It’s Chelsea Flower Show week, and all eyes are on the world’s most famous gardening show.
Now in its 113th year, RHS Chelsea’s mission to inspire the nation to garden feels more relevant than ever. From climate change and sustainability to wellbeing and the way we use outdoor space, gardening is constantly evolving.
This year’s show proves that the future of gardening is rooted in both old wisdom and bold new ideas.
Here are the biggest trends from Chelsea Flower Show 2026.
1. Water, water everywhere
We yearn for the soothing sounds, dreamy reflections and gentle movement of water – and this year, whether it's running or still, falling or cascading, water has completely captured the imaginations and inventiveness of garden designers.
In Arit Anderson's Parkinson's UK – A Garden for Every Parkinson's Journey, one of its standout features is a handrail which doubles as a water rill, allowing running water to weave its way through the entire space.
In The Bat Conservation Trust's Nocturnal Garden, designed by Melanie Hick, an element of stillness was key. 'Still water is important for wildlife and beneficial to the life cycle of insects,' she says.
'To create my pool, I used a metal vessel, 15cm deep, 1m wide. That’s it, nothing else. You could place it anywhere. Here, it is for wildlife use, but we humans also love the serenity and reflective nature of still water. In fact, it was inspired by the ancient practices of staring into reflective pools to divine the future.'
Water encapsulates many themes at Chelsea, and in Tales from the Riverbank Garden, which was conceived on a houseboat, garden designers Susie Kennedy and Kate Henning have used a dainty 'dipping tank' beside a willowy tree and herb pots to harvest water for their plants. A few drops of inspiration are all we need.
2. Edimentals
Everyone, of course, was talking about The RHS and The King’s Foundation Curious Garden, designed by Frances Tophill. With help from Alan Titchmarsh, Sir David Beckham and King Charles himself, it provides a wonderful reminder about all the things that begin in a garden and why it is a place of curiosity, whatever your age.
It included many standout features, not least the beautiful craftsmanship of a central small oak cabin, the working beehive and all the plants used to make dyes and pigments. But running along the length of the garden were flowers mixed in with vegetables, side by side, with glorious large heads of green cabbage taking centre stage.
It was wonderful and a perfect reminder that any budding gardener could replicate this in a few pots or on a windowsill. The theme of having flowers and ornamental vegetables could be seen in several of the gardens, including Katerina Kantalis's Little Garden of Shared Knowledge.
Finally, Sir David Beckham, a budding veg gardener himself, was also at the Chelsea Flower Show to admire the gorgeous rose which rose growers David Austin have named after him. One suspects that the roses and the cabbages will be the two most talked about plants of the entire show.
3. Grasses
Not that long ago, we associated grass with our lawns and parks. But in recent years, there has been a tidal wave of interest in ornamental grasses, partly spurred on by the growing trend of a more naturalistic, meadow-looking feel to gardens, but also by the realisation that grasses are beautiful and versatile in any space.
There are hundreds of native varieties and over thousands of varieties worldwide, and this year's show was another opportunity to see just how magical they can be, from the swaying tactile grasses in The Eden Project: Bring Me Sunshine Garden to Sarah Eberle's exquisite combination of grasses and wild flowering plants to highlight the fragility of Britain’s rural landscape in On the Edge.
One person who has been inundated with questions about (and requests for) grasses is Paul Seaborne, the owner of Pelham Plants, which has just been awarded another Chelsea Gold medal.
'It's wonderful to see so many grasses being used in this year's gardens,' says Paul. 'And one that designers have completely fallen in love with is Melica uniflora, which has these tiny pearl white flowers and white seeds, which look so dainty, so ethereal. It is, in fact, a tough little grass. The lovely thing is you could fill a meadow with it, but you could also have it growing in your windowsill or in a large container on your patio.'
It's a touch of rural magic to take home.
4. Small is beautiful
Many of us want somewhere we can go when we get home from work or to switch off when it's the weekend. For some, that may be a place in the country, but for a lot of us, the paradise is the one we've created on our patios and balconies. The message from Chelsea this year was clear – you can transform the smallest, quirkiest spaces into the most magical outdoor areas.
Katerina Kantalis’s Little Garden of Shared Knowledge balcony garden sums up this huge trend beautifully.
On one side, she has fitted a beautiful, pint-sized potting table to plant seeds and hang tools. On the other side, a stylish wicker chair and matching table sit right beside an array of pretty, differently sized terracotta pots with scented basil, lettuces and nasturtiums – all grown from seed. Warm lighting and decorative tiles run along the back wall; grape vine and sweet peas climb one corner; a small pomegranate tree and trailing strawberry plants fill another. The whole thing is utter bliss.
5. A white and purple love affair
Some colours never go out of fashion. While purple and yellow were a dominant colour palette at Chelsea, we also couldn't help but notice the beautiful pairing of purple and white.
White brings such a beautiful simplicity to any garden, especially when you want to evoke a calming, harmonious feel to a compact space. In the Parkinson's UK Garden, white foxgloves, cow parsley aquilegia and lily of the valley soothe both the senses and mind.
In total contrast, deep blues and purples were a rich feast for the eyes, illustrated perfectly in The Boodles Garden, created by Catherine McDonald, who took her inspiration from jewels in the Royal Collections.
'I wanted the planting to feel dramatic and immersive, so I worked with deep, rich, often intense purple and blue tones, using flowers such as Salvia Nachtvlinder, Iris "Superstition" and Geranium nodosum "Blueberry Ice". I hope it has evoked a sense of how jewel-like flowers can be, but also inspires gardeners to take away and use in their own green spaces,' said Catherine.
It's a lovely reminder that every flower is a jewel.
6. A passion for Japan
For the last few years, garden designers and visitors alike have fallen in love with everything about the Japanese approach to gardening. The garden designer who has really championed this is Kazuyuki Ishihara, and this year is no different.
His Tokonoma Garden – SANUMAYA no NIWA is another stunning example of a garden which encapsulates the all-important themes of space, tranquillity, water, seclusion and harmony – something we can all have in our gardens, no matter how big or small. One of the most eye-catching elements is the soft mounds of moss, which are soothing to the eye.
Other Chelsea gardens have been inspired by Japanese design too. The Asthma and Lung UK Breathing Space Garden embraces the Japanese love of acers, pine trees and water irises, while The Tate Britain Garden uses the Japanese art of kintsugi (repairing broken pottery with gold). Elsewhere, the balcony Hedgerow in the Sky Garden uses a Japanese shou sugi ban method of charred wood to provide a dramatic backdrop to plants in a cosy balcony seating area. We all want a taste of Japan now.
7. Small trees please!
Every year, the large Show Gardens set the tone and feel of the whole show – and trees always play an important part. They're not always a focal point, but rather an essential ingredient, whether there's room for a full orchard of apple trees, an avenue of limes, or a couple of swaying silver birches.
There were plenty of smaller gardens embracing trees this year too, especially on the balcony and container gardens.
The Alzheimer's Society: Microbes and Minds Garden is in honour of apple cider vinegar and its gut benefits. Sitting right beside a glossy, rich, caramel-coloured curved seating area is a stunning, bijoux apple tree – still in blossom. It could be transported into the smallest of spaces. One of the amazing qualities of a tree is that it not only gets rid of carbon dioxide and harmful air pollutants (especially if you live near a main road), but it also keeps gardens cool when the summer heat gets too much.
In Flood Re: Contain the Rain Garden, designed by John Howlett, a small space is transformed into a stylish outdoor sanctuary that not only absorbs excessive rainwater but also provides a perfect setting for a small ornamental tree. It's an urban oasis that anyone can create.
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