The show gardens may steal the glory at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show, but for many people, it's all about the individual plants. This year, there is a lot of deep claret and purples, rich copper and bronze, pink of every hue – and a lot of yellow. Yellow is a real 'marmite' colour for many gardeners, but one that designers know can really make a garden pop if used judiciously. The tones range from the acid green to the palest primrose and ivory.
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
Foliage wise, there is every shade of green, plus plenty of silvery and glaucous foliage, reflecting the continuing trend for drought-tolerant planting. Grasses, especially sesleria and melica, also feature widely, knitting schemes together, and giving texture and a naturalistic feel. Baz Grainger's Killik & Co 'A Seed in Time' garden included 21 species of grass, including the beautiful Melica altissima 'Atropurpurea'.
Weeds, big at the show in 2023, have made something of a comeback in Sarah Eberle's Best Show Garden, but are now branded as wildlife-friendly native plants; they include stinging nettles and garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata). There are no dandelions at the show this year, although there is a tree dandelion (Sonchus arboreus) on Tom Stuart-Smith's garden.
Resilience is the keyword when it comes to the planting, and that includes trees. Native trees such as field maple (Acer campestre), known to be able to cope with a range of conditions, and hawthorn are used in several gardens. There are also trees that push the boundaries in terms of hardiness, but are likely to become more widespread in the UK as the climate warms. Many are edible, such as the sea buckthorn and autumn olive in Harry Holding's Bring me Sunshine garden and the black walnut and hazel in Baz Grainger's A Seed in Time garden.
19 plants that inspired us at the 2026 Chelsea Flower Show
Sisirynchium 'Raspberry'
This little gem was spotted on the Children's Society garden. It's neat clump, with pale yellow-pink flowers with claret-coloured centres and veins.
Golden alexanders (Zizia aurea)
The bees were feasting on the golden alexanders on the Children's Society garden, which has umbels of dill-like, bright yellow flowers.
Red bark strawberry tree (Arbutus x andrachnoides)
Tom Stuart-Smiths' Tate Clore woodland-style garden showcases trees that will thrive in the relocated garden's frost-free microclimate in London. This evergreen Arbutus x andrachnoides is a cross between the more common Arbutus unedo (strawberry tree) and Arbutus andrachne (the Grecian strawberry tree). As its name suggests, has attractive red bark, small white, urn shaped flowers and attractive, edible fruits.
Crepe myrtle (Lagerstroemia)
As our climate changes, we can expect to see much more of these Mediterranean trees - the RHS recently ran a trial of them and there is a National Collection at RHS Garden Wisley. Tom Stuart-Smith's Tate garden featured a grove Lagerstroemia 'Natchez', which has masses of flowers in late summer, excellent autumn foliage and attractive, cinnamon-coloured peeling bark. A fellow Lagerstroemia, Lagerstroemia indica, was spotted on the Trussell's Together garden.
Paeonia 'Callie's Memory'
The idea behind the All About Plants Plant Heritage Missing Collector garden was that a plant collector has vanished, leaving behind a stunning collection of rare plants. This rare intersectional or Itoh peony is one of the garden's showstopping plants – the foliage is tinged bronzy-red in spring and autumn, and its luscious peachy flowers are flushed with raspberry red.
Honey bush (Melianthus major)
Spotted on on Tom Stuart-Smith's Tate Britain garden above, and also on Darren Hawkes' Lady Garden Foundation garden. Melianthus major, or the honey bush, is prized for its silvery architectural foliage but also bears dramatic russet-coloured flower spikes in summer. It hails from South Africa so is not hardy everywhere in the UK, but will certainly be fine in London, Cornwall and the Channel Islands, where the two show gardens are being located to respectively.
Meadow buttercup (Ranunculus acris)
Sarah Eberle's Best Show Garden garden for the Campaign for the Protection of Rural England (CPRE) takes some of the everyday plants that we see all around us on the edges of suburbia, but take for granted, and elevates them to show garden status. The garden includes frothy drifts of this beautiful primrose-coloured meadow buttercup, Ranunculus acris.
