RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2026: Trends From This Year’s Show

1. Water Throughout The Garden

• Water features have been prominent at Cheslea in the last few years, but this year they took centre stage and seemed larger in many of the gardens.
• Many gardens had rills running throughout their designs. The Parkinson’s UK – A Garden for every Parkinson’s Journey show garden, featured an innovative ‘hand-rill’ that acted as both a flowing water feature and handrail.
• Another great example of the use of a water rill was in The Boodles garden. A galvanised steel rill encircled the sunken garden creating a gentle, calming water sound.
• Large water pools and ponds were also more prominent this year. The Eden Project: Bring Me Sunshine Garden’s covered seating area looked as though it was floating over the water.
• Waterfalls also featured in some of the gardens; my particular favourite was the waterfall that flowed into a water way in the Tokonoma Garden – Sanumaya no Niwa.
• On a much smaller scale the balcony gardens also showed how to incorporate water into a small space: two of my favourites were the beautiful rain chain in the Flood Re: Contain the Rain Garden and the charming large copper tubs and taps in The Whittard of Chelsea garden.

2. Art Outdoors

• This year many of the gardens used art as focal features, particularly sculptures in their designs.
• The most striking use of a sculpture was the beautiful and very impressive sculpture of sleeping Gaia, guardian of the edgelands in the The Campaign to Protect Rural England Garden: ‘On the Edge’. Although very big, the planting around the sculpture perfectly encompassed it into the garden.
• In the The Tate Britain garden, a sculpture by famous sculptor Barbara Hepworth was a focal point next to the path amongst very architectural, bold planting.
• The Plant Heritage Missing Collector Garden had several sculptures, one of which was the bronze Gatti chair, cast from a tree slowly trained over nearly a decade. A good example of how a practical addition such as seating can also be a work of art.

3. Gardens as Wellness Spaces

• Many of the gardens focused on creating tranquil, relaxing spaces. The Asthma and Lung UK Breathing Space Garden had been designed as a retreat, with a covered platform over running water.
• Seating featured heavily, creating places for people to pause through the gardens. The Trussell’s Together Garden had a lovely seating area covered by an unusual archway.
• All of the balcony gardens this year created mini oases. The Tales from the Riverbank Garden promoted a green sanctuary in a small space. The small cooking area and seating was screened by planters full with plants.

4. Incorporating Edibles

• Some of the gardens at Chelsea this year showed that edible plants can be incorporated into a garden making them productive as well as beautiful.
• The RHS and The King’s foundation Curious garden mixed vegetables and herbs in amongst the herbaceous planting, shrubs and trees. The garden demonstrated how you can have useful plants within a beautiful planting scheme.
• A Little Garden of Shared Knowledge balcony garden demonstrated that edible plants can be grow in a compact layout and still provide a lovely outdoor space.
• Even fruit trees can be grown in large containers as shown in the Alzheimers Society: Microbes and Minds Garden with Apple trees planted in large planters around the seating area.

5. Sustainable Materials

• The use of sustainable materials is continuing to be a key driver at Chelsea flower show and each garden showed elements of sustainability within their designs.
• Particularly noticeable this year was the use of permeable materials to create paths. Compressed gravel was used in several of the gardens and I liked the contrast of the yellow gravel with the slate pavers in the Lady Garden Foundation: ‘Silent No More’ Garden. I also liked the combination of gravel and galvanised steel edging for the steps in the Addleshaw Goddard: Flourish in the City garden.
• Use of recycled materials were also demonstrated with The Seasalt Painted Garden in which the most striking features were the brightly painted old filing cabinets, repurposed as raised planters.

6. The Best of the Rest

Finally, here’s a selection of show gardens and exhibition stands with interesting designs and plant combinations that took my eye this year…

I hope you’ve enjoyed this slice of Chelsea 2026! You can find out more information about the show and gardens here. Hopefully it’s given you some inspiration to try at home. If you’d like some help with this and you’re based in or around the Reading and Newbury area, we’d love to meet and discuss your project in detail – book your free no-obligation garden consultation today.