

 When you water it,

 because then you mount that obviously vertically.

 How then are you watering it without the soil,

 without the stuff coming out the bottom?

 You can like spray it on the wall

 but then you’re gonna get your wall wet.

 So I would, I take them off the wall

 and then I have a tub, a plastic tub.

 I put it in and like line it against the tub upright.

 Wood and all.

 Yeah, wood and all.

 And the thing with the wood,

 it’s good to use a really hard wood.

 So I’ve got oak because it’s very slow degrading

 and it can sustain the water.

 So you can either use that or like cork or something.

 Cork’s water resistant.

 So, but it’s good to use a hard wood

 so it doesn’t rattle mold.

 So yeah, that goes upright in a tub and then against the side.

 And then if the moss is too dry,

 I usually spray it first

 just so the moss can kind of rehydrate.

 And then I’ll pour over water with my watering can

 like you’re baptizing a baby said.

 Yes.

 And just making sure it’s like really soaked in

 and wet.

 And then I’ll let it drip off

 and then once it’s dripped off,

 it goes back on the wall.

 Right, cool.

 And it’s not damaging your wall at all

 having a bit of damp wood on it.

 No, cause it’s the wood is so thick,

 thicker than what I would usually do.

 And cause you’re leaving it to dry.

 You’re not like trying to aim for the wood.

 You’re trying to aim for the ball of moss

 that’s like protruding out of the wood.

 So you’re not necessarily getting the wood super damp.

 If that makes sense.

 You’re not like soaking,

 you’re not submerging the whole wood into water.

 Okay, I get it.

 Yeah, so you just wanna wet the moss ball

 and the fan rather than the wood.

 So because that bit’s the only wet bit,

 you’re not necessarily getting damage on your wall

 from the wood being wet.

 I do love them because they are so unique.

 Have you come across them anywhere else

 or was it your invention?

 Oh, no, no.

 It’s been happening for quite some time already.

 It’s like North, not North Korea,

 South Korea and Japan.

 They’re so far ahead and all this kind of stuff.

 Oh, okay.

 And it’s kind of come from there

 cause they’ve invented like Kokedama

 and all that kind of stuff.

 So that kind of practice is from over there.

 Wait, you’re gonna have to tell me what Kokedama is.

 Kokedama is that house plant thing

 where you have like the whole root ball is moss.

 And it kind of looks like a floating island

 suspended from wire

 and you have the plant coming out the top.

 Oh, yes.

 Oh, I see.

 So that’s something from Japan.

 And again, no pot involved.

 The moss is the pot.

 No, so like your mountain of fun, but with no wood.

 So you cover the whole thing with moss

 and go crazy with string

 and you have it like a floating island of moss.

 How interesting.

 So yeah, these kind of practices have come from over there.

 It’s a whole new world.

 Yeah, it’s really cool.

 The other thing,

 I don’t know if this is a Japanese thing,

 but creating a moss lava lamp.

 How did you do that?

 Oh, that is cool.

 It’s not a Japanese thing.

 That is Adam’s brain.

 It’s fun.

 I think it was just really nice

 to let Adam go loose with ideas.

 And he was like a kid.

 It’s so funny because like the steaming teapot was his idea.

 Oh, I don’t think I saw that.

 Oh yeah, so we had a steaming teapot in the corner

 because in the criteria was like,

 it talked about the judge’s like

 kind of theoretical things.

 So Adam was like,

 what about steaming teapot?

 Oh my gosh, that’s so much fun coming up with ideas.

 Obviously, I was just like, yeah.

 Go for it.

 Let’s try that.

 Let’s do it.

 So we found like a small sign,

 table drawer thing.

 And he drilled a hole through the top and the back.

 So he threaded a humidifier pipe through those holes,

 drilled a hole in the bottom of the teapot,

 put the pipe in that.

 So when you turned it on, it came out the spout.

 Right.

 Very cool.

 Were there plants in it?

 No, no.

 It was just like a small 70s teapot.

 So when it came to the lava lamp,

 he was like,

 he was saying, oh, I’ve got a lava lamp.

 Wouldn’t it be cool if like,

 we put some like moss balls in there

 and it was like an actual lava lamp.

 Again, I was like, yeah.

 Yeah, let’s do it.

 I was like, oh yeah.

 And I was like, you figure that out, Adam.

 That’s your project.

 You figure it out.

 So he kind of was just doing it on a whim

 at the show.

 He had decided it

 and he was just gonna see if it worked.

 He wanted to use like a small air pump in the thing,

 but couldn’t figure out a way quickly

 to kind of like hide it or without it being so fiddly.

 So he’s made a little video on his Instagram

 or you can find it on my Instagram as well

 of how he made it.

 But he basically filled up the lava lamp with RO water.

 So there wasn’t much,

 when it, RO water is like the most purest water

 you can get.

 There’s no chemicals or anything in there.

 It’s like super filtered.

 What’s it called?

 RO water.

 I wanna say it stands for reverse osmosis.

 Osmosis, yes.

 So yeah, it’s quite common in the aquascaping world

 or like aquatic hobby because people use that water.

 There’s nothing in it.

 So you can really control the balances of the water

 and what’s in it.

 Interesting.

 And so he uses, he used that in there

 and then he got his moss balls

 and pierced holes through the top of the lava lamp

 and just suspended the moss balls with fishing wire

 on different levels.

 So it kind of did that.

 That’s very cool, yeah.

 And every now and then the moss balls

 will produce air bubbles and lift themself up.

 So every now and then he’ll go over and like wiggle it

 to kind of get rid of all the air bubbles.

 Right.

 Oh, I thought that you meant as in

 they would then naturally kind of rise up.

 Well, they lift,

 but they wouldn’t move.

 I guess then they all stick at the top.

 Yeah, they wouldn’t move like how you would,

 but obviously the bulb was still working underneath

 so it could turn on from the bottom.

 And yeah, it just, it pulled off so well.

