Best New Garden Ideas – What RHS Chelsea 2026 Actually Means for Your Garden
RHS Chelsea 2026 has decisively moved away from perfect lawns, large ‘outdoor room’ expanses of new paving, plants that need to be cosseted and a constant battle with soil and climate.
Instead, the focus is on local. Work with what you already have: local conditions and native or resilient plants.
When it comes to hard landscaping and furniture, think traditional crafts and reclaimed, local or traditional materials.
Out go the fussy, high-maintenance choices. In come resilient plants that can cope with drought, coastal winds, urban heat and unpredictable weather — whatever challenge your own garden throws at you.
RHS Chelsea 2026 is the first one where native planting is central. Of course, native plants differ depending on where you live. But the principle is the same: work with your garden rather than trying to control it.
Soft, meadow-style planting in Baz Grainger’s garden for Killick & Co. It’s anchored by strong, clear structure – a contemporary pergola made of traditional straw bale construction and it uses rainwater reclamation to create habitats around the garden.
Planting schemes are looser, more textural and often self-seeding — the sort of naturalistic style that once might have been dismissed as “weeds”, but which now creates more resilient gardens and more wildlife habitat.
Here are the trends that stood out at RHS Chelsea 2026, and how you can use them in your own garden.
Natives and resilient planting – beautiful, wildlife-friendly and easier to manage
The two words around planting are ‘resilient’ and ‘native’. Self-seeing plants and easy care trees and shrubs make for more relaxed gardening.
However, it’s not the ‘plant only natives’ philosophy because irregular weather patterns mean that native plants can no longer be wholly relied on to sustain our – or your – wildlife.
One of the strongest themes at RHS Chelsea 2026 was a celebration of places that gardeners don’t usually admire: edgelands, pocket parks, brownfield sites, pavement plants and urban fringes.
The message is clear: we should cherish pockets of wildness not try to tidy them away. I saw buttercups, cow parsley (lots of it) and plantains (Plantago/ribwort), all UK natives usually considered weeds.
Sarah Eberle’s Garden for the Campaign to Protect Rural England focused on native plants and species many gardeners once regarded as weeds. Rather than fighting nature, it embraced the idea of collaborating with it.
Sarah Eberle focused on UK native and locally adapted plants and local materials for the Campaign to Protect Rural England garden. The sculpture is a ‘fallen tree’ carved into a guardian. A strong shape helps add structure to a wilder looking garden.
Arit Anderson’s Parkinson’s garden also had a 70% proportion of UK native or locally adapted resilient plants.
Every garden would benefit from an increase in your native plants – but you don’t have to go as far as ‘natives only’ as these resilient plants have lots to offer nature and our gardens too.
For example, honesty (Lunaria annua) was in many show gardens for the first time. It naturalised here from Europe in the 16th century and is valuable to our pollinators.
Its purple flowers in early summer turn to fleshy pods and then beautiful transparent coins, beloved of flower arrangers.
Even a balcony can major on native and wildlife-friendly species. This ‘Hedgerow in the Sky’ by Sarah Mayfield and Monica Greenhough for Tech Mahindra has a mixed native hedge in containers to show how even a small urban space can help wildlife.
The broader message running through Chelsea this year seemed to be: Stop fighting your site and start listening to it:
- Edit self-seeders rather than removing them completely
- Notice what thrives naturally — it may be revealing your garden’s character
- Mix native plants with climate-resilient near-natives
- Leave some looser, less managed areas for wildlife
Climate-resilient plants and lower-input gardening
Many gardens focused on plants that can cope with extremes — dry conditions, wind exposure, urban heat or changing weather patterns.
The Eden Project Bring Me Sunshine Garden by Harry Holding and Alex Michaelis used coastal meadow planting, including salt-tolerant species, such as sea buckthorn and saltbush.
Meanwhile Tom Stuart-Smith’s Tate Britain Garden relied heavily on bold foliage and drought-tolerant, shade-loving foliage plants including Farfugium (the tractor seat plant) .
Lots of ornamental grasses in the planting increase the meadow feel – but this look is naturalistic not wild. Grasses are now a standard in ornamental gardening appeared repeatedly throughout the show.
A meadow-like effect in the Eden Project garden, using coastal-adapted species, such as sea buckthorn and resilient plants.
How to use this at home: Choose plants suited to your particular conditions:
- dry shade
- hot sunny spots
- exposed sites
- heavy clay
Loose planting needs strong structure – wild but not messy
Naturalistic planting was everywhere at RHS Chelsea 2026, but it was prevented from looking messy by the addition of strong focal points. In a small space (and show gardens are small) soft, meadow-like planting looks best when contrasted with something strong anchoring it.
A major theme at RHS Chelsea 2026 – how to anchor the more relaxed planting: The King’s Foundation Garden anchored relaxed, colourful planting with a large urn. The shelter is built by craftsmen and also creates a distinctive focal point.
A delightfully ancient tree and a pot anchor the planting in another part of the RHS King’s Foundation Garden.
To use this at home, add one strong element, especially in a small garden:
- a sculpture
- an urn
- a pergola (see later on in this post!)
- a boulder
- a reclaimed bench
- an architectural feature such as a rock wall
Sarah Eberle’s CPRE On the Edge Garden used a fallen tree sculpted into a guardian figure alongside a drystone wall.
The Eden Project Garden used a dramatic curved solar structure.
