Alan Titchmarsh celebrates the Royal Horticultural Society's bicentenary by looking back through its history and discovering the impact its work has had on British gardens and gardening.

Alan Titchmarsh on the future of the RHS: page 34

For the Glory of the Garden
3.30pm R4 FM The Royal Horticultural Society is a lot more than just the organisation behind the Chelsea Flower Show. Alan Titchmarsh celebrates the bicentenary of the ultimate gardeners' club with this affectionate history that nibbles at the controversies that have flared up almost from the start. Even involving itself in flower shows at all drew accusations of "pandering to the sickly appetites of the fashionable world" - and that was in 1827. Yet the society has been transformed from a posh club catering for the landed gentry (and their gardeners) into an organisation that caters for suburban gardeners as much as anyone. And behind the scenes, the RHS plant hunters have found, imported and nurtured huge quantities of plants from all over the globe. So much so, says Roy Lancaster, a regular on Gardener's Question Time, that more than three-quarters of the plants in a typical garden are non-native. He and other contributors join Titchmarsh to wave the RHS flag in a programme that makes a perfect al fresco diversion. Read Alan Titchmarsh on p34. (Geoff Ellis)