Gardeners' Corner summer special with Dan Pearson and Jekka McVicar

After one of the hottest summers on record, David travels to the west of England to explore the private gardens of two renowned plants-people. Acclaimed designer Dan Pearson has spent the last 15 years creating his ‘Hillside’ garden with his partner Huw around an old farmhouse in Somerset. He shows David how he works with the landscape rather than imposing upon it, creating a garden for wildlife as well as people. After exploring the herbaceous borders and pond, Dan reveals his experimental sand garden, where he is testing plants for a changing climate. Twenty miles north, at her herb farm near Bristol, Jekka McVicar has spent the summer observing which plants can cope with prolonged heat and drought. Her thymes and oreganos are among the standouts. Jekka doesn’t water the garden and finds that self-seeded plants are often the most resilient. Chance seedlings can also produce something completely new, and she shows David a mint discovered in her garden that will bear her name. Both gardeners are adapting to a changing climate, searching for plants that can withstand increasingly long periods of summer drought while still coping with wet winters.