Our favourite garden trends from the Chelsea Flower Show 2026
The RHS Chelsea Flower Show is the ultimate gardening event of the year, and we were very lucky to attend to meet up with some of the suppliers you know and love, and discover which trends we can expect to see more of in the coming months.
This year, the themes included innovation, nature landscapes, and the future, which gave us plenty of inspiration for gardens of every size. From scented roses to colourful borders and specialist houseplants, here’s some of our favourite trends from Chelsea 2026.
To achieve a RHS Chelsea Flower Show inspired garden these are our five top tips based on displays throughout the show:
Naturalistic planting – making the most of the rise of meadow scaping and rewilding to create a low maintenance garden.
Water features –a water feature an asset to wildlife in our gardens and also a calming way of creating a relaxing environment.
Cured forms – the use of curves help to soften the overall look of our gardens, creating a better flow through out outdoor space.
Uplifting colour palettes – this can be a thoughtful way of injecting joy into your garden wither its bright blue Delphiniums or rich purple alliums.
Cottage Garden – countryside gardens dominated this year’s show with a timeless approach to gardening, featuring statement cottage garden flowers such as hydrangeas, lupins, foxgloves and roses.
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Creating a garden with a soft colour palette
Blue, purple, and soft pink tones were everywhere at this year’s show gardens, particularly in planting displays.
We saw these intriguing colour combinations repeatedly throughout the show this year, with contrasts between purple allium heads and vibrant orange tones of Geum. With relaxing water displays nestled within the flowers, the planting combinations at this year’s show felt both relaxed, and architectural. Ornamental grasses remained central to these schemes, creating movement and texture for a relaxed atmosphere.
Plants like lupins, foxgloves, alliums, and salvias featured heavily across Chelsea, often paired with roses to create a layered, cottage-inspired planting display. These softer colour palettes work beautifully in gardens of all sizes, and area and are an easy way to create a relaxing outdoor living space at home.
For a Chelsea-inspired look, we’d recommend combining taller, structural plants like foxgloves and lupins with softer planting such as roses, salvias, and hardy geraniums.
Daffodils from Taylors at Chelsea
One of the standout displays of this year’s show came from our suppliers, Taylors Bulbs, who celebrated their 33rd Gold Medal win at Chelsea this year!
Known for their spectacular floral displays, Taylors created a more contemporary look by displaying daffodils in elegant glass vases rather than a traditional planting scheme, which meant we could see the varieties in different colours, shapes, and scents more clearly.
Some of the varieties included Tahiti, Binkie, Rainbow, Apotheose, and White Lion, all of which will be arriving in Dobbies stores this autumn, ready for spring-flowering next year!
David Austin Roses
The David Austin Roses stand was one of the stars of the Great Pavillion this year, filled with incredible scents and beautiful blooms.
One of the most talked about launches from the show was the Sir David Beckham Rose, which was unveiled at Chelsea this year. The rose was created to celebrate Sir David Beckham’s 50th birthday and features soft white petals with touches of blush and yellow, with every rose sold supporting the King’s Foundation.
You can find the Sir David Beckham Rose in selected Dobbies stores this week, but only while stocks last.
We also loved the Gabriel Oak, which had a strong, fruity fragrance and paired perfectly with the Eustacia Vye and Tottering-By-Gently. We’d recommend planting your roses with herbaceous plants such as lavender, geraniums, and salvias to elevate your display.
Practical gardening essentials in the spotlight
Alongside the planting inspiration, we caught up with Burgon & Ball, who showcased some must-have gardening tools and accessories for the season ahead.
One of our favourites was their colourful Kneelo garden kneelers, designed to make planting and weeding more comfortable while working in beds and borders. Their stainless-steel tool range was also a key highlight, offering durable tools for every gardening task.
They also launched their new Woodland Wonders Gardening Collection, and it was a true highlight to see this beautifully created range – which you’ll be able to find in Dobbies stores later this year.
With more people embracing gardening as part of their everyday wellbeing routine, we can expect to see more practical accessories that look good as well.
Houseplants for character and individuality
Houseplants continued to have a huge presence at Chelsea, with displays moving away from a formal uniformity to unusual and sculptural.
One of our favourite displays came from ‘An Ode to Endurance’ by Conservatory Archives Online, designed by Natalia Drezek and Jinhyun Ahn, which won Gold at this year’s show.
The stand focussed on rugged cacti and succulents in all shapes and sizes, displayed in warm terracotta pots to create a relaxed, earthy feel with a dramatic jungle-inspired display indoor.
Houseplants are some of our favourites as a nation, and we can see a shift towards displays that feel unique and full of personality. That’s why we’re excited that the succulent is our Houseplant of the Month for June!
Whether you have a large garden, a compact courtyard, or a small balcony, this year’s Chelsea Flower Show proved there are plenty of ways to create an outdoor display full of personality and inspiration. For more gardening tips, visit your local Dobbies where you can speak to a member of our friendly Green Team.