Baz Grainger’s A Seed in Time Garden combined soft wetland planting with striking straw-bale architecture.
Catherine MacDonald’s Boodles Garden paired rich planting with a strong pavilion structure.
Low-carbon, local and reclaimed materials dominate at RHS Chelsea 2026
Chelsea’s hard landscaping and garden furniture was less polished and more individual this year.
Reclaimed materials appeared repeatedly:
- reused stone
- brick
- timber
- gravel
- local materials
The message is that large expanses of shiny new paving prevent rainfall from soaking into the soil, causing flash flooding and even damp problems for your own home if it’s not laid properly.
Permeable surfaces and softer transitions between paving and planting appeared instead.
Tom Stuart-Smith’s Tate Britain Garden reused existing paving and reclaimed stone.
The Eden Project Garden explored shell-based materials and cement-free construction. Designed by Harry Holding and Alex Michaelis.
Baz Grainger’s Killick & Co garden used reed and straw-bale walls to create a very contemporary looking sheltered seating area..
Darren Hawkes’ Silent No More Garden was designed so almost every element could be reused.
Patricia Clarke’s Children’s Society Garden incorporated reclaimed corrugated iron and many other materials, as well as locally crafted seating.
There was also an intriguing reddish-brown mulch appearing in several gardens, including the RHS King’s Foundation Garden by Frances Tophill, apparently made from topsoil, peat-free compost and biochar, though details were difficult to find.
Recycled garden furniture in the RHS Kings Foundation garden by Frances Tophill. Note the interesting garden surface – it’s a soil type mulch that can be walked on. The white flowers are cow parsley (Anthriscus sylvestris) and they were everywhere at RHS Chelsea 2026. Ten years ago, they would have been considered weeds.
How to use this at home
- Reduce hard paving where possible – and where it’s safe to do so, don’t seal the area between pavers with cement-based mortars. Make sure that water can drain away into the earth.
- Break up terraces with planting
- Choose permeable materials, especially if they’re local or a by-product, such as the shell based gravels.
- Look for reclaimed stone, brick or timber.
It all adds up to making your garden more individual and more of a reflection of your local area or interests.
There are more reclaimed ideas from garden shows here.
Water becomes functional as well as beautiful
Water at RHS Chelsea 2026 wasn’t simply decorative.Rills appeared in several gardens — narrow channels of running water that can harvest water or simply keep water moving.
It was used for:
- wildlife
- rainwater harvesting
- therapy
- sound
- cooling
- reflection
Rills were the big new feature of the show, appearing in several gardens. They are narrow channels of running water that can harvest water or simply keep water moving.
A rill in The Tate Garden by Tom Stuart Smith. The path and bench are made of reclaimed materials and the narrow rill curves through. Not sure what it will be like for people in high heels.
Perhaps the most inventive use of water was the handrail-rill in Arit Anderson’s Parkinson’s Garden, combining support, movement and sound.
Baz Grainger’s show garden for Killick & Co featured a variety of different habitats, recycled rainwater and low level wildlife-friendly lighting. Also note the simple gravel path, which will drain in heavy rain.
The Asthma + Lung UK Breathing Garden used water for calm and sensory wellbeing.
How to use this at home
- a micro pond
- a reflective bowl
- a water chain
- a small rill
- a wildlife dish
See how to create a container pond and how to make a mini wildlife pond from an oak barrel.
And for full-size ponds and water features, see 11 ideas from the best garden ponds I’ve seen.
Pergolas, gazebos and garden shelters at RHS Chelsea 2026
Show gardens may be fantasy spaces, but they’re also small, which means many of their ideas translate well. One of the best for RHS Chelsea 2026 is ‘Make your pergola or shelter special.’
Innovative garden structures, often showcasing local crafts and materials, provided a brilliant focal point for small spaces.
Catherine MacDonald’s Boodles Garden created a decorative pavilion and Darren Hawkes’ Silent No More garden had sheltered seating that looks like sculpture – somewhere to sit and also anchoring the planting.
Baz Grainger’s A Seed in Time used straw-bale walls to create a contemporary shelter.
Kazuyuki Ishihara used a Japanese Tokonoma – a place to contemplate
- The Eden Project Garden featured a solar-powered shelter
- Arit Anderson’s Parkinson’s Garden included a wide arch with seating
There was also a noticeable Japanese influence running through several gardens.
Multi-stem trees for small spaces
If there’s one thing that show gardens like RHS Chelsea 2026 teach us, it’s that multi-stem trees work very well in small spaces.
- Tate Britain
- Arit Anderson’s Parkinson’s Garden
- Baz Grainger’s garden
- the Eden Project Garden
They’re especially useful in smaller gardens because they look elegant, create layers and generally stay smaller than single-stem trees.
Multi-stemmed trees in the CPRE garden by Sarah Eberle.
New for RHS Chelsea 2026 – night-time or evening gardens
Don’t just think about your garden in the day time. Make the most of it in the evening and night.
This theme is about making your garden work for night-time pollinators and bats.
The Bat Conservation Trust’s Nocturnal Garden focused on nigh-scented plants, night pollinators and restrained lighting.
Arit Anderson’s Garden also included night planting ideas.
The message wasn’t ‘add more lighting’.
It was ‘use lighting carefully, discreetly and with wildlife in mind.’
Pin to remember RHS Chelsea 2026
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