A YOUNG gardener wowed audiences with his amazing array of dahlias on a national television show last week.

Cody Smith, from Milnthorpe, appeared on BBC’s Gardener’s World on Friday (April 30) to share his passion for plants and take viewers on a tour of his allotment- home to over 300 of his dahlias.

Filming took place in August last year during a seven-hour stint at the allotment and at his family’s garden, where he also grows tropical plants.

The Westmorland Gazette: COLOURFUL: Cody at his allotment in Milnthorpe

During the feature Mr Smith shared some gardening tips, and demonstrated a handy trick to foil the attempts of hungry ear wigs from damaging the Mexican plant by using Vaseline along the flower’s stalk.

“I started watching the show ten years ago and I always wanted to go on the programme,” said the 19-year-old.

“And ten years later I finally got the opportunity.

“It was a long day, but it was good to see the behind the scenes of a television show.”

Mr Smith has been gardening from a very young age and has now set up his own gardening and floristry business.

“It was from a very young age, my mum was always into gardening, I always helped out and then I finally got my own greenhouse in the garden,” he said.

“And when I was ten or eleven, I got my allotment in Milnthorpe.”

The young horticulturist’s love of dahlias was ignited during a show in Milnthorpe, where he noticed entries from local dahlia master Jack Gott- who also made an appearance on the BBC show.

The Westmorland Gazette: MENTOR: Jack Gott taught Cody everything he knew about dahlias

“He took me under his wing and showed me everything that he knew about growing dahlias,” he said.

The show has given the gardener a huge boost, with his TV appearance attracting over a thousand new followers on his social media and calls for him to be a future presenter of the show, which is hosted by Monty Don.

“It’s been crazy, Twitter was bonkers,” said Mr Smith.

“On Friday night my phone was buzzing constantly.

“I gained over a thousand followers in a couple of hours on.

“I’ve had lots of really encouraging comments.

“People said they’d love to see me as a future presenter on the show.”

And Mr Smith has set his sights on a career in garden design and hopes to show at the Chelsea Flower Show.

“I’d quite like to get into the gardening design side and I’d love to go to the Chelsea Flower Show,” he said.

“I went three years ago to help with a garden and that’s when I caught the bug.

“That would be the dream.”