I so agree with your assessment of HGTV. Useless waste of time. Who's got that kind of money and resources available to them!!! I do watch the one on PBS if I can catch it.

I was hooked on Titchmarsh several years ago. I agree... much useful information. That is where I learned to plant bougainvilleas in the ground still pots that they were purchased in (BUT with the bottom cut out AND if already fairly large). They LOVE to be root bound.

The only shows I'd waste my time on are a couple that are on PBS on Saturdays. As for HGTV, I stopped watching that swill years ago. When they first started they had some really good ones, but now it's all that reality who-can-outdo-who kind of garbage. I need to look up those shows you are referring to, you say it's on Youtube?? I do listen to the FL Gardening radio show on 970 WFLA. I can't get the station on radio here, it's from Tampa, but they podcast it and I listen online. The guy has been doing this show for many years and is very knowledgeable about all phases of FL gardening, from landscaping to growing edibles, he is also a licensed pest control operator and knows all about pests and diseases in the home and garden.

I loved, loved, loved The Victorian Kitchen Garden (and The Victorian Kitchen) and its successors, but they aren't on youtube anymore and BBC doesn't make them available on DVD. :(

I certainly haven't seen any recent network gardening shows that seemed more worthwhile than some of the self-produced vids on youtube and elsewhere.

Yes. You can find "How to be a Gardener" and a few other BBC shows on Youtube. In particular, there is a person by the name of 'Cactusbumm' on Youtube that has playlists for many of them. But he only has a playlist for the first season of "How to be a Gardener", which tackles simple gardening techniques. The second season of the show illustrates how to use those techniques to pull off different themes such as Cottage Gardens, Water Gardens and Xeroscaping just to name a few.

I am just wrapping up the final show of 'Around the World in 80 Gardens' which doesn't really teach much about technique, but explores how gardening is approached differently in different cultures, so it is at least mildly interesting. I have no interest in moving to England, but I am a bit jealous of their gardening programs. I will have to check with PBS for their garden show. I think many of their programs are available online.

The gardens are listed:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Around_the_World_in_80_Gardens

Hi
I find most of the shows are about decorating rather than gardening.
many years ago there was one on PBS that dealt with Bonsai techniques using compacted sphagnum moss rather than soil. he was trying to dwarf coconut palms but the show disappeared lol . Though I'm not so much into dwarfing now I still have a couple using those methods.
Guesss there's WAY too many ways to garden to make a show with wide appeal?? gary

Maybe scarcity of sponsorship is a problem. Automotive shows seem to be more scarce now, too. Look how many cooking shows do continue - people buy/give-as-gifts kitchen-related items (everybody eats!). Would be fun if some celebrity with wit, say, Steve Martin, would do a gardening series (if he's a gardener)... even if it were about his failures, I would watch!

the best show i've ever seen on tv was 'gardener's diary'.
it was awhile ago. may be you can track down some shows still on youtube. it showcased special gardens across US.
it was fabulous!
i taped all i could get. but it was a lo-ong time ago. if there was anything like it - i'd certainly watch. but there is NONE.
they are too cheap to produce anything cohesive anymore.

Yes, Petrushka, that's one of the ones I used to watch way back when HGTV first started, and I loved it. There were a couple more like that. Now it's all either these elites with their big budgets to burn on massive projects that my little community wouldn't be able to afford to do, or people trying to make their little suburban plot look like the inside of their house with "rooms" and "themes". And it's all competitive like American Idol or something, which I also despise. But that's a whole other subject that I could rant about forever. I looked up those videos mentioned above and they are very good, only watched the first episode with the Cottage Gardener, but plan to watch the rest, hope they don't pull them offline before I get the chance. Those English sure know how to grow a garden.

More HGTV thrashing, lol. Would love to see a "where are they now gardens" follow up type show, where the gynormous crew w/ the gynormous budget set the garden in a blink, without showing owners even the most basic maint. techniques. Any guesses as to what they look like today?

Having said that, gardening is not for everybody just like dressmaking is not for everybody . I want a perfectly fitting pair of slacks but could care less about learning pattern design, textiles, etc.

