The Queen's Garden

By Jennifer Robinson / Web Producer

Published January 9, 2015 at 11:19 AM PST

Buckingham Palace with daffodils and lake in foreground.

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"The Queen’s Garden" recounts a year in the Buckingham Palace Garden, exploring the history and natural history of this remarkable 39-acre oasis hidden in the heart of London. With permission from Her Majesty the Queen, the filmmakers explore this urban oasis with a five-century history — a “living museum” where almost every plant (and some of the animals) have royal stories to tell.

Within the Rose Garden there are 25 flower beds, each home to a different variety of rose. Some of the beds are a hundred-years old. A newer variety, The Royal William, was created for the birth of the Duke of Cambridge.

Viewers see the garden’s transformation across four seasons, with a chance to marvel at rare flowers bred specially for the queen; extraordinary wildlife captured with hidden cameras; a vast lake with an island in the middle where royal bees make honey that has been gifted to the pope; and a 15-foot marble urn that once belonged to Napoleon.

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The Queen's bees live in four wooden palaces on the island in the lake at Buckingham Palace Gardens. The bees find a supply of top quality nectar along the herbaceous border along the lake in the gardens, helping them produce honey.

The wildest corners of Queen Elizabeth's garden function as an important wildlife haven in London, as well as serve as a backdrop for the annual 8,000-attendee Royal Garden Party.

Every year, the Queen hosts a small number of prestigious garden parties to thank people who have contributed to the community, country and commonwealth. These parties are part of the garden's cycle of life.

The Herbaceous Border at Buckingham Palace.

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Credits: Writer/ Director is Martin Williams. Executive producers: Alice Keens-Soper and Jeremy Bradshaw. An Oxford Scientific Films production in association with PBS for ITV.

The Queen's Garden

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