 He did so good.

 So effective.

 It was really cool.

 It was so cool.

 Great for your theme as well.

 Yes, yeah.

 And there was also your great grand as chrysanthemum

 which we saw quite near the end of your segment

 which has such a beautiful and sentimental backstory.

 Tell us a bit more about that.

 Yeah, so I’ve always known as a kid,

 like growing up that there was a chrysanthemum

 named after my great granddad.

 I thought it was his own chrysanthemum,

 but yeah, I didn’t really know much more than that.

 I didn’t know what it looked like or anything.

 No.

 And he passed away 10 years before I was born.

 So I never really knew, didn’t,

 well obviously didn’t meet him, did I?

 But like.

 No, probably not.

 I only heard few bits and bobs about him.

 Is he on your dad’s side of the family?

 My mom’s side of the family.

 Oh, okay.

 So it’s gardening coming at you from all angles.

 Yes, there’s so much.

 My dad learned all of his gardening stuff

 from his granddad.

 So my great granddad.

 So my great granddad was a head gardener

 and he learned from his dad.

 So my great great granddad on my dad’s side

 was a head gardener too.

 Crikey, crikey.

 So it’s been passed down on my dad’s side

 and then yeah, on my mom’s side,

 gardening has always been a thing as well.

 Little like side note, you know, my nan,

 so my mom’s mom and granddad have always had an allotment.

 So as a kid, I always went to their house,

 went to the allotment,

 digged up some taters and stuff like that.

 He called them Murphy’s because he’s concrete Dorset.

 So he’s born and bred in Dorset.

 So they call potatoes.

 That’s where my lover has come from.

 Yeah.

 So he always called potatoes Murphy’s

 and always cut like sweet peas in their garden,

 little kitchen roll, tin foil, take it home to mom.

 And dahlias, they were always big with their dahlias

 and shaking them out for the earwigs

 and stuff as a kid and screaming

 because I hate earwigs.

 Yeah, not nice.

 Yeah, it was only kind of moral.

 So this year and because Gardeners World

 were asking for it, I talked to my nan more

 about my great granddad and his chrysanthemum.

 So he was a chrysanthemum grower.

 He loved them.

 He dedicated so much of his life to grow them.

 He would then enter those into competitions

 because back then in the seventies, dahlias,

 there was a dedicated dahlias got like shows,

 dedicated chrysanthemum shows.

 Like, yeah, absolutely mental.

 So he was going to like five a year

 with his chrysanthemums and other vegetables or something.

 So yeah, I was finding that he was entering

 these chrysanthemums that he grew into these competitions.

 My nan was saying like how, you know,

 she grew up and he would tell her not to touch them

 and they would be like in bags to protect them.

 So nothing pollinated it.

 And he was so like serious about this.

 Very strict.

 And nan was like, oh, I have got his certificates

 and I’ve got photos of him with them

 and his chrysanthemums and she’s like,

 do you want to see them?

 And I was like, absolutely.

 I would love to actually finally sit down

 and learn about this.

 I love my family history as well.

 I love learning about my elders and stuff like that.

 So yeah, I went to my nan’s house and she came down.

 She’s like, oh, I’ve put it all in a box for you

 as nans do, brings down this box,

 brings out this photo album

 and I’m just seeing photo after photo of him

 holding his chrysanthemums.

 Yeah, seeing the greenhouse and like the bags

 on the chrysanthemums and the ones he entered in the shows.

 And then she brings down his certificates

 and there was a pile.

 And I mean like a thick stack of certificates

 from early as 19, I think there was one.

 The earliest one was 1970.

 All the way up to 19, yeah, 1988.

 So.

 How fantastic.

 Yeah.

 Have you done anything with those certificates?

 My nan’s kept them.

 My nan’s kept them.

 I’ve taken pictures and stuff of them.

 So I’ve got it.

 And then.

 How lovely to have that.

 Yeah.

 And then he’s also got physical like medallions,

 let’s say, of like when he won stuff

 and that was put into a wooden shield as well.

 Lovely.

 My uncle’s got that

 because he left it to my uncle for his will.

 So I was so jealous.

 I was like, I want this.

 I was like, I want this.

 I was like, can I have it, Neil?

 Can you leave it to me in your will?

 Can I have it, Neil, when you die?

 Yeah, please.

 I was like, I would like this.

 But yeah, it was.

 And I finally saw like a picture as well

 of the chrysanthemum that was named after my granddad.

 And it turns out,

 because my granddad was so into chrysanthemums,

 he knew this dedicated chrysanthemum grower in Yeovil

 and they were best buds, obviously, besties.

 The chrysanthemum grower in Yeovil,

 he made a new variety and was like,

 I’m gonna name it after your great granddad,

 like Len Knight.

 So.

 What’s it called, sir?

 Len Knight.

 So it’s the Len Knight chrysanthemum.

 Yeah.

 I said it really fancy in Gardeners World

 and my nan told me off.

 How did you say it on Gardeners World?

 Len Knight.

 And my nan was like,

 Nina, it’s Len Knight.

 It’s Len Knight.

 And I was like, oh, I’m sorry.

 But it sounds really fancy, Nan,

 so you won’t say anything.

 Exactly.

 I love that you did that.

 I love how you tried to spruce it up.

 You just picked it up for the cameras.

 Leonardo.

 It just came out, and like being dyslexic as well,

 I don’t know what the process between my brain

 and my mouth just, sometimes, you know,

 in the moment.

 Just let it do its thing.

 In the moment, it was just like,

 Leonardo Knight.

 And I was like, oh, God.

 Wow.

 Fantastic.

 So it’s officially Len Knight, though.

 So Len Knight’s looking for a knight.

 They call it Len Knight.

 It probably is like Leonard Knight in the books,

 but they’ve always addressed it as Len Knight.

 So yeah, it’s this beautiful, massive,

 orange chrysanthemum.

 Really, really cool.

