One of the main comments I get from my friends and family is “it’s not Chelsea already is it?”! And I know why. As soon as we digest one year, the next show seems to come around more quickly than a whole calendar year later.
But that’s the thing with this show. As soon as you start looking into it, working out who is doing what, and what it’s going to be like, you get sucked in. There’s always plenty of hype, and over the past few years the RHS’s high profile celebrity-backed gardens have taken much of that publicity oxygen.
The latest news from Chelsea 2026
- RHS Chelsea Flower Show to be sponsored by Range Rover in 2026
- Big changes for RHS Flower Shows in 2026: here's what's different
- The RHS has lifted its gnome ban for Chelsea Flower Show 2026 - for one important reason
This year across the profession, there’s been talk about The King, The Beckham and The Titchmarsh (aka ‘RHS and The King’s Foundation Curious Garden’ designed by the diligent Frances Tophill); about leading garden designer Matt Keightley’s new AI-backed software; and the fact the RHS has allowed an adult sex-toy company to sponsor a houseplant studio.
So what’s this year REALLY like? Look past these headlines and you’ll see so much more. It’s a year of beautiful water features, planting for our changing climate, and a welcome diversity in planting and planting styles. There are lots of different gardens, with different meanings and different approaches, but there are of course a few commonalities.
The use of ochre
For anyone who’s holidayed in southern Devon, Greece, China or Australia, the awareness of that lovely deep red soil is easy to recall. James Basson’s ‘The Project Giving Back’ feature garden references the ochre mines near Roussillon in Provence; Patrick Clarke’s welcoming and beautiful ‘The Children’s Society Garden’ uses weathered steel and planting to bring out the subdued reds; Max Parker-Smith’s ‘Journey Beyond the Tracks: From Adelaide to Perth’ full of soil, wood and plants in shades of ochre; and the dark, hard landscaping and chainsaw-sculpted wooden gaia feature in Sarah Eberle’s ‘The Campaign to Protect Rural England Garden: On the Edge’.
Using plants like we grow in our gardens
Chelsea is not the place where we want to be presented with an array of plants that we can buy from the local garden centre or DIY store. But we do want to feel we can relate to the planting. And that’s why Darren Hawkes’ ‘Lady Garden Foundation: Silent No More Garden’ is successful – with a range of plant types, heights, colours and combinations that we could do at home.
Discover more about the gardens at Chelsea 2026
- First details of the gardens at the Chelsea Flower Show 2026: discover who is designing what
- RHS announces five All About Plants gardens for Chelsea Flower Show 2026
- Chelsea Flower Show 2026: balcony and container gardens announced
Tom Stuart-Smith, the proponent of geographically-sensitive planting, may not be showing everyday plants, but the different heights, textures and combinations are something we can replicate in our own gardens. Charlie Chase’s ‘YoungMinds Gardens’ has a cacophony of the unusual – spend time looking at this sublime garden to really get the planting bug.
Trees will always matter
For those who’ve been going to Chelsea for the last few years, the importance and use of trees is something to be celebrated. Not only do they cast shade on a summer’s day, but some trees can trap pollutants and cope with our ever-changing climate.
So that’s where trees in Harry Holding’s ‘The Eden Project: Bring Me Sunshine Garden’ or Baz Grainger’s fruit-bearing trees in ‘The Killik & Co A Seed In Time Garden’ show us not only what type of trees to use in our gardens, but the way they can grow with our more colourful, mixed planting at knee-height.
The need for nature
As our personal lives seem ever busier and ever more connected, designers know we need respite from it. Consider Melanie Hick’s ‘The Bat Conservation Trust’s Nocturnal Garden’ opening our eyes to these important elements of biodiversity or the term ‘dusking’ (when you intentionally take in the end of the day); or Angus Thompson’s ‘The Asmtha + Lung UK Breathing Space Garden’ – his peaceful woodland-edge garden encourages us to slow down and breathe.
And what about the water features? There are always water features at Chelsea, and for many years they have been bigger or more expensive than any of us can afford at home. But this year is different: delightfully light touches with water.
Some gardens have rivulets cascading through paths; some have sinuous rills playing second fiddle to the overall design; others meanwhile have pulses or oscillations of water at the right time or for the right atmosphere. If you’re not looking at the planting, take time to consider the water features too.
Keep an eye out for
There are ALWAYS unusual plants or materials to look out for at the show. And this year they include:
- Shell-crete: there’s the oyster-shell based concrete that references London’s history with the oyster trade (on the ‘Addleshaw Goddard: Flourish in the City’) as well as the use of clams for paving and top-dressing on ‘The Eden Project: Bring Me Sunshine Garden’.
- Use of Lagerstroemia: this is a popular tree on continental Europe that many in the industry are predicting will be good for future towns and cities (Tom Stuart-Smith features a glade of them in his garden).
- Matt Keightley’s trade stand and AI. This article sums up the situation perfectly, but the garden design industry (like all industries) is trying to work out what it really thinks about AI and how it may impact the profession. As well as the paying public. Watch this space as the purists try to outflank the futurists.
So what is this year really like? In contrast to the click bait and need for sensationalist headlines, it’s a really good year. A year where there is diversity in design and in planting; a year where designers are confident in what they want to do.
We can all pick out faults and things we don’t like, but creativity and expression of freedom are alive and well in Chelsea 2026. The headlines and hype are great for grabbing attention, but look a little deeper and you’ll find a show that’s got something for every gardener.
When you become a Gardens Illustrated member today, you will receive 20% off of the shop price - paying £66.99 for 13 issues, plus for a limited time receive our new member's gift, a waterproof canvas Gardener's Pail, worth £38, with six pockets and a strong jute handle.
