The Eden Project
Gardeners' Question Time
BBC
4.6 • 1K Ratings
🗓️ 5 September 2025
⏱️ 43 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
What can I plant in September for an autumn winter harvest? Do you have any horticultural heroes that inspired your career in horticulture? What easy flowers could be grown in pots and easily picked by children?
Kathy Clugston and a distinguished panel of horticultural experts head to the iconic Eden Project in Bodelva, Cornwall, where they field questions from an enthusiastic live audience. Tackling everything from persistent pests to planting dilemmas, the panel includes houseplant specialist Anne Swithinbank, award-winning garden designer Chris Beardshaw, and allotment aficionado Frances Tophill.
Later in the programme, Kathy visits the National Wildlife Centre to speak with Dan James, Director of Development, about their vital work in conserving the UK’s native flora and fostering biodiversity.
Senior Producer: Dominic Tyerman Junior Producer: Rahnee Prescod
A Somethin' Else Production for BBC Radio 4.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | I'm Rory Stewart and I grew up wanting to be a hero and I'm still fascinated by the ideas of heroism. |
| 0:09.0 | In my new series, I'm taking in the long sweep of history from Achilles to Zelensky and asking, what is a hero? |
| 0:16.0 | Simply doing your job, being a decent human being. |
| 0:20.0 | A true hero is someone who just kind of shines by |
| 0:23.1 | their own light and that light is to be recognised by others. The long history of heroism with me, |
| 0:28.6 | Rory Stewart. Listen on BBC Sounds. BBC Sounds, music, radio podcasts. |
| 0:38.2 | Hello and welcome to Gardner's Question Time with me, Cathy Clugston. |
| 0:42.2 | This week we're at the Eden Project in Cornwall, just outside St Austell. |
| 0:46.9 | It's 10 years since we were last here, and the project itself will be celebrating its 25th anniversary next year. |
| 0:56.2 | We're here with an audience of expectant gardeners in one of the iconic biomes and we'll be taking their question shortly. But first, |
| 1:01.5 | we're joined by Catherine Cutler, who's head of horticulture here. Catherine, you've been at the Eden |
| 1:06.0 | project since the very early days. Hi, Cathy. Yes, I've been here for over 25 years now, so I've seen some massive |
| 1:12.2 | changes in that time. So you were involved with the initial planting? Absolutely, yes, |
| 1:17.1 | particularly in the rainforest, which is obviously full of really interesting, very, very cool, |
| 1:22.5 | unusual plants. Well, I'm sure a lot has changed in those 25 years, but what would be your |
| 1:27.3 | sort of highlights of the biggest changes? Yeah, I mean, obviously the biggest a lot has changed in those 25 years, but what would be your sort of highlights of the biggest change? |
| 1:28.9 | Yeah, I mean, obviously the biggest thing that's changed is simply that we've gone from a desolate moonscape into a garden. |
| 1:35.2 | And to see that transformation is incredible. |
| 1:38.3 | And to see how the plants have grown and developed. |
| 1:41.5 | It's difficult to imagine how small these things were to begin with. And we've |
| 1:44.9 | even been removing like mature trees as well. And then outside, when the hedges grow up, and once |
| 1:50.8 | the hedges grow above head height, and so they're actually encapsulating the spaces and forming |
... |
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