The Royal Horticultural Society has unveiled the line-up for next year’s Chelsea Flower Show, with designs offering “hope and resilience”, as research from the charity reveals stark disparities across the UK in access to green spaces.
The RHS announced 13 new show gardens for 2026 exploring the importance of how nature can nurture wellbeing and community, from tranquil spaces supporting those living with chronic illness to gardens empowering young people to “build brighter futures”.
Among the highlights is Parkinson’s UK’s “A garden for every Parkinson’s journey”, designed by Arit Anderson, for those supporting people with the condition, which has uplifting jewel-toned planting.
The Lady Garden Foundation’s “Silent no more” by Darren Hawkes raises awareness of gynaecological cancers through five sculptures set among shifting tones of colour, while the Asthma + Lung UK’s “Breathing space garden” by Angus Thompson offers a tranquil woodland setting anchored by pine trees to offer a sheltered space for breath-supporting therapies.
The Lady Garden Foundation’s “Silent no more”
“Breathing space garden” from Asthma + Lung UK
Helena Pettit, the RHS director of shows, said: “This year our amazing RHS Chelsea Flower Show gardens demonstrate the transformative benefits of gardens and gardening. They take a re-energised and uplifting approach to creating special places that highlight hope and resilience and where everyone can feel the restorative power of plants and wildlife.”
The Eden Project’s “Bring me sunshine garden” champions youth empowerment, with a solar-powered shelter for young people learning horticulture, in salt-tolerant planting inspired by Morecambe Bay.
“Bring me sunshine garden” from the Eden Project
The Children’s Society garden by Patrick Clarke draws on the Japanese concept of wabi-sabi, an aesthetic that finds beauty in imperfection, using reclaimed materials to symbolise resilience and optimism.
The Children’s Society garden by Patrick Clarke
Other gardens will champion biodiversity and climate resilience, including the Campaign to Protect Rural England’s “On the edge garden” and the law company Addleshaw Goddard’s “Flourish in the City garden”, which celebrates London’s identity as the world’s first National Park City.
The Campaign to Protect Rural England’s “On the Edge”
The announcement coincides with the RHS’s “state of gardening” report, which is the first mapping by artificial intelligence of the UK’s gardens. It reveals stark inequalities in access to green space. It also shows that nearly half of garden space is paved over.
Researchers from the RHS and the AI mapping company Gentian plotted gardens amounting to 959,800 hectares, or 4.6 per cent of the total UK land area. It found that 42 per cent of domestic garden space was paved over: 55 per cent of front garden space and 36 per cent of back garden space.
The RHS is calling for “space to grow” to be guaranteed in all new housing developments and for green infrastructure to be protected in planning policy. It is also urging homeowners to use permeable paving to reduce flood risk, and for councils to prioritise climate-resistant tree species.
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Clare Matterson, the director-general at the RHS, said: “Gardens are the most important touchstone to nature, fostering an active engagement in and understanding of plants and wildlife. That there isn’t equality in access to growing space in the UK reinforces the need to shore up garden provision in the 1.5 million new homes promised by the government and this parliament.
“It also demonstrates the need to ring-fence space and increase support and funding for the community growing spaces that should be considered an infrastructural basic.
“For too long, the reach, impact and potential of gardens has been largely overlooked. Understanding the who, what, where and why of gardening is a crucial step in the RHS, [its] partners and local and national government helping to build more resilient and sustainable places.”
The Chelsea Flower show will return to the Royal Hospital Chelsea grounds from May 19-23.
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