East Renfrewshire: Balcony Brilliance, Reluctant Camellias and Making The Most Of Moss

East Renfrewshire: Balcony Brilliance, Reluctant Camellias and Making The Most Of Moss

Author: BBC Radio 4 July 24, 2026 Duration: 42:35

Kathy Clugston chairs this week’s Gardeners’ Question Time from Clarkston Halls in East Renfrewshire, home to one of Scotland’s oldest horticultural societies.

Joining Kathy are Balmoral’s Head of Gardens Kirsty Wilson, ethnobotanist James Wong, and Birmingham Botanical Gardens’ Head Gardener Bethan Collerton.

The panel tackles questions on reluctant camellias, fragrant planting for a windswept balcony, and how to transform a shady, moss-filled shared garden.

Along the way, Bethan visits Glasgow Botanic Gardens’ magnificent Kibble Palace, where she joins Robert Jamieson to explore botanical links across the Commonwealth, from the Australian tea tree and towering tree ferns to remarkable araucarias from the South Pacific.

Back in Clarkston, the team shares advice on improving the quality of greenhouse-grown grapes, caring for carnivorous pitcher plants, and choosing easy, quick-growing seeds for young gardeners.

Producer: Alison Vernon-Smith Assistant Producer: William Norton

A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4

* If listening on BBC Sounds and you wish to view the plant list, please go to the Gardeners' Question Time website and open this week's episode page.


For decades, Gardeners' Question Time has been a trusted companion for anyone with a patch of earth, a windowsill pot, or simply a curiosity about the natural world. Produced by BBC Radio 4, this enduring podcast brings together a rotating panel of seasoned horticulturalists, each with their own specialties and practical wisdom. The format is beautifully simple yet endlessly varied: a live audience, gathered in a different village hall, community garden, or nursery somewhere across the country each week, poses their real-life gardening dilemmas. What you’ll hear are unscripted, thoughtful, and often wonderfully anecdotal answers that tackle everything from stubborn lawn weeds and pruning perplexities to coaxing a better tomato harvest. The changing location means the advice is grounded in specific climates and conditions, offering relatable insights whether you're dealing with coastal winds, heavy clay, or a tiny urban balcony. It’s the conversational tone and the collective knowledge of the experts that makes this podcast feel like a friendly, invaluable chat with a knowledgeable neighbor. You get the sense of a shared gardening community, with all its trials, successes, and seasonal rhythms. Listening feels less like receiving a lecture and more like eavesdropping on a fascinating, problem-solving conversation that has been honed over seventy years on the air. The questions from the audience are always genuine, often urgent, and the answers are delivered with a blend of science, hands-on experience, and good humor. It is a direct line to practical help and inspiration for your own garden, whatever its size or style.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 50

Gardeners' Question Time
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