Gardening is not for everybody, but anybody could garden. Making a perfectly fitting outfit requires a professional touch. But hemming pants legs, patching knees or replacing buttons is something anyone can do, even if not very prettily. Similarly, while not everyone could do an award winning landscape, I certainly couldn't, anyone with an interest could plant and maintain a garden that suits them.

Unless they seek perfection. That never happens in a garden.

bossy I like your idea of getting a look at the gardens a year or 2 after the make over.

IMO they should just take the "G" out of HGTV !

I listen to 2 radio garden shows one on Sat. morning and one on Sun. morning. It is too bad that the show times are premo gardening times. ;-)

A small station out of the Orlando area has P. Allen Smith's Garden something. I try to tape it. I also get his newsletter in an email which I enjoy much like the Florida Gardener magazine.

Yeah, most of these makeover shows are pretty much a joke. I don't know many homeowners who can bring in a backhoe, cement mixer, and afford single trees costing upwards of $750. I figure most of these makeovers would cost something around $25,000.

Hi
Some time back they did revisit some of the "gardens"
and I watched two of them. Several were in good shape but mostly from the hardscape .Of course with the design they could be easily replanted since the focus was on entertainment area. I'm always hoping to see one specificly designed for plants !!lol I assume that's what most people want I favor "botanical garden" lol
believe the revisit were on desperate landscapes?? gary

I finished watching the six-part series on cottage gardening, what a quality show that was! Thank you for turning us on to it. This woman has a way of conveying into words all the thoughts and emotions that drive people who love gardening on despite the hard work and a few failures. I do some edible gardening, mostly because I like to eat, but my passion is the flowers and although we can't grow most of the things she has in her garden, we can try to get the same effect with what we have.

Now you all have me wanting to watch them! Please check the link below - is this the one you watched, Rita? It's Life in a Cottage Garden with Carol Klein and there are six parts.

Thanks!
Carol in Jacksonville

Here is a link that might be useful: Life in a Cottage Garden with Carol Klein - 1 of 6

Yes, Carol, that's the one. It starts out in Jan.-Feb. and the way the place looks you'd think "how desolate" but it moves on through the seasons and the garden is just stunning.

My daughter loves watching the Carol Klein shows, as well as her segments in A Gardener's World and The Great British Garden Revival, partly because of the plants and partly because of the way she talks about them with such exuberance and a wide range of adjectives. She loves it and is trying to emulate her.

I get frustrated when I watch "Yard Crashers" and they just plop the plants in without loosening up root balls, plant too many shrubs/trees too close and that grow too large for the small yards and don't give the owners tips on feeding, watering and trimming the plants. Well, maybe they do off camera.

The other thing that gets me is all the outdoor "rooms" with drapes, tablecloths, cushions, pillows and quilts. They look gorgeous and I would love to have one. But, what they don't show is how you either drag all that fabric inside every evening or leave it outside in the Florida sun and humidity to fade and mildew.

To be fair, there is lots we don't see when it comes to those landscaping shows. Despite the way they make it seem, I doubt they just pack up and leave on Sunday evening, leaving the clients confused. They just don't film all the 'tedious' educational stuff because that's not what they believe their viewers want to see.

I've watched and enjoyed the different British gardening series on you tube.

Also, I really like the Central Texas Gardeners on You Tube, I stumbled on these a year or two ago. They run about 7-10 minutes or so long and are real gardeners. I've watched all that I could find, and some over again. We grow a lot of the same things as they do. I get inspired.

FlowerLady

I watch PBS WUSF-16 for garden-shows, but they all seem to feature gardens in Calif. or NY or So. Carolina, nice to look at but not much info.for Fla. gardening... the magazine Florida Gardening is good w/lots of info....sally

I have a subscription to Florida Gardening and I enjoy it. But if I had an issue with it - hah... issue... - its that some of the articles describe scenes, but there are no photos of the described scene, so you have to guess what the writer is talking about. The reason I like most of the Brit shows is because even if the plants they use won't work here, the lessons still work.