When it comes to the big reveal of the RHS Chelsea Flower Show gardens, we always hear what the judges think and get the BBC and RHS People's Choice votes - but we were eager to find out what Gardens Illustrated readers thought about the gardens at the show this year.
Sarah Eberle's Campaign to Protect Rural England Garden: ‘On the Edge’ may have been named RHS Chelsea Garden of the Year by the judging panel, with Arit Anderson's Parkinson’s UK garden winning the RHS People's Choice Show Garden - but here's what GI readers voted their favourite of RHS Chelsea 2026.
Winner of GI Readers' Choice
Unlike the RHS People's Choice award, Darren Hawkes' design for the Lady Garden Foundation, 'Silent No More' earned top spot in our reader poll. The result was close - Darren's garden gained 16% of votes - which shows how varied reader responses were.
Tied in second
Reflecting the RHS People's Choice award, Arit Anderson's 'A Garden for Every Parkinson's Journey' came in second, tied with The RHS and The King's Foundation Curious Garden, designed by Frances Tophill.
Third
Coming in third was Tom Stuart-Smith's Tate Britain Garden, set to be incorporated into a new, larger garden at Tate Britain in London.
The results show the larger show gardens and feature garden ranked most highly among our readers, while smaller show gardens including the Japanese-inspired Tokonoma Garden – Samumaya no Niwa and Woodland Trust: Forgotten Forests Garden were also favourites.
The latest news from Chelsea 2026