 And then what was even cooler is that my nan was like,

 I’ve got some cuttings for you.

 And I was like, oh, my God.

 Give them here.

 Because yeah, her one died,

 so she didn’t have it for a bit.

 And then there was only one other someone had,

 so my uncle got cuttings from that one

 that was still alive to make sure my nan has some back.

 How many have you made from that, then?

 So I’ve got three, and my nan’s got three as well.

 A few to be getting on with.

 Yeah, so I’ve now got them.

 I’ve just pinched them out as well.

 My goal for that is to grow them, flower them,

 and then put some on his grave.

 Oh, what a lovely idea.

 And I also thought, take that step further.

 If I grow them,

 I can see if there’s a chrysanthemum competition

 and enter it back in or something,

 which will be fun.

 Imagine if you got some certificates.

 Yeah, and I’d do a full circle moment for him.

 Beautiful.

 My nan was like, oh, he would have been

 so proud of you.

 He would have absolutely loved this.

 And she said, you know,

 he would be chatting my ear off about everything.

 Aw.

 So yeah, it was nice to bring him there

 and have him on the show,

 even though he’s not a house fan,

 but it was nice that there’s that thing to have.

 Oh, beautiful, Alina.

 I love that.

 Okay, so Alina, for your dream garden,

 what would be the garden boundary to start off with?

 Oh, what would be my,

 well, actually I’ve always dreamed about

 being in the countryside

 because I’ve grown up in the countryside,

 don’t really like the city.

 I mean, I like the city,

 but you know, that was fine at the same time.

 But I’m like, I’m a country girl through and through.

 So you go back to my West country

 or at least in the countryside, smell of manure.

 Love it.

 Yep, you love it.

 Give me some of that.

 So I’ve always,

 I think my boundary would just be

 either like an open field

 and then on the edge would be a dense forest or something.

 I would probably say that would be

 what I would love to see around me.

 Is there water nearby?

 Oh, a little stream, you know,

 little stream that trickles through.

 Sounds good.

 Nothing grand, just a little stream.

 Little stream.

 Maybe the occasional fish comes along.

 Yeah, you know what I mean.

 Kingfisher, great.

 Yeah, lovely.

 So your dream garden would be in Dorset.

 Ah, maybe, but I don’t know.

 Can it be anywhere in the world?

 Anywhere.

 We’ve had, fancy, it could be a Mars if you want.

 I don’t know why I wouldn’t be there.

 But we have had people who have mashed together

 two places in the world.

 So we’ve had Alps and Wales put together.

 So you can smash it all together.

 I mean, I do love Wales.

 I lived there for five years.

 So I don’t know, cause I don’t own a passport.

 This is kind of funny.

 I’ve never owned a passport.

 I’ve never been out of the UK.

 So I’m really uncultured.

 Somewhere within the UK?

 Saying that I’ve always seen Ecuador and like the Amazon

 and watching it through TV

 and like nature documentaries and stuff.

 And I’ve always loved that.

 I really would love to go to Ecuador

 cause there’s lots of like house plants.

 There’s some incredible plants there.

 Yeah, loads of house plants live there.

 Outside.

 Just outside.

 Naturally.

 No house needed.

 Or like New Zealand.

 I’ve always fantasized about New Zealand being a great place.

 Yeah.

 And I’ve met some New Zealanders

 and they’re like, all right.

 And I was like, yep.

 Cause they walk around barefoot, which I love.

 So I’ve always told them like,

 oh, I think I’d be a good Kiwi.

 I walk around barefoot everywhere.

 And they’re like, yeah, you’re fit right in.

 So I was like, okay, great.

 So maybe let’s mix.

 We could put you in New Zealand.

 Let’s go New Zealand, Ecuador.

 And Dorset.

 And Dorset.

 Perfect.

 I love that we’ve got those three locations.

 So it’s like the Dorset fields around.

 And then it’s like Ecuador, New Zealand forests.

 So just mad rainforests around.

 We’re talking, you know,

 it’s kind of borderline Scotland at that point.

 Cause there’s like this acute place in Scotland.

 This photographer did a series about it.

 And this forest has its own climate

 really close enough to tropical climates.

 And this gardener has grown tropical houseplants

 outside in Scotland.

 Do you know who that is?

 Yeah, he’s called Robbie Lawrence.

 Okay.

 And the project is called Voice Above the Lin.

 And this is like complete side note, little tangent.

 Cause it’s a really, really fantastic photo project.

 And the guy who owned it,

 he lost his son for years and they were,

 him and his son used to garden together

 and his son went on holiday and got lost.

 And he didn’t know where he was,

 didn’t hear anything about him.

 And then I think like at that time,

 Robbie Lawrence was really close

 to that he was like photographing him.

 And I think during the time he photographed

 was documenting his life in the gardens

 and the acute climate because it’s so acute.

 Like so many tropical things could grow there.

 It’s really cool.

 And I think during, if I remember right,

 cause I went to one of his talks and I hope I’m right.

 If I’m not, I’m so sorry.

 I’m pretty sure during the time

 he was photographing the guy,

 he found out his son died

 and kind of had that pivotal point in the project.

 And he released the project

 because then a couple of years later,

 the guy passed away himself.

 Robbie did.

 No, Robbie was taking his face.

 Robbie’s the photographer.

 Right.

 The guy who owned the gardens, he passed away.

 But A Voice Above All In

 is a really beautiful photography project.

 He’s a fantastic photographer.

 He’s a really lovely guy too.

 Met him during my MA.

 He came in as like a guest.

 Oh, cool.

 But his photographs of those gardens are really beautiful.

 But yeah, so we could be-

 Right, we have to check that out.

 Yeah, so like I could be here in Scotland

 where it’s like New Zealand, Ecuador, Dorset.

 All in one in this place that Robbie photographed.

 Yeah.

 Would you like a shed or a greenhouse?

 A greenhouse.

 Greenhouse.

