The medals at RHS Chelsea have been handed out, the Garden of the Year has been announced, and voting for the People's Choice Award is open.
Discover more about the gardens at Chelsea 2026
Winners announced at Chelsea Flower Show 2026
The 2026 Garden of the Year at Chelsea Flower Show
10 inspiring small-space gardens at Chelsea 2026
In the meantime, the Gardens Illustrated team has spent the week reporting on the show, and have been deciding on their own favourite gardens.
Do you agree with them? Let us know your favourites on Facebook or Instagram.
The GI team's favourite gardens
The Campaign to Protect Rural England garden, designed by Sarah Eberle
Chosen by Stephanie Mahon, editor
I was a bit sceptical about the idea of Sarah Eberle’s Gaia statue at first, as I tend not to like figurative sculpture and big faces in gardens, but when I got to finally see the garden in person, I could see that it worked really beautifully in real life, with real craftsmanship from chainsaw artist Chris Wood. The willow work by Tom Hare and stonework by Noble Stonework was also utterly exceptional up close. It was the planting that really drew me in, however - the delicate flowerheads of Melica grass dancing through the garden, tying it all together, and soothing pale-yellow notes from Trollius x cultorum 'Taleggio' and buttercup Ranunculus acris ‘Citrinus’.
But there was another exhibit which stole my heart - the Hedgerow in the Sky balcony by Sarah Mayfield and Monika Greenhough. I have an ongoing love affair with hedgerows - the one outside my house is ancient, and filled with wildflowers and alpine strawberries in spring - and the idea of bringing that beauty and biodiversity to a balcony in the city I found utterly delightful. Combined with a log-pile effect wall, charred Shou Sugi Ban style? I’m sold.
The Tate Britain Clore garden, designed by Tom Stuart-Smith
Chosen by David Grenham, art director
The Tate Britain Clore Garden, designed by landscape architect Tom Stuart-Smith, was my standout garden of 2026. I found the planting refreshingly different from anything I had seen before. The densely layered borders combined an inspiring mix of delicate, “pretty” flowering plants with bold, sculptural exotic planting, all framed by a textured, woodland-style backdrop.
I’m not usually a fan of sculpture in gardens, as it can often feel distracting or disconnected from the planting, but the understated inclusion of the Barbara Hepworth piece blended perfectly into the space.
The Composer's Cabin (Houseplant Studios), designed by Martha Krempel
Chosen by Veronica Peerless, content commissioning editor
When I visit Chelsea, I find that my heart knows which garden it likes before my head does, if that makes sense. I can see the expertise that has gone into making every single one of them, but not all of them make me feel anything. This year, it was Martha Krempel’s Composer’s Cabin that put a smile on my face.
The building, designed by Martha and built by Malvern Garden Buildings, is totally swoonworthy. It has a strong mid-century vibe, with a riff on a potting shed window as a seating area at one end and a pergola, complete with swing seat, at the other. I loved the combination of Rosa 'Purple Splash' and honeysuckle (Lonicera × heckrottii 'American Beauty') growing up one pillar. The naturalistic green roof nestled the cabin perfectly within its space.
The garden around the cabin is inspired by the wild moors of West Penwith in Cornwall, but is not a pastiche of it – Cornwall’s landscape is awash with foxgloves at this time of year, but Martha judiciously only used a few in the garden. Instead she took inspiration from peatlands, and the tender plants that thrive in this frost-free part of the country, such as Tetrapanax papyrifer, Fatsia polycarpa and Geranium maderense, shown off in large Corten pots.
These large-leaved plants were reflected by the bold houseplants growing inside the cabin, such as Monstera, Philodendron and Alocasia. Several were planted in each moss-topped container (note to self: combine some of my larger houseplants into bigger pots) but pared back to give the imagined ‘composer’ some thinking space at their Steinway piano. A soundscape of a peat bog completed the scene.
If you’ve missed the show this year, you can see an adapted version of the Composer’s Cabin at London's St Pancras Station for a pop-up experience in June.
Tales from the Riverbank garden (Balcony and container garden)
Chosen by Niki Goss, deputy art editor
Every year at Chelsea I always look out for gardens that make me feel “Ooh, I’d really love to sit there with a nice glass of something”. One such space that really spoke to me at this year’s show was the Tales from the Riverbank garden in the Balcony and Container Gardens category. It presented the idea of a garden on a houseboat where the owners can grow, cook and entertain.
