Tom Hart Dyke presenting from RHS Chelsea Flower Show, May 22nd and 24th May

Tom Hart Dyke, creator of the World Garden at Lullingstone Castle, is presenting from the Royal Horticulture Society Chelsea Flower Show 2012.

Described as a ‘plant-a-holic’ by the BBC, Tom began filming on Sunday 20th and wrapped up on Tuesday 22nd. It was a long 2.5 days but completely worth it!

Tom says,

“It has been simply awesome filming in the Great Pavilion. What an atmosphere! The world of plants has come to Chelsea. The huge array of plants really excites me. Air plants, ferns, hostas, you name it. I interviewed one Thai gentleman yesterday, from the Botanical Garden just outside Bangkok, and he has no less than three-quarters of a million orchid flower heads on display. Your knowledge from this goes through the roof – I’m meeting experts from all over the world”.

But it’s also extremely hard work.

“I ran into Alan Titchmarsh, as you do, who said it was nice to see me again and that I must look at the new variety of Aloe. I kept asking myself, ‘is this happening?’ Before shooting they did the usual make-up routine, putting lots of powder on my face but spent almost as long ensuring my balding head was covered too. I have a real appreciation for the seemingly effortless presenting we see from the professionals on television. It was extremely hard work remembering, for example, the 16-page script I had for Sunday’s filming, given to me as I arrived ‘on set’. But I would not have missed this for anything”.