Kew Gardens: A Year in Bloom: Episode 4 (S2EP4 Channel 5 Tues 16 August 2022)

In Kew Gardens, the peonies are blooming, and both staff members and visitors are taking advantage of the nice weather. However, everything is about to change as Joe transforms the peony garden over the course of an entire year.

In the meantime, the peony’s secrets are revealed in Kew’s Economic Botany Collection, where researcher Monique reveals the astounding therapeutic benefits of this underappreciated shrub and we learn about Kew’s significant work examining the advantages and risks of herbal medicine. In the kitchen garden, where all of Hélèna’s prized vegetables are pulled up for a major overhaul, there are also significant changes. Hélèna is given the unusual task of adding plants to some enormous, mythical wooden trolls that have arrived at the gardens for an exhibition before she can return and begin replanting.

In the glasshouses, Eleanor and Tom are playing with some deadly plants as they update the carnivorous plants section. We see Eleanor undertake some miniature landscaping and Tom introduces us to some scary plants with unusual carnivorous appetites. After the gardens close, we meet some of the people lucky enough to live onsite at Kew, such as head of tree collections Kevin, whose two boys have the best back garden any kids could have… even if Kevin does have to talk shop when he bumps into his boss Richard.

In Sussex, at Wakehurst, Kew’s wild botanic garden, Steven is keeping ancient traditions alive by making charcoal as part of his work managing the woodland. Meanwhile, Alice is working at the cutting edge, germinating seeds from the Millennium Seed Bank as part of Kew’s mission to conserve all plant life in the world. We even meet a plant grown from a 200-year-old seed that was found in a wallet.

Airdate: Tues 16 August 2022 at 20:00 on Channel 5

Season 2 Episode 4

Series following the staff that keep the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew at the centre of the botanical universe.