 Okay, you’re gonna have to talk me through the style,

 the look, and the color.

 Oh, a colorful greenhouse?

 Wow, okay.

 Would that be functional?

 Oh, okay, the frame.

 Yes, just like the glass.

 Orange.

 But then where would my tools go

 if I didn’t have a shed?

 Because I love tools.

 No, I would probably still have a greenhouse.

 The dilemma of the century.

 I know, right?

 Yeah, that’s hard.

 No, but my mind immediately went greenhouse,

 so I’m gonna stick to it.

 I’m gonna stick to it.

 I’ve always dreamed, if I won the lottery,

 I would be building my own mini-queue gardens.

 Oh, yes.

 And I’ve always dreamed about having a butterfly house.

 So I’d love a greenhouse that’s kind of like a mini-queue

 style, you know, old Victorian style.

 Yeah.

 Does it have to be mini, or could you have it

 the same size as a queen?

 If it was really big, then that’s a lot of stuff to do

 without hiring a team.

 You can hire a team.

 You could have a team.

 I could have a team.

 Who only come in at night so you don’t see them.

 I’ll call up Adam.

 Hey, Adam, I’ve got a new job for you.

 Adam Cretton, he’s a little big.

 He’s really tall, so he can reach high places.

 He can reach the top windows.

 I don’t know if I would want it massive though.

 No, so a smaller version.

 I think a mini-queue garden is,

 I love the Prince of Wales one in queue

 rather than the classic one.

 I think that was fun.

 So that’s with white, is that white iron?

 I think I would like it quite classic.

 Okay, classic.

 So what do you consider classic?

 Are you talking a wood frame or an iron frame?

 I would say iron white frame.

 Iron white frame, okay.

 So looking quite classical and so the finials

 and that sort of thing.

 With like the fancy loop-dee-loop thingies

 in the corners of where the two joints meet.

 But maybe like the occasional stained glass thing.

 Oh, I like that.

 Yeah, that would be nice.

 My friend handmade a terrarium for the show garden

 and she’s really good.

 So I can hire her.

 Great.

 Deck it out.

 Oh, you’ve got a team building already.

 Pimp up my greenhouse.

 Pimp up the stained glass.

 Yeah, the main door would be like

 a really beautiful stained glass mural door.

 Love it.

 And then on the floor,

 because I love like mosaic patterned flooring.

 Yeah.

 I would love like a mosaic.

 What pattern would you have?

 Oh, definitely be floral.

 So it wouldn’t be like your Ophelia tattoo or something.

 Well, she is in like a lake

 with loads of flowers around her.

 So I’d probably have,

 you’d be like floral maybe with like blues.

 Most likely like yellow flowers,

 because I love yellow.

 So.

 Okay.

 Probably would be like, yeah.

 That sounds gorgeous.

 Yeah.

 And then the plants that you’re having in there,

 are you going to have beds in the ground

 so you can have staging

 or you just have everything in pots?

 How do you.

 Oh, it’d be in the ground.

 I’d probably be stuck on the ground.

 And I’d probably want to make my mini Ecuador.

 Yes.

 There you go.

 Perfect.

 Then the question of questions is

 what would be your five favorite ornamentals?

 Ornamentals.

 I’ll say my favorite flower ever is gladioli.

 Oh, really?

 Yeah.

 Those then.

 Any particular color or just all of them?

 All of them, but I do love yellow.

 So.

 Okay.

 Do I say that before?

 Yes, I did.

 You mentioned yellow.

 Have I mentioned yellow?

 Yeah.

 That’s going in the mosaic.

 That’s in the mosaic.

 Yeah, yeah, yeah.

 So.

 But all the colors.

 All the colors.

 I really do like the peachy ones.

 Oh, they’re gorgeous.

 I do have loads at my allotment.

 I keep buying more,

 even though I do not have room for them

 in my tiny allotment.

 But I’ve also got like black ones.

 Oh, wow.

 Yeah, like really deep purple ones.

 Yeah.

 Gorgeous.

 But they’re black.

 But they’re not black.

 They’re just deep purple.

 But they’re really pretty.

 I don’t, the gladioli I don’t like as much

 as like where it’s like yellow

 and then a weird color around the rim.

 Oh, yeah.

 It’s gotta be two colors that work together.

 Sometimes they just don’t work together.

 And I’m like, why is someone bred this?

 Because you’re just making a nice flower look ugly.

 Yes.

 I agree.

 Well, that’s a good first choice.

 So gladioli, that surprised me.

 Yeah.

 Very cool.

 Nice to hear.

 What other ones?

 And then I love ferns.

 Obviously.

 Indoor and out ferns are my jam.

 Love ferns.

 So I would love like massive tree ferns.

 I’ve always wanted them.

 Yes.

 Huge tree ferns.

 Love tree ferns.

 That would be nice.

 So that’s two ornamentals.

 Do you know what?

 A gunnera.

 Yes.

 Okay, yep.

 By your stream.

 By my stream.

 Love a gunnera.

 Very cool.

 Love that plant.

 You mentioned on the show,

 I don’t have a garden yet.

 Is that because you have a place

 with a garden coming up

 or you’re just imagining it?

 Because I don’t own my house.

 But you haven’t put an offer in on something?

 No, no.

 I’m nowhere near.

 I’m in that generation who’s like,

 I don’t know what to do.

 While you’re in that generation

 where it’s a nightmare trying to get a footing

 in a property.

 Yeah, it’s hard.

 It’s horrific.

 It’s hard work right now.

 Well, you’ve got two more plants.

 I got two more plants.

 Right, that’s where we were.

 Yeah, okay, right.

 Two more plants.

 Ornamentals.

 Oh, but my brain is just picking outdoor stuff.

 Don’t know you can have outdoor stuff.

 I could be picking like typical house plants.

 Oh, I see.

 Yeah.

 But then.

 So do you want some plants to go

 in this beautiful glass house of yours?

 Yeah.

 So you’re Ecuadorian type plants.

