Coverage: TV

Alan Titchmarsh

Perhaps the best-known gardener in the UK, Alan was a presenter on Gardeners' World from 1996 to 2002. His work for television has included Ground Force, How to be a Gardener, British Isles - A Natural History and, most recently, a chat show for ITV1. Alan has presented the BBC's coverage of the RHS Chelsea Flower Show since 1983. As well as hosting our evening coverage, he launched Chelsea week with a one-hour daytime show on Monday 19 May, co-presented with Nicki Chapman. As well as writing regularly for BBC Gardeners' World magazine, Alan has produced more than 40 gardening books as well as 6 novels. This autumn he will present a new four-part series for ITV1, called The Seasons.

Find out more on Alan's official website.

Alice Bowe

Alice trained as an artist before realising her true passion was for painting with plants. Her designs typically have a clean, simple structure with exuberant drifts of planting - but she admits she is still finding her style. Alice's planting is typified by natural-style plant communities that celebrate seasonal change. She finds plants that cope with extreme weather conditions particularly interesting, and enjoys finding hardworking substitutes for traditional plant choices. During Chelsea, Alice is reporting on show gardens in the evening.

Find out more on Alice's official website.

Andy Sturgeon

Andy has emerged as a leading landscape architect, earning a reputation for creating stylish modern landscapes by fusing contemporary design and natural materials. His designs have won RHS medals at Chelsea and Hampton Court Flower Shows. As well as presenting television programmes for all the terrestrial channels, he writes for The Guardian and numerous gardening titles. This year, Andy is presenting our lunchtime programmes and red button coverage.

Find out more on Andy's official website.

Carol Klein

Carol Klein made her television debut on Gardeners' World in 1989 and has since presented programmes including Real Gardens and Open Gardens. Other projects include BBC Two’s 2008 series Grow Your Own Veg, in which she encouraged people to start growing their own food. Carol is a regular contributor to The Guardian, The Lady, Gardens Illustrated and other magazines and newspapers. The author of several gardening books, her latest, Grow Your Own Fruit, was published earlier this year. For Chelsea 2009, Carol is presenting red button tours and special reports.

Read articles by Carol on the Guardian website.

Chris Beardshaw

Chris studied horticulture at Pershore where he also lectured for four-and-a-half years. As a horticulturalist and keen environmentalist, he brings deep and specialist knowledge to all his work. In 2000, Chris joined Gardeners’ World Live as a specialist presenter and later became a regular presenter on Gardeners’ World itself. He has also presented Flying Gardener and Wild About Your Garden for the BBC and writes for publications including The Natural Gardener, How Does Your Garden Grow and The Daily Mail. Chris has exhibited three show gardens at Chelsea, winning two gold medals and two People's Choice Awards, but this year he's taking a rest from designing a garden, and is presenting red button coverage, and horticultural reports about the show gardens and Great Pavilion.

For more information visit Chris' official website.

Christine Walkden

Christine has worked for the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (based at Wakehurst Place) and lectures in horticulture at Capel Manor in Enfield. A past presenter on the BBC's Gardeners’ World, Gardener’s Diary and a number of independent television programmes, she also broadcasts on local and national radio and is a past winner of the Garden Writers' Guild Radio Broadcasting Award. Christine is currently the One Show’s gardening expert and during Chelsea she is reporting from the Great Pavilion for our evening programmes on BBC One.

Find out more on Christine's official website.

James Alexander-Sinclair

James's passion for gardening began about 20 years ago, as a landscape contractor in London. He moved to Northamptonshire in 1992 with his family, where he started to concentrate on garden design. He has designed show gardens for the RHS Chelsea Flower Show and Westonbirt Festival. James presented BBC Two's Small Town Garden series, and also writes articles for a number of newspapers and magazines, including Gardeners' World Magazine and Gardens Illustrated. During Chelsea, he is reporting from the show gardens and Great Pavilion. He presented coverage of the Queen’s visit to the show on Monday 18 May.

Read James's blog on the Gardeners' World Magazine website and find out more on his official website.

James Wong

James obtained a Masters in ethnobotany from the University of Kent and in 2004 became the youngest medal-winner at the RHS Hampton Court Flower Show. In BBC Two's series Grow Your Own Drugs he showed how to cultivate plants that can help relieve the symptoms of a variety of medical complaints. As well as entering a show garden for this year’s Chelsea, James is reporting from the Great Pavilion, looking at plants that changed the world and how they have ensured their own survival.

Take a look at James' show garden at Chelsea this year.

Joe Swift

Joe has been a regular presenter and designer on Gardeners' World for the past 10 years. He has also presented Open Gardens, Small Town Gardens and coverage of the RHS flower shows at Chelsea, Hampton Court and Tatton Park. Joe writes for The Times weekend gardening section, various gardening magazines and has published two books on getting the most out of gardening in cities. His third book, Joe’s Allotment, tackles how to cultivate your own food. Joe is co-hosting evening coverage from Chelsea, in addition to reporting from the show gardens.

Find out more on Joe's official website.

Lila Das Gupta

Lila was a news and current affairs producer and reporter with the BBC World Service before she swapped her microphone for a trowel. She has written a gardening column for The Telegraph and is blogging from the Chelsea showground for the BBC Chelsea website as well as reporting on the show for the main TV coverage.

Follow Lila's blog from this year's show.

Nicki Chapman

Nicki has presented a wide range of programmes since her first appearances on PopStars and Pop Idol. Her travel programmes include Escape to the Sun, Holidays at Home as well as regular appearances on the Holiday programme. In 2006 and 2008 Nicki presented lunchtime editions of the RHS Chelsea Flower Show for BBC One. More recently she appeared in Peter Kay's 'talent' show Britain's Got the Pop Factor and early in 2009 she presented the BBC One series Wanted Down Under. Nicki is hosting the BBC’s lunchtime programme from Chelsea.

Rachel de Thame

Rachel trained at the English Gardening School before becoming a presenter for Gardeners' World. She has filmed her own series for the BBC: Small Town Gardens and Gardening with the Experts. Rachel has written two gardening books, Small Town Gardens and Rachel de Thame's Top 100 Star Plants, as well as co-writing Gardening with the Experts. She currently writes a monthly horticultural column for the Sunday Times and has contributed to the gardening pages of The Daily Telegraph, Gardeners' World Magazine, Woman's Own Magazine and Eden Magazine. Last year she designed her first garden for Chelsea, which won a silver award. She is reporting from the show gardens and the Great Pavilion.