One of Britain’s most famous gardening commentators is in full bloom in the current issue of the Radio Times in a feature relating to the RHS Chelsea Flower Show, which opens tomorrow.
Titchmarsh wears a floral top hat and tie and an embellished no. 50 in his pocket, all designed and decorated by Zita Elze, to mark both his 50th anniversary as a plantsman and the 50th year of the Royal Horticultural Society’s Britain in Bloom campaign. After studying horticulture at college Titchmarsh trained and worked at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew, a couple of streets away from Zita’s shop and London flower school, before progressing to gardening journalism in 1974 and his TV debut 5 years later.
As far as the Chelsea Flower Show is concerned, Titchmarsh will no longer be presenting coverage for the BBC but he will be designing a garden to celebrate the RHS’s Britain in Bloom, which encourages residents to ‘clean and green’ their local area.
Photo © Ian Derry exclusively for Radio Times (17-23 May)
Flowers used include asclepias, lisianthus, hellebore, spray rose, nigella, peony, hypericum, grevillea, ranunculus, ceropegia, orchid, hydrangea, muscari and delphinium.