 Yeah, so like some good Anthuriums.

 And then one last one.

 There’s so many.

 It’s hard to dwindle down to five.

 I know, it’s the impossible challenge.

 Some people have found loop holes.

 Oh.

 But I’m not sure if I’m gonna tell you

 because that makes my job harder.

 Sweepy, where are you going with this?

 You’re trying to create a rough feedback.

 Now my brain’s thinking of the loop holes.

 Yes.

 So if you were thinking of either your glass house

 or your own home, what plant could you not be without

 apart from your ferns and your Anthuriums?

 Oh, yeah.

 Or it can be an outdoor plant.

 So you mentioned you love yellow.

 Yeah.

 And I saw on your laptop cover,

 have you got sunflowers on that?

 It’s a rudbekia.

 Oh, it’s a rudbekia

 Oh, lovely.

 I do love rudbekia. Gorgeous plants.

 Yeah.

 Do you know, I’m gonna throw a curve ball in there.

 I like curve balls.

 Coleus.

 Coleus, interesting.

 Because I think if I didn’t mention coleus once

 in this podcast,

 I think a lot of people would be rather disappointed

 in me.

 Probably.

 Because I’m on a mission to spread a coleus disease.

 Oh, right.

 That sounds like a bad thing, but that does.

 Look, people need to love coleus.

 I say coleus is coleus.

 People need to love coleus.

 They’re underestimated plants.

 They are.

 They’re bloody amazing.

 Beautiful.

 They come in so many colours, varieties and whatnot.

 Yeah.

 They’re so fricking cool.

 Yeah.

 Foliage, just fantastic foliage plants, aren’t they?

 We do love them.

 It’s really cool.

 And like, you can grow them indoors,

 you can grow them outdoors.

 This is true.

 They used to be massive in the 70s

 as like outdoor plants.

 Oh, yeah.

 And then they used to be,

 and then they’ve like been,

 they were then brought in as indoor plants.

 But they’re kind of like being shown

 as outdoor plants again at the minute.

 Yeah.

 Which is kind of weird.

 So when I say I’m spreading my coleus disease,

 I went to another plant swap, a Lunder one.

 Because coleus is so easy to root

 from like one little node

 because it’s a member of the mint family.

 So it’s like so easy.

 It grows roots within two days in water or something.

 It’s just bonkers.

 So I was at another plant swap

 and I was just like tearing off little chunks

 of this coleus and just giving it to everyone.

 Yeah.

 And I was like, it will root.

 What would be your five edible plants?

 Okay.

 This is a bit easier

 because I’m actually quite fussy with food.

 I’m trying to food so much

 but I’m much better than my partner,

 put it that way.

 But I’m quite fussy.

 So I think edibles are easier for me.

 Okay.

 Chilis.

 Oh, I would not have gone there for a fussy person.

 Oh, I love jalapenos.

 Yeah.

 My stomach kind of doesn’t agree with it,

 but I love jalapenos.

 I will try and eat jalapenos

 with anything I can put jalapenos on.

 Stuff them.

 I’m growing some of my lot.

 That’s right.

 That’s all.

 That’s it.

 That’s it.

 Stuff them.

 That’s so many things.

 Eat so many things.

 So many things.

 You listed.

 Oh my God.

 Two things.

 I’ve got some growing at the allotment now.

 All right, outside.

 Yeah, I’ve got some.

 In my greenhouse at the allotment.

 Okay.

 I like this too.

 And some other chilis.

 But.

 Lovely.

 Yeah, so chilis.

 And then followed by my other favourite thing

 I like to eat.

 We try and eat with everything is gherkins.

 I would not have taken these things for a fussy person.

 Like that just, that hit me left of feels.

 What’s going on here?

 I always put jalapenos and gherkins

 on almost everything I can do.

 Isn’t that the sort of thing

 you put on.

 Whatever you say.

 What’s that Mexican dish?

 Tortillas.

 I don’t think you’re working for it.

 You’ve got guacamole and.

 It’s like, if I go to Subway, what do you want?

 Jalapenos, chicken, gherkins.

 Peppers, maybe?

 I don’t know, but.

 All right.

 You know what I mean?

 That doesn’t sound lethal.

 We’re not growing chickens though.

 What’s your third?

 So my third.

 Well, I’m gonna have to say potatoes.

 Potatoes, okay.

 That’s a bit more normal.

 Cause you know that question is like,

 oh, if you could be a vegetable, what would you be?

 I’d pick potatoes.

 Would you be, don’t strike me as a potato.

 I love potatoes.

 They’re so versatile.

 Yeah, they are.

 I can just eat a massive bowl of mashed potato

 for dinner.

 Do you like the purple ones?

 Yeah.

 They’re pretty cool.

 I just love potatoes.

 If there’s a potato, Alina likes it.

 So you grow those at the allotment.

 Yeah.

 Are you doing them in buckets?

 Are you doing them in beds?

 I’ve put them in the ground this year

 and I wish I didn’t, but I did.

 Cause once they’re in the ground,

 you’ll never get them out again.

 I did buckets last year,

 but I didn’t get to the allotment enough to water them.

 So it didn’t go very well.

 This is the lesser of the two evils then.

 So I’ve planted less in the ground,

 but I wanted potatoes, so I’m happy.

 And what’s really annoying,

 my partner is half Irish

 and he doesn’t like potatoes that much.

 And I’m like, I was like, what is wrong with you?

 So since being with him,

 I haven’t eaten as much mashed potato as I like.

 So every now and then I have a little mashed potato treat

 and have mashed potato.

 Is that your favorite way of having potatoes?

 Probably, yeah, mash.

 Creamy, cheesy mash with a bit of mayonnaise.

 Sounds a bit weird, but I’ve-

 No, that sounds amazing.

 That sounds next level.

 Potato salad.

 Oh my God, don’t get me started.

 Don’t get her started.

