From great colour combinations to clever design, the gardens at RHS Chelsea 2026 offer plenty to think about. Here’s a look at some of the things I particularly liked.
The big story of Chelsea 2026 was the triumphant return of designer Sarah Eberle who came out of show garden retirement to create The Campaign to Protect Rural England Garden: ‘On the Edge’. Designed to highlight the importance of neglected land on the margins of towns and cities, it showed how these often development-threatened spaces can thrive with a little care.
“These places are often overlooked, often fly-tipped on, often inappropriately developed,” Sarah told me. “It’s about bringing attention to these spaces and how important they are for nature recovery, and human sanctuary as well.”
One of the most talked about aspects was the huge carving of Gaia, or Mother Nature, from a fallen tree (top image). Wrapped around the front of the garden, it appeared to be guarding the space.
RHS Chelsea gardens have become more relaxed in style over recent years, and this design took the trend further with ‘weeds’ given an equal billing with more familiar plants, naturalised from the urban edge or put there by the community that has claimed the space. Buttercups ran through the planting, along with Herb Robert, brambles and nettles.
“They’re all important for biodiversity,” explained Sarah, adding “on a site like this, even if you garden it, it would be very difficult to keep them out entirely.”
She described RHS Chelsea as a “home from home” and her welcome back was fulsome, while the garden got gold and the Garden of the Year award.
If Sarah’s success was widely predicted, the silver gilt medal awarded to Kazuyuki Ishihara was more of a surprise. His Japanese style gardens have long impressed RHS Chelsea judges – he won Garden of the Year and the People’s Choice Best Show Garden awards in 2025.
This year’s garden, imagining the view from a tokonoma or social gathering space, had his trademark acers, cushions of moss and rocks.
Going into the show, he was tying with Sarah Eberle for the highest number of gold medals in the modern era with 13 each. She has now topped that and also has won gold in more categories than any other designer.
RHS Chelsea – Winning With Colour
My favourite designs though came from the smaller gardens. In particular, I loved the colours on Joe and Laura Carey’s Addleshaw Goddard: Flourish in the City, celebrating London’s small gardens.
The verdigris copper retaining walls and steps were beautiful and set off planting in soft pastels.
There were also some interesting water features, including this Portland stone piece with water falling from rills, reflecting the number of rivers in the city.
The All About Plants gardens, which started off a few years ago in the Great Pavilion, were once again outside – a much better setting. These are designs that concentrate on planting and my favourite did it really well.
The Cleary Gottlieb: Time for Creativity garden by Christina Cobb is a space for putting down the phone and pursuing creativity. The central walk-through glasshouse had all sorts of craft materials in it and linked two distinct areas of planting. At the front, the colours were pale with green and white, while the rear section was a beautiful mix of pink and purple with a path leading to a seating area.
It was the plant combinations that particularly appealed with clever contrasts of leaf shape and shades of colour.
It was the colour mix that struck me on Harry Holding’s The Eden Project’s Bring Me Sunshine garden. Spires of Baptisia ‘Lemon Meringue’ brought a splash of sunny yellow as it threaded through the main planting with Anchusa azurea adding a contrasting dark blue.
There was a blue and yellow partnership from Baz Grainger on The Killik & Co ‘A Seed in Time’ garden this time with camassia, Zizia aurea and nepeta.
One that grew on me was Angus Thompson’s garden for Asthma + Lung UK. It didn’t immediately appeal when I saw it on a rather grey first day at RHS Chelsea. However, some dawn sunshine transformed it.
The large floating platform at the centre of the garden was a calming space in the bustle of the show. Maybe, like me, the judges, who gave it a silver, needed time to appreciate it.
The fact that Arit Anderson’s garden for Parkinson’s UK also got just a silver surprised many. Again, it was a garden that I was unsure of at first sight. Seeing it over three days in different lights at various times of day, I came to appreciate it more.
The sculpted wooden arch was an elegant focal point and set in soft woodland planting. Woven through the garden was a raised rill that doubled as a handrail for those with Parkinson’s while the main borders had brightly coloured annuals and perennials.
And what of the much talked about ‘Royal’ garden by Francis Tophill with input from King Charles and David Beckham?
An RHS Feature garden – so not judged – it wrapped planting around a central oak-framed ‘Museum of Curiosities’. What I particularly liked was the way vegetables and flowers weren’t in segretated beds but intermingled with kale, cabbages and crimson flowered broad beans alongside Alchemilla mollis and iris.
“This front end looked beautiful but I wasn’t sure,” Frances told me. “I stuck some cabbages in and it was ‘Yes, that’s working now!’.
Among the flowers were those specifically requested by David Beckham, such as lavender and Nepeta ‘Six Hills Giant’, one of his favourites. Meanwhile, the pots included a replica of one given to the King for his 50th birthday from Pots & Pithoi.
“They made a spare in case one broke in transit,” explained Frances. “It didn’t break so we have one here.”
RHS Chelsea – Balcony and Container Gardens
In the Balcony and Container Gardens, Katerina Kantalis won a well deserved gold and Best in Show.
A Little Garden of Shared Knowledge beautifully showcased what you can do with even a small space. Clever design using shelving and containers of plants that could be moved around, meant it including seating, flowers, fruit, herbs and even dwarf vegetables.
As ever, the biggest problem with the balcony gardens was seeing them properly as they not only have railings but are also raised up off the ground. Being invited into them – as I was – is often the only way to fully appreciate the details.
The Container Gardens are far easier to examine closely and The Whittard of Chelsea Garden by Ollie Pike, another gold medal winner, was worth spending time on.
A beautiful collection of old pots were planted up or turned into water features, and enclosed a small seating area.
I loved this quirky touch of the rose dipping into the water – the reflection was beautiful.
Susie Kennedy and Kate Henning went up for their Balcony Garden ‘Tales from the Riverbank’ with a rooftop kitchen garden. It was certainly a lesson in maximising space.
And what about this for a blast of colour? The Seasalt Painted Garden by Lynn James was a vibrant mix of vivid hard landscaping and jewel-like flowers. Joyous and totally unforgettable.
The RHS Chelsea Flower Show runs until May 23. Details here.
Enjoyed this? You can read more of my show reports here.
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