I loved how the designers maximised the vertical space both with container-grown trees and with edibles growing up on the roof of the boat, and how they made use of recycled crates and an eclectic collection of pots, baskets and repurposed agricultural troughs in which to grow a selection of edible and ornamental plants. The theme of sustainability continued with rainwater runoff being collected by means of a rain chain feeding into a dipping pond from The Dipping Tank Company.
The space allowed for a generous arts-and-crafts style wooden bench seat and an outdoor cooking area complete with a Big Green Egg barbecue surrounded by potted herbs, where you could just imagine rustling up a delicious lunch before settling back to read or birdwatch. The garden also featured a beautiful hanging artwork by one of my favourite textile artists, Kate Tarling, a stunning appliqué map of the river Thames.
Overall, I found the garden evoked a wonderful sense of the British waterways and gave plenty of inspiration that was both relatable and achievable.
The Parkinson's UK garden, designed by Arit Anderson
Chosen by Alice Tuffery, content writer
With its eye-catching colour and bold planting, it’s hard not to be drawn in by Arit Anderson’s garden for Parkinson’s UK – my favourite of RHS Chelsea 2026. A personal cause for designer Arit, whose sister is living with Parkinson’s, the garden features an array of thoughtful touches, including scentless roses and plants for nighttime interest to reflect symptoms of Parkinson’s, such as loss of smell and insomnia respectively.
One of the key elements of the garden is the innovative ‘hand-rill’ – a rill in a handrail – which curves sinuously through the garden and around a seating area for moments of rest.
But, as is only right at Chelsea Flower Show, it was the planting that captured my imagination. With a gorgeous combination of colourful flowers and foliage, Arit has created a vibrant colour palette with big, bold blooms. At the front of the garden are red poppies, purple alliums and lilac nepeta, burgundy irises and acid-green euphorbia – as well as a special new rose launched at the show, ‘Parkinson’s Resilience’.
Meanwhile at the back of the garden, a relaxed area with seating under a protective shell-like structure combines white viburnum and foxgloves, perfectly creating a sense of quiet calm. /
The Woodland Trust garden, designed by Ashleigh Aylett
Chosen by Juliet Giles, production editor
I’m often drawn to the All About Plants gardens at Chelsea; their size far more representative of my own tiny plot than the main show gardens. This year I loved them all, but if I really did have to pick a favourite it would have to be the exquisitely planted Woodland Trust: Forgotten Forests Garden. “What I want people to take away is that native doesn't mean it has to be completely wild and naturalistic,” says its designer, Ashleigh Aylett. “You can create this gardenesque look with using native plants, but you can just use them in a different way, in a more contemporary way.”
As you’d expect from a garden for the Woodland Trust, trees dominate the planting, but smaller trees, such as field maple (Acer campestre) and guelder rose (Viburnum opulus) that are ideal for a small garden. Growing in their dappled shade is a beautiful mix of green textures and native plants – half of which are ancient woodland indicator plants, such as Silene dioica and Paris quadrifolia – that give this space the gardenesque feel Ashleigh wanted. I particularly loved the dry-stone wall with filled with ferns and herb Robert, showing how we can make the most of every part of our garden.
The Children's Society Garden, designed by Patrick Clarke
Chosen by Molly Blair, digital editor
I interviewed Patrick about his garden for The Children's Society many months before it was brought to life at the Chelsea Flower Show, and was excited to finally see it up close. The first thing that caught my attention was the paving and the way that the planting was cleverly woven in between the stonework. The planting appeared sparse at first, in comparison to some of the packed planting that is often seen on show gardens. However, that space really allowed individual plants to shine. Stand-out specimens included Sisyrinchium 'Raspberry' and Iris 'Kent Bride,' which both brought warm earthy tones to the garden that tied in well with the Corten steel pergola and water features.
This water trough at the back of the garden also caught my eye - I love how it had been wrapped in lush green planting that really gave a sense that the garden had bedded in. The garden especially came to life in the evening, when the sun came out and the warm tones were exaggerated.