 If there was an apocalypse or something

 and I had to choose one vegetable to live off from,

 I would have potatoes.

 Oh, you’d be good as the Martian then.

 I was just gonna say, we mentioned Mars earlier,

 so you could grow that in your own fertilizer.

 I’d be so happy.

 You’d be fine.

 All right, edibles.

 Two more.

 I think I have to throw a herb in there

 and that would probably be parsley.

 Oh my gosh, what is wrong with you?

 I’m sorry.

 You said at the beginning that you’re a fussy person

 and you’re naming all the things,

 which I, who am not a fussy person,

 I don’t particularly like.

 And I can’t understand what’s going on here.

 And she eats everything.

 Everything.

 Parsley, okay, so flat leaf or curly?

 I like the curly one.

 I keep growing that on my own.

 I use parsley in all of my dishes when I cook.

 It’s like my main herb I use.

 I see, okay.

 Just chopped finely in a case.

 Oh, that’s great.

 I would use more parsley, but Sweet Pea doesn’t like it.

 The only way I’m allowed to prepare it

 is if I make lots of garlic bread.

 Yeah, garlic bread with parsley, that is terrible.

 That caused Sweet Pea to go

 and plant about eight parsley plants

 in an entire four metre bed,

 which they have the longest tap root.

 It took over the entire bed.

 We could grow nothing else there.

 They were impossible to pull up.

 Oh my God.

 It was fun times.

 But you had a lot of garlic bread that year,

 didn’t you?

 I did.

 That was great stuff.

 Well, final one.

 Final one, okay.

 Here we go.

 What am I gonna choose?

 Now this is hard.

 I don’t know what would I sum this up with.

 Do you know what?

 Garlic.

 Oh, thank God for that.

 You’re not fussy.

 Garlic.

 You’re not fussy.

 I like garlic.

 I do like garlic.

 Yeah.

 Garlic is amazing.

 I’m just thinking it’s something I use every day.

 Like in all my, no, I am fussy.

 You don’t know me yet.

 What was your bog standard evening meal?

 Oh God.

 Well, no, to be fair, I’ve gotten so much better,

 but on my allotment, I don’t grow a lot of vegetables.

 And then I have a lot of my friends,

 they’re like, oh, do you want some of this squash?

 And I’m like, no, don’t really like squash.

 What do you grow in your allotment?

 Carrots, onions, garlic, trying to grow peppers,

 potatoes, peas.

 I like sprouts and like kale.

 I hope people could hear the sound of a sweet pea

 slapping her face.

 Oh my gosh, sprouts since when?

 I’ve gotten into sprouts more as I’ve gotten older,

 I think, but I do like sprouts.

 Diabolical.

 My partner, but my partner doesn’t like,

 and he’s even fussy, he won’t have broccoli.

 He’ll only have some carrots.

 Like all of the things I just said,

 he will probably have like peppers, onions.

 He won’t even have like potatoes.

 So it’s like, I hardly get to grow anything

 that I’ll eat because I cook for the both of us.

 Well, we’re now ready for the one tree.

 Oh no.

 Statement tree.

 I was thinking what are my favourite things tree-wise

 I could combine into this amazing tree.

 So I wanna-

 Oh my gosh, are you doing one

 of those fruit salad trees

 where you put loads of different trees,

 you kind of graft it on

 and it creates the multiple tree?

 Well, I don’t know

 because I don’t like fruit that much.

 No, it doesn’t have to be a fruit tree

 but that was created.

 So I was kind of thinking,

 so I was really torn on this

 and I was thinking really hard about this question.

 I don’t know why, but my brain just fixated on it.

 And I was thinking, okay, bear with.

 I love wisteria and I did have a wisteria tree

 which my dad killed and I’m really annoyed about that.

 Oh, that’s upsetting.

 Call himself a gardener and he killed most of them.

 No, it’s fine.

 It had a disease and it always,

 I brought it with a disease and it just never did well.

 So it was like a really lovely tree.

 But then I also love aces, Japanese aces.

 Love aces.

 Love them.

 Love, love, love aces.

 So I was thinking like,

 you know how some plants like magnolias and forsythia,

 they like flower first and then leaf.

 So I was thinking like, okay,

 what if it was like a wisteria acer thing

 that first it flowered as a wisteria,

 you know, or if it’s like branches

 and then they fall off

 and then acer leaves appear.

 The foliage is acer leaves

 Yeah.

 Oh, I like the sound of that.

 And then.

 This is like something from Avatar.

 Yeah.

 And then on the tree branch,

 there’d be platyceriums growing on it.

 Okay.

 So we’ve got another plant in there.

 Plus those, what are they called the staghorn?

 Staghorn ferns, platyceriums, platyceriums, yeah.

 This is absolutely epic and this is a loophole

 because at no point do we say it has to be a real tree.

 No, exactly.

 Look at all this sound of you two.

 Yeah.

 So I think that would be like amalgamation of,

 cause I was really stuck cause I was like,

 I love Japanese acers so much and I love wisterias,

 but like there’s so many other trees I do like.

 So what colour are your ray seams gonna be

 from the wisteria part of your tree?

 Mm.

 I think I might stick to a classic purple.

 Okay.

 I do like the classics.

 And then in terms of your acer,

 what color leaves are you thinking?

 Lime, orange, red.

 So I do like the red ones.

 Yeah.

 But the ones that look like fingers.

 Yeah.

 Yes, yeah.

 We have one of those, which is just beautiful.

 It’s amazing.

 The thing is, so I love both of those plants

 that you mentioned, absolutely love them

 and particularly love the purple wisteria,

 but I do really like the purple with the green.

 Yeah.

 I like those two colours together

 and I’m trying to imagine the purple ray seams

 with the red.

 But you won’t have them at the same time.

 No.

 At some point they come.

 But also if you think like purple and orange

 are the opposite colours and they go really well.

 So if it was like a reddy orange acer,

 they would work really well.

 That would be pretty cool actually.

