With 18 dynamic show gardens and a showground buzzing with 145,000 visitors, Chelsea 2026 delivered something rare: a show where every headline garden had a genuine story to tell. Biodiversity, wellbeing, art, community, resilience — the themes felt urgent and human.

• Garden of the Year: Sarah Eberle — On the Edge (CPRE)
• 5 Gold Medals — Large Show Gardens
• Best Small Show Garden: Joe & Laura Carey — Flourish in the City
• People's Choice: Arit Anderson — Parkinson's UK Garden

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Garden 01 — The CPRE Garden: 'On the Edge'

Designed by Sarah Eberle · Garden of the Year · Gold Medal

Photo: Mark Spencer. Courtesy of Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) & RHS. Via Colossal

Sarah Eberle came out of Chelsea retirement — celebrating her 50th year in horticulture — to create this breathtaking tribute to Britain's overlooked edgelands: the vital strips of countryside between our towns and the open fields beyond. The result was an overwhelming winner.

At the garden's heart lies Gaia, a monumental sleeping figure sculpted from a fallen tree, willow branches and stone. She rests amid wild, naturalistic planting — vines climbing a reclaimed stone arch, native species threading through rocky ground, a sense of nature quietly reclaiming its own.

"A sense of abundance, a landscape under repair, the beauty in the ordinary. It's about how nature can recover and thrive with the right care."
— Sarah Eberle, Garden of the Year 2026

Design Lesson: Embrace naturalistic planting. The wildly unruly scheme — with its stone arch clothed in climbing vines — was precisely what gave the garden its power. Allow your garden to breathe, to age, to show its character.

Inspired by On the Edge: Lattice Garden Arch & Side Panels — Antique Green Rust · £219.95 →

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Garden 02 — Parkinson's UK: 'A Garden for Every Parkinson's Journey'

Designed by Arit Anderson · People's Choice · Gold Medal

Official garden photography © RHS / Neil Hepworth. View full gallery at rhs.org.uk

The undisputed People's Choice of Chelsea 2026. Arit Anderson, working in partnership with Parkinson's UK and those living with the condition, created a garden divided into three sensory zones: energising, restful and night-time.

A gently winding path formed the backbone, deliberately avoiding abrupt changes of direction. The tactile highlight: a 'hand-rill' — a smooth Accoya wood handrail with water trickling through a concave channel, providing both support and sensory delight. After the show, the garden will be relocated to John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford.

"This is a personal garden for me as my sister is living with Parkinson's. I really wanted to raise awareness of this little-understood condition."
— Arit Anderson, Designer

Design Lesson: Great gardens invite you to slow down. The winding path, the water rail, the three distinct zones — each element asked visitors to pause, to feel, to be present. Consider how your own garden can guide movement and create moments of stillness.

Create your sanctuary: Amalfi Metal Bench — Umbra Grey · £199.95 →

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Garden 03 — The Tate Britain Garden

Designed by Tom Stuart-Smith · Gold Medal

Official photography © RHS / Neil Hepworth & © Tate (Sonal Bakrania). View full gallery at tate.org.uk

Tate's first ever show garden, designed by nine-time gold medal winner Tom Stuart-Smith as a living preview of the forthcoming Clore Garden — a major new public green space set to open at Tate Britain in 2027.

At the garden's heart stood Dame Barbara Hepworth's Bicentric Form (1949) — the first time a work of art from the national collection has been installed at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show. Bold textures, exotic woodland planting, and reclaimed paving from Tate's own site gave the space quiet, deeply considered grandeur.

"It is very different from any Chelsea I've done before — with bold textures and much more exotic planting."
— Tom Stuart-Smith, Designer

Design Lesson: A single sculptural focal point transforms a garden from beautiful to unforgettable. Whether a sculpture, a statement bench or an architectural arch, give your garden one thing to look at — and build everything else around it.

The sculptural statement: Lutyn Bench — Antique Green Rust · £185.95 →

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Garden 04 — Addleshaw Goddard: 'Flourish in the City'

Designed by Joe & Laura Carey · Gold Medal · Best Small Show Garden

Official photography © RHS / Sarah Cuttle. View full gallery at rhs.org.uk

Joe and Laura Carey's third gold medal in four Chelsea appearances — and for many observers, the garden everyone would most want in their own back garden. Country Life called it: "A garden you feel you could live in."

Blending Joe's love of London's built environment with Laura's mastery of colour and texture, 'Flourish in the City' brought the lushness and layering of nature into a distinctly city-shaped space. Vibrant planting, intimate scale, and an extraordinary sense of being enveloped by green made it an instant favourite.

Design Lesson: Small doesn't mean simple. The Careys have proven across multiple shows that a smaller garden, when designed with genuine intention and extraordinary plant knowledge, can outshine spaces three times its size. Layer your planting — use every vertical inch.

Flourish at home: Hampton Bistro Set — Cream · £249.95 →

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What Chelsea 2026 Taught Us About Gardens

1. Naturalistic & Wildly Beautiful

From Sarah Eberle's edgeland wilderness to the Hedgerow in the Sky balcony garden, naturalistic planting dominated. Softer, wilder schemes filled with native species and pollinator-friendly flowers were everywhere — not neglected, but deliberately, artfully unruly.

2. Water as a Living Feature

Water featured in virtually every stand-out garden this year, often designed with sustainability and wildlife in mind. From elegant snaking rills to iron cauldrons on balconies, moving water brings life, sound and calm to any outdoor space.

3. Wellbeing at the Centre

Accessibility, sensory richness, and the restorative power of gardens were themes woven through the entire show — a direct reflection of how we now think about outdoor spaces and their role in our health and happiness.

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"The difference between a good garden and a great garden is how it makes you feel."
— Sarah Eberle, Garden of the Year 2026

Show garden photographs credited individually above. All show garden imagery © RHS / respective photographers. Opulent Co product images © Opulent Co / Ascalon. Editorial and inspirational purposes only.