Bird of paradise sisirynchium (Sisirynchium palmifolium)
Not quite in flower yet, but in the centre of this image is another sisirynchium, this time the rarely seen Sisirynchium palmifolium on Harry Holding's Bring me Sunshine garden for the Eden Project. Its yellow flowers are similar to those of bird of paradise (Strelitzia) when fully opened. Hopefully visitors will be able to enjoy this one if it comes out fully by the end of the show week.
Verbascum 'Clementine'
This cheerful yellow-orange verbascum made a splash at the front of the Trussell's Together garden by Rob Hardy, mingling gorgeously with Iris 'Red Pike'.
Velvet groundsel (Roldana petasitis)
The large velvety leaves of this exotic-looking plant on Tom Stuart-Smith's Tate Britain Garden are just begging to be stroked. This evergreen perennial can reach 3m tall, and will produce the biggest leaves in dappled shade. It's not fully hardy, but should be fine in the frost-free central London location that the garden is being moved to after the show.
Strawflower, Rhodanthe manglesii
Many people were asking Darren Hawkes about this pretty little plant that has bright pink flowers with a distinctive eye and silvery buds, at the front and back of his gold-medal winning Lady Garden Foundation garden. It is the unusual half-hardy annual, Rhodanthe manglesii, often grown for dried flowers. If you fancy growing some yourself, we have spotted them for sale on the Chiltern Seeds website.
Iris 'Chantilly'
The planting on the Addleshaw Goddard garden, which won Best Small Show Garden, was like a delectable ice-cream parlour. One of the stars of the show was this Iris 'Chantilly', in shades of pink and yellow, but not all the plants were as showy – designer Laura Carey said that her favourite plant on the garden was a native wildflower, the diminuitive hoary plantain (Plantago media).
Iris 'Holden Clough'
Another gem on the Children's Society Garden. It has pale yellow flowers with deep bronze veining. It likes moist soil.
Blue thimble flower (Gilia capitata)
The pretty blue spherical flowers of the blue thimble flower caught the eye on Harry Holding's Bring me Sunshine garden. They're an annual and reach around 40cm tall. You can buy seeds from Chiltern Seeds and Special Plants - they should also seed around.
Rosa 'Sir David Beckham'
The Sir David Beckham rose was launched by David Austin Roses at the show, and also featured in The RHS and the King's Foundation Curious Garden. It was commissioned Sir David Beckham's daughter Harper for his 50th birthday, and she has great taste. The white flowers with a peach pinky flush can only be described as luminous - they appear to be gently glowing. It looks lovely in bud, too. Well done, Harper.
Cistus x skanbergii
Cistus were big at the show in 2025 and they can be spotted on several gardens this year too, including Darren Hawkes' Lady Garden Foundation Garden. This small but intriguing Cistus x skanbergii was spotted on the Addleshaw Goddard garden. It's a small, mounded shrub with masses of pale pink flowers - but designer Laura Carey says that she prefers the buds to the flowers.
Purple poppy mallow (Callirhoe involucrata)
You'll have to look carefully for this little purple poppy mallow, close to the Corten pool on the Children's Society garden. Its a perenial, with deep pink, cup shaped flowers on prostrate stems, and the foliage forms a semi-evergreen mat.
Lopsided onion (Allium obliquum)
There were fewer purple alliums than usual at Chelsea this year, but this charming little yellow-green allium with blue-green foliage caught the eye on the Children's Society garden. It's known as the lopsided onion as its stems are often twisted.
Woad (Isatis tinctoria)
Woad (Isatis tinctoria) is a current favourite at Great Dixter, and was featured in the RHS and the King's Foundation Curious Garden and The Children's Society garden. Blue dye can be obtained from its leaves.
For more coverage from the show, head to our Chelsea Flower Show hub.