 Yeah, this is true.

 I approve.

 And it’s a scented wisteria

 or you’re not too worried about the scent?

 Not so fussed about the, you know,

 it’d be a nice bonus, but you know.

 But that’s not a priority.

 You grow wisteria for the flowers more than the scents.

 Yeah, you do.

 Yeah, absolutely.

 And how tall is this tree going to be?

 Well, I don’t want it to be too tall

 because it’s a Japanese acer, so how tall am I?

 I’m five foot two, maybe?

 Something a tiny bit bigger than me.

 Oh, so the rest of us have to duck down.

 So the rest of us have to crawl along the floor

 to get under it.

 Yeah, sucks to be you, sorry.

 I used to.

 Nice comeback.

 So we’ve got maybe. This is my tree.

 This is true.

 So it’s a five foot four, five foot five tree.

 Yeah.

 That’s what we’re saying.

 And it’s like a nice canopy,

 kind of like cascades down.

 Lovely, yes.

 Got a little bench under there.

 And then yeah, your platter serums are on it.

 Almost the final question, but before that,

 what would you like between a pond or a pool

 and what plant would you have?

 Oh, a pond, 100% pond.

 So the pool, because I can jump in the pond

 if I really want.

 If it just gets too hot.

 It wouldn’t be massive, I don’t think.

 I’m not very good at measurements.

 So you should say, well, so you’re five foot two.

 If you were lying down, would it be two, three,

 four of you?

 Maybe two of me.

 Two of you?

 Around about a 10 foot pool, a pond,

 which is what, in meters?

 Is that about three meters?

 Yeah, that sounds good.

 I like that.

 Okay, and are we in a natural form of the pond?

 Yeah.

 Are you thinking about ground?

 It’s very organic.

 It would have, yeah, very like gradual ways into it.

 Is your stream running into it?

 Yeah.

 Stream running in, anything running out,

 some sort of overflow.

 Yeah, I think there’d be a little waterfall.

 Oh.

 Overflow thing.

 Lovely.

 That’d be nice.

 Making sure, you know, if a rogue deer came along,

 it could like have a little drink.

 Yeah, that would be nice.

 Very nice.

 Dip his little toes in if he wants.

 Little antlers.

 And is the pond having fish in it?

 You mentioned fish.

 Oh yeah, I love koi fish.

 So some koi carp.

 Love koi carp.

 Yeah, I love koi carp.

 So it’s a wildlife pond, I guess it’s less wildlifey,

 isn’t it, if you’ve got the koi carp in?

 Yeah. Unfortunately.

 Annoyingly, but then I do like just,

 cause you know, it’s happened.

 When my dad had koi and we had an otter

 came and ate them all.

 Oh no.

 That does happen in Sherborne.

 If the river overflows, protect your ponds.

 Right, if you live in Sherborne.

 If you live in Sherborne, an otter will get in.

 All right, so we’re going to have koi carp

 and we’re going to have friendly otter

 who don’t eat your carp.

 Yeah, and I want to put the fish in there.

 So when it was for some reason socially acceptable

 to win a goldfish at a fair, when I was a kid,

 I won this goldfish and I called it Moomoo

 because it had two little patches on its back,

 looked like a cow.

 Oh sweet.

 And I had it for like, I don’t know,

 almost 10 years.

 And then the otter ate Moomoo.

 So we’re going to put Moomoo in this pond.

 This otter is horrible.

 I know.

 I don’t like otters.

 What an ass.

 What an ass that otter is.

 But no, I don’t know.

 I do like natural or like, you know,

 brings and stuff fish wise.

 Well, what plants do you have?

 Yeah, plant.

 See, that’s really hard as well

 because it’d be quite an empty pond with just one plant.

 Yeah, it’s like your main plant.

 Obviously in your head you can have other plants.

 But I’ve already snuck in gunnera.

 So.

 Yeah, you’re all right there.

 So you’ve got your gunnera by the pond.

 So that’s my loophole.

 So the gunnera would be by the pond.

 Yeah, obviously.

 Cause I love like, I love like water lilies,

 water hyacinths, all that kind of stuff.

 But actually, do you know what?

 A UK native, I would probably stick a flag iris.

 Yes.

 I’ve got some at the allotment.

 I love flag irises.

 You’ve got a pond at your allotment.

 I’ve got two ponds at my allotment.

 Fantastic.

 That’s very cool.

 What form do they take?

 Are they in the ground?

 One’s in the ground.

 Well, they’re both in the ground.

 Well, actually one is like with pond liner.

 And then the second one I brought,

 well, I didn’t buy it.

 Someone was giving away a preformed.

 Oh yeah.

 It had a tiny hole in it.

 So someone gave it away for free.

 So I took it and I didn’t dig the hole deep enough.

 So it was like slightly protruding from the earth.

 Okay.

 So I had to build up around it

 and put like logs around it and stuff.

 That’s all right though, isn’t it?

 Yeah.

 What did you do with the hole?

 I just filled it with some silicon and stuff.

 Yeah.

 So it doesn’t leak now.

 Oh great.

 It’s pretty good.

 But yeah, they’re only tiny ponds.

 The first pond is a tiny pond.

 Yeah, I do like flag irises

 because they’re naturally yellow as well.

 Very cool choice.

 Well, final question is

 what would be your favourite seating area to chillax on?

 A drink to have and a plant to have by your side.

 Favourite area.

 I would, I guess I would like to sit near the pond

 or like so picture pond

 and then my Acer concoction tree is like nearby

 and the bench is under the Acer.

 So overlooking the pond.

 Overlooking the pond.

 I can see my Ecuador forest, New Zealand forest

 in the horizon.

 Some bold eagles just evening.

 Oh yes.

 We’re going to throw in all the different things.

 Bold eagle is just like flying across.

 You know what I mean?

 The soaring above.

 The soaring above.

 Although I do love buzzards.

 So we could just, we could put both of them in.

