After an exciting day at the 2026 RHS Chelsea Flower Show yesterday, I came away with heaps of inspiration for the gardening season ahead – and a shed load of trends to share with you.
If this year’s predicted garden trends were anything to go by, we were in for a treat at Chelsea – and it’s safe to say that this year’s Show lived up to all of the expectations. What struck me yesterday was the free-spirited nature of the Gardens: wild, untamed and breathtakingly beautiful.
1. Naturalistic planting
I had to start with the main character: naturalistic planting was a huge trend at the 2026 RHS Chelsea Flower Show.
In fact, the Gardens took this planting style to a whole new level – we’re calling it a wild garden trend, because most of them were overgrown, packed with foliage and flowering plants, and chaotic in the very best way. Foxgloves emerge from dense borders, groundcover plants intermingle beneath trees, and there’s a general sense of wildness that I absolutely adored at this year’s Show.
The Campaign to Protect Rural England Garden: ‘On the Edge’ actually embraces weeds, too – I spoke to the garden’s designer, Sarah Eberle, who shared the importance of weeds like milk thistle and nettles for wildlife.
‘It’s hard to garden without them – they’re stronger than us, you know, and trying to tell them to go away doesn’t really work very well,’ Sarah told me. ‘It’s all down to the right plant for the right place, and letting there be areas for them to grow. It doesn’t have to be the whole garden – it’s just areas or a patch which can support wildlife.’
This Fabulous Foxglove Collection from Thompson & Morgan is perfect for wilder cottage garden borders.
2. Water features
It felt as though almost every Garden had a water feature of some kind this year: reflective pools, self-emptying water pools and small waterfalls, to name a few. It really feels like there’s a shift towards water features as starring garden features this year.
I was especially fond of the waterfall in the Woodland Trust: Forgotten Forests Garden, which looked so natural.
‘Personally, for me, I couldn’t create a woodland without having a woodland stream,’ designer Ashleigh Aylett told me. ‘It kind of just brings that sound and movement into the garden, which I think is so important,’ designer Ashleigh Aylett told me.
‘It brings a whole new palette of plants that you can start to use, too, like those native marginals.’
That’s actually something else I spotted around water features like ponds: aquatic plants and reeds, which, as Ashleigh agrees, give us a larger scope of plants to play around with in the garden. You can order hard rush aquatic plants from Crocus, which produce fountain-like tufts of blue-green stems.
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3. Rich, bold tones
Another RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2026 trend I spotted was an abundance of rich oranges, yellows and burgundies in the gardens, reflecting the bold planting schemes experts anticipated earlier in the year.
One of my favourite Show Gardens was the Lady Garden Foundation ‘Silent No More’ Garden, in which the plants ‘reflect the Foundation’s bold mission and fearless spirit’. The planting starts subtly and lightly, but evolves into flowering plants with rich hues, like Salvia nemorosa ‘Caradonna Pink’ (you can order Salvia caradonna ‘Pink Inspiration’ from Marshalls Garden).
The Children’s Society Garden was another favourite of mine, showcasing the yellow blooms of plants like woad for pops of colour amongst its climate-resilient planting scheme. Speaking of which…
4. Climate-resilient planting
Echoing 2025, climate-resilient planting was another trend at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2026, with several Show Gardens showcasing drought-tolerant plants.
The Project Giving Back Garden, for example, offers ‘a glimpse of what UK gardens may look like in the near future,’ with plants that are resilient to the warm southern French climate. Common thyme (which you can buy from Crocus) is a classic Mediterranean plant that thrives in hot weather, and for trees, Acer monspessulanum was chosen for its adaptation to dry climates.
Beneath them, the planting is resilient and suited to the warm climate of southern France, offering a glimpse of what UK gardens may look like in the near future.
5. The garden as a retreat
Wild planting might have taken centre stage at this year’s RHS Chelsea Flower Show, but many of the Gardens were designed with tranquillity in mind, too.
In fact, a lot of them were designed as retreats – spaces that we can escape to and find solace in. I had two favourites: The Asthma and Lung UK Breathing Space Garden, which features therapeutic planting with calming greens and whites; and Parkinson’s UK – A Garden for Every Parkinson’s Journey, in which part of the garden is designed with white-flowering nighttime plants for those affected by insomnia.
The white foxgloves on display are absolutely stunning, and you can order Foxglove ‘Alba’ plants from Thompson & Morgan.
Add calming water features into the mix, and you can see how easy it is to create a relaxing outdoor space at home.
6. Planting for wildlife
Another perpetual garden trend, but one that seemed to be an even bigger focus this year, was planting with wildlife in mind. There was an emphasis on sharing our gardens with local fauna, and some of the balcony and container gardens really stood out as shining examples of ways you can cater to wildlife in small spaces.
The Hedgerow in the Sky – Tech Mahindra garden, for example, is inspired by British hedgerows, ‘blending layered planting, natural textures and wildlife-friendly design to show how even the smallest spaces can nurture biodiversity and beauty’. There are plants for bees, like hazel and red-leaved roses, as well as bird favourites like hawthorn.
So there you have it. This year’s RHS Chelsea Flower Show was packed with inspiration to make your garden more personal, practical and eco-friendly. And the ideas are totally achievable!
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