I WAS interested to read the comments of your correspondent AP Hamilton regarding the filming of Tyne Tees Television's new gardening series The Whole Nine Yards in York (October 13).

Your correspondent spotted that we had used a particular type of lavender in the makeover. He was concerned that the lavender was not frost hardy and that the yard owner would be left with 'sad pots of brown, dead plants'.

In fact, the Royal Horticultural Society's Gardeners' Encyclopaedia of Plants and Flowers paints a different picture - pointing out that Lavandula Stoechas (French Lavender) is frost hardy and can withstand temperatures down to minus five degrees Celsius (23 degrees F).

Given that the yard is in an urban location and is south facing, we felt that a minus five degree margin was a safe environment for this type of lavender.

The Whole Nine Yards, featuring Simon's transformations of nine back yards across the region, will be broadcast on Tyne Tees Television from March 2002.

Paula Marshall,

Producer,

The Whole Nine Yards,

Tyne Tees Television Ltd,

Newcastle upon Tyne.

Updated: 09:30 Saturday, October 27, 2001