Dame Judi at the Chelsea Flower Show this week – ANDY RAIN/Shutterstock

Dame Judi Dench has said she has never been able to garden because of a childhood fear of worms.

The actress was among celebrities who attended the Chelsea Flower Show this week. While visiting, she enjoyed a tour through the Tokonoma Garden, designed by Kazuyuki Ishihara and Paul Noritaka Tange.

But at the same time as stressing the importance of encouraging children and young people into gardening, she revealed that she was never able to do it herself as a child.

Dame Judi told The Telegraph: “It’s absolutely important [to get children interested in gardening] – getting anyone interested in gardening or the land.

“We must care about it. As a child, I couldn’t be interested in gardening because I’m frightened of worms.

“I still am; I never overcame it. Somebody very kindly does my gardening for me.”

She said she enjoyed spending time in her own garden in the Surrey countryside, with the trees in particular holding a special place in her heart.

A visitor looks at her phone amidst rose bushes at this year’s Chelsea Flower Show – AFP

Dame Judi said: “I love trees, so I plant a lot of trees.

“I don’t really have a favourite. They’re all to do with the people that I plant them to. I plant them to friends of mine who have died. I must have nearly 100 trees in my own garden – too many, I’m afraid.”

Dame Judi, who has largely retired from acting because of macular degeneration, said she was invited to the show and that while she enjoyed the gardens from different countries, she still cherished an English garden and its native plants.

She said: “I’ve just been to the Japanese garden and I have been in Japan three times and that kind of exquisite simplicity is such a beautiful thing.

“That’s not to say I don’t love going into somebody’s garden that’s full of roses and daisies.”

Dame Judi is a regular at the show. In 2024, she was helped by a schoolgirl to place a seedling grown from the Sycamore Gap tree after the tree was cut down.

Dame Judi helped a girl plant a seedling from the Sycamore Gap tree at a previous show – Yui Mok

The seedling had been grown at the National Trust’s plant conservation centre in Devon, where it was returned after the show, for the trust’s Octavia Hill Garden presented that year.

Dame Judi said she had named the seedling Antoninus after the adopted son of the Roman Emperor Hadrian.

Other actors and actresses who have attended the annual flower show so far include Emma Corrie, Bill Bailey and Rob Brydon, while musicians including Brian May and television stars including Myleene Klass, Kirstie Allsopp and Zoe Ball were also present.

Zoe Ball – accompanied by her father Johnny Ball, a former television presenter – attended – Jeff Spicer/Getty Images

Shirley Ballas and Bruno Tonioli have visited, with Ballas performing a breathing activity in the Asthma and Lung UK Breathing Space Garden to raise awareness of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, from which her mother suffers.