The inaugural RHS Badminton Flower Show featured masses of flowers at their peak in high summer. Bright and bold is the name of the day, with lots of colourful and brilliant displays. There is also lots of meadow-style planting, particularly around the edges of the gardens, and a good smattering of edimentals - plants that are both edible and ornamental.
Tom Stuart-Smith’s Julia Rausing Garden, the largest ever at an RHS event at 2,400 sq m, is packed with 11,000 plants. Inspired by the pastoral Badminton Estate, it is a masterclass in loose, informal planting that features woodland edge planting and a dry meadow of drought tolerant perennials.
We round up some of the beautiful plants that we spotted across the show gardens.
Beautiful plants at the RHS Badminton Show 2026
Wild carrot
If one plant was ubiquitous this year, it was the wild carrot, Daucus carota. There were swathes in the meadow surrounding the Archers 75th Anniversary garden designed by Jo Thompson and it also popped up in Tom Stuart-Smith's Julia Rausing garden. It prefers free-draining, low nutrient soil in full sun.
Bladder campion
Bladder campion (Silene vulgaris) popped up on several gardens, including the meadow area of the Archers 75th Anniversary garden designed by Jo Thompson. It's a semi-evergreen perennial that gives an airy look in any style of border. Grow in full sun or partial shade, in well-drained soil. It's easy to grow from soil and is edimental - in Spain and Italy, the young shoots and leaves are eaten raw or cooked and have a pea-like taste.
Althaea cannabina
The palm-leaf mallow is a woody-based herbaceous perennial that gives height (it reaches up to 2m) and a wiry, airy look to a border, mingling beautifully with other plants - seen here on the Julia Rausing garden.
Korean mint
Agastaches are having a moment as they are edimental (the leaves have an aniseed flavour) and hugely popular with pollinators. The Julia Rausing garden features two different types - Agastache rugosa 'Liquorice Blue' (pictured) and Agastache 'Beelicious Pink', which certainly lives up to its name - it was smothered in bees during our visit.
Rosa 'Kew Gardens'
Rosa 'Kew Gardens' has masses of small, single white flowers held on large heads, from early summer into autumn. In the Julia Rausing garden, it mingled with woodland-edge perennials - it does best in partial shade.
Sanguisorba hakusanensis 'Lilac Squirrel'
This charming Korean burnet, Sanguisorba hakusanensis 'Lilac Squirrel', spotted on the Julia Rausing garden, lives up to its name with its fluffy, drooping flowers. It was spotted on sale in the Floral Marquee on several plant stands, so if you're visiting the show, you could take one home with you.
Water spearmint, Mentha cervina
Spotted on Sophie Leo's Blue Diamond Garden Centres: Where Grief Grows Quiet garden, near a trickling stream. It thrives in moist soil or water, and is popular with pollinators.
Tobacco plant
The Julia Rausing garden mixed two types of tobacco plant, Nicotiana sylvestris and Nicotiana x hybrida 'Whisper Mixed', and we were reminded of what a great filller this annual is in summer borders. Grow from seed and protect from slugs when young. Grow in full sun or partial shade.
Upright wild ginger
In the woodland areas of Tom Stuart-Smith's Julia Rausing garden, Saruma henryi, upright wild ginger, caught the eye, its furry, heart-shaped leaves contrasting beautifully with the fine needles of the yew nearby. It produces fragrant, yellow, three-petalled flowers. It also featured in Tom's 2024 woodland garden at RHS Chelsea Flower Show.
Oregano
The Julia Rausing garden featured Origanum 'Rosenkuppel' - a beautiful herb that grows well on a herb patch but also looks lovely in a border and is hugely popular with pollinators. Grow in full sun or partial shade.
Scabiosa ochroleuca
Pale yellow pincushion flowers abounded at the show. Yellow can be a 'marmite' colour in the garden, but pale yellow can bind other plants together - this is Scabiosa ochroleuca, seen on Tom Stuart-Smith's garden. The pincushion flowers give an airy look. Grow in full sun.
