Hi °C | Lo °C Joe Swift, the BBC 'Gardeners' World' presenter who was dropped from this year's coverage of the Chelsea Flower Show after he signed a commercial deal to design a show garden, has won a gold medal for his efforts.
The son of a famously literary Hampstead family, the young Joe might have been forgiven for feeling at something of a disadvantage.
His mother is the writer Margaret Drabble, his father is the actor Clive Swift, famous as Richard Bucket in the sitcom 'Keeping Up Appearances'. His brother is an academic.
Joe, on the other hand, was never bookish. He was 25 by the time he decided to study garden design with Rosemary Alexander at the English Gardening School.
Sponsored by the DIY chain Homebase, on behalf of the Teenage Cancer Trust, Mr Swift's garden features a palette of copper, green and white, using rust-coloured irises, libertia and euphorbias. Huge cedarwood screens frame the views of the planting.
Diarmuid Gavin's pyramid, one of the most controversial gardens at this year's Chelsea show, won a silver-gilt medal, and an award for the most imaginative garden
