Phyllis Court: White Fly, River Thames and Favourite Gardens

Gardeners' Question Time

BBC

Leisure, Home & Garden

4.6 • 1K Ratings

🗓️ 31 October 2025

⏱️ 43 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Might our otherwise polluted River Thames have a positive impact on my garden? Why has there been so much whitefly this year? Do the panel have a favourite garden they’ve visited?

Peter Gibbs and a panel of green-fingered gurus head to the Phyllis Court Club in Henley-on-Thames, where a lively audience of passionate gardeners awaits answers to their most pressing plant problems.

Joining Peter are pest and disease specialist Pippa Greenwood, head gardener Matthew Pottage, and the ever-enthusiastic plantswoman Christine Walkden.

Later, Johnny ‘Hot Stuff’ Mayard discusses how he grows chillies in his polytunnel that are used for his hot sauce.

Senior Producer: Dan Cocker Junior Producer: Rahnee Prescod Assistant Producer: William Norton Assistant Producer: Suki Glockling

A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, podcasts.
0:07.3	Welcome back to the home of the oxymoron.
0:10.5	Evil genius.
0:11.6	He asked the newspaper to print his obituary early so he'd enjoy it.
0:15.5	That's like hiding at your own funeral.
0:17.1	Yeah, a bit great gig.
0:18.6	I'm Russell Kane.
0:19.6	Join me to weigh in on whether the biggest players in history are more evil or genius.
0:24.2	Becoming that rich, I'd say that is some level of genius.
0:26.4	It also helps that it's a long time ago, right?
0:29.4	It's like the podcast version of telling your kids the ice cream van plays music when it's out of ice cream.
0:34.9	Listen to evil genius on BBC Sounds.
0:38.2	Hello and welcome to this week's GQT with me, Peter Gibbs. Today were guests of the
0:43.9	Phyllis Court Garden Club in Henley-on-Tens. It's a thriving and dedicated society within the
0:50.1	Philist Court's private members club, established in 1906 in a Georg-style building, set back from the waters of the River Thames,
0:58.5	giving members a perfect view of the finish line for the annual Henley Regatta.
1:03.8	The grounds here boast sweeping green lawns that hug the riverside, and four immaculate croquet lawns,
1:10.3	which are kept in tip-top condition
1:12.1	by the ground's maintenance team year-round. So maybe today we'll receive some questions about
1:17.3	hard-wearing grass. Originally known as Philitz caught in the 14th century, the name Philips
1:24.2	is believed to derive from the old English word for hay, suggesting today's
1:28.2	manicured swords were preceded by wildflower meadows. Well, today's panel are no hayseeds
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.