 Bold eagles coming along.

 Yeah.

 Buzzards doing the circles.

 Do you have any vultures?

 You need vultures for the roadkill.

 Yeah.

 Yeah, true.

 They are important birds to be fair vultures.

 They are.

 They’re beautiful birds as well I think.

 Yeah.

 Stags.

 Stags, I’d have my, yeah.

 Moose coming in.

 Okay.

 Why not?

 Stags.

 This is fantastic.

 So antler based mammals.

 So I’d sit there.

 Now people might think I’m going to say

 I’m going to have a cider in my hand

 because I am a cider drinker

 and I drinks it all the day.

 But actually I would just say a cup of tea

 because I can’t,

 you will not see me without a cup of tea.

 Even during this heat wave right now,

 I’m drinking tea.

 Yeah.

 Mom does the same.

 It’s ridiculous.

 Any particular tea?

 Oh yeah.

 A good old English breakfast tea.

 Yes.

 With milk, sugar?

 Milk, no sugar.

 How’s milk?

 Not really sweet enough.

 No, oat milk.

 Oat milk, no sugar.

 I’m lactose,

 I’m the worst lactose intolerant person

 you’ll ever meet.

 Oh no.

 I dread,

 I don’t think I should even ask the question

 why, what happens.

 I mean, I think most lactose intolerant people

 are the worst lactose intolerant people you’ll meet.

 Like I eat so much dairy,

 but milk I can’t do.

 Oh, I see.

 That’s what you mean as in the worst,

 as in you still eat lactose based foods.

 Yeah.

 Okay.

 Not as in, it’s just not the explosive.

 You don’t want to be around Alina

 after she’s eaten some lactose.

 No, you wouldn’t want to do that either.

 But yeah, I would probably have a good old breakfast tea.

 I do titter on Earl Grey.

 Oh, yeah.

 Every now and then.

 Still with the oat milk or you have that

 just straight up?

 I do have a little bit of milk with Earl Grey.

 Earl Grey, wow.

 Earl Grey.

 Okay, so a cup of tea,

 a nice cup of tea on your bench

 under your wisteria slash maple concoction.

 Yeah.

 And what plant?

 Oh, what would I have?

 I think I got it.

 It would be some grasses.

 Yes.

 Because I love grasses in gardens.

 I love the movement of them.

 The sound is really peaceful and tranquil.

 Great.

 Forget your scent.

 You know what?

 Scent.

 Scent could be a bit overbearing at some point.

 You want to be there to wind down.

 Yeah, exactly.

 I want my white noise from my grass.

 Great idea.

 Any particular grass that you’re thinking of?

 I don’t know if I would pinpoint one.

 Just a whole mix.

 A whole mix of grasses.

 Sounds lovely.

 I do like the one I got on my alarm

 and it’s not necessarily the really big one.

 The Miscanthus.

 The bamboo.

 Pampas grass.

 Oh yeah, Pampas.

 But it’s like a small one with a fluffy seedhead.

 Okay.

 Quaking grass.

 Quaking grass.

 Yes, bunny tails that.

 Oh, I remember that.

 Yeah.

 Yeah, I’ve got that on my allotment at the minute.

 It’s all in seed and it’s so lovely.

 Like hearing it kind of rustle

 and walk through it as well.

 Yeah, absolutely.

 So those kinds of grasses.

 Grasses do bring a whole new dimension,

 don’t they, to the garden?

 They’re so good.

 And like you say, the sound of it

 and the movements is really special.

 They’re really underestimated.

 They’re really good for like adding height to gardens

 and just textures and movement.

 And boundaries.

 Love, love grasses.

 Yeah, I’d probably have some grasses.

 Great choice.

 Well, we have finished the dream garden.

 I’m going to read it back to you.

 Okay.

 Just in case I’ve missed anything

 or you want to change anything.

 So we are going with, for the garden boundary.

 Oh my gosh, I’ve got a frog in my throat.

 You better get it out of there.

 I need to get it out.

 Better has.

 So for the garden boundary,

 we’re going with a mix between New Zealand,

 Ecuador and Dorset.

 A countryside open fields, a dense forest.

 That’s coming from New Zealand and Ecuador.

 A little stream with fish randomly flopping in and out.

 Yeah.

 And a kingfisher.

 Then you wanted a greenhouse.

 Mini Q gardens, possibly a butterfly house.

 Old Victorian classic style, that iron white frame.

 You then also wanted those loopy loop thingies

 at the ends.

 Yeah.

 Plants on the ground.

 You want a mini Ecuador in there.

 Stained glass bits like the front door

 and the mosaic floor and floral patterns

 and lots of yellows.

 Then your five ornamentals.

 We had gladiolis, ferns, gunnera,

 anthuriums and coleus.

 Your five edibles.

 We had chilies, like jalapenos,

 gherkins, potatoes, parsley,

 curry leaf variety and garlic.

 Your one tree was a wisteria aether tree

 plus staghorn ferns on the branches.

 Yeah.

 About five foot four as well.

 To be specific here.

 Yes.

 Then you wanted a pond because Paul sod it.

 It’s gonna be about two of your height long.

 So about three meters, organic with a running stream,

 a waterfall, koi carp in there,

 mainly goldfish and flag irises.

 Sounds great.

 And then you’re going to be sitting by the pond

 under the aether tree thingy on a bench.

 Bold eagles above, buzzards, moose, stags.

 Sounds great.

 A cup of tea, English breakfast, milk, no sugar

 and grasses for white noise.

 Sounds perfect.

 Have we nailed it?

 Sounds good.

 That sounds great.

 Sounds like a dream garden.

 It does.

 It sounds like a fever dream garden.

 I’m gonna be eating too much cheese before bed.

 Well, thank you so much.

 It’s fantastic.

 Love the imagination in that.

 Thank you.

 Thank you for having me on.

 It’s been a pleasure.

 That’s been a good old chit chat with Alina.

 See you me lovers.