Chelsea Flower Show: All 36 Gardens & Winners (People's Choice, Gold)

From inspirational Show Gardens to Balcony & Container gardens championing small spaces...

There were 36 gardens at this year's Chelsea Flower Show, many of which offered plenty of inspiration and take-home ideas for our own outdoor spaces.

The world's most prestigious gardening event, held on the grounds of the Royal Hospital Chelsea, had an array of gardens which delight, inspire and educate. This year there were 12 Show Gardens, seven Sanctuary Gardens, four Balcony Gardens, five Container Gardens, six All About Plants gardens and two Feature Gardens.

From changing the conversation about garden weeds, to drought-tolerant planting to edimentals, there were some common themes running throughout the gardens this year. There was also a strong focus once again on sustainability – eco credentials are now a key criteria when judging – and mental health, with wellbeing and accessibility also at the forefront. And while the balcony and container gardens championed small outdoor spaces, All About Plants (held inside the Great Pavilion), interpreted the positive powers of plants.

But which garden design won Gold, Best in Show and the People's Choice award? After undergoing a rigorous judging process, RHS judges awarded garden designers with medals (Gold, Silver-Gilt, Silver and Bronze) on the official opening day, and the People's Choice winners were announced at the end of the week.

Best Show Garden People's Choice winner: Myeloma UK - A Life Worth Living Garden designed by Chris Beardshaw

Best Balcony / Container Garden People's Choice winner: Feels Like Home designed by Rosemary Coldstream

Best Sanctuary / All About Plants Garden People's Choice winner: The School Food Matters Garden designed by Harry Holding

Best Show Garden: Horatio's Garden designed by Charlotte Harris and Hugo Bugg

Best Construction Award (Show Garden): The Centrepoint Garden designed by Cleve West, built by Crocus

Best Sanctuary Garden: The National Brain Appeal's Rare Space designed by Charlie Hawkes

Best Construction Award (Sanctuary Garden): The National Brain Appeal's Rare Space designed by Charlie Hawkes, built by Landscape Associates Ltd

Best Balcony & Container Garden: Feels Like Home designed by Rosemary Coldstream

Best All About Plants Garden: The Talitha Arts Garden designed by Joe and Laura Carey.

Take a look at the winners and this year's gardens below...

Feature Garden | Award: N/A, not judged

A fiery colour palette of orange and pink is inspired by garden designer Manoj's Indian heritage in this uplifting garden. Accessibility (there are bright posts with sentences in braille) and sustainability (peat-free planting and reclaimed materials) are key to this garden design, which promotes community and inclusivity at its heart.

Read more: RHS Chelsea hosts first ever wedding as Manoj Malde gets married on garden

Feature Garden | Award: N/A, not judged

This secluded garden enclosed by hedging features plants favoured by the royal family, specifically King Charles III and the late Queen Elizabeth II, hence the pink, white, purple and blue planting scheme. Designed to celebrate the Coronation of King Charles, the garden also includes a bronze sculpture of the monarch.

Read more: All the royal tributes at RHS Chelsea

Show Garden | Award: Gold | People's Choice Award

A tranquil and meditative space, this garden by decorated RHS Chelsea designer Chris Beardshaw, celebrates the emotional and psychological health benefits of engaging with, and being immersed in, a garden of exquisite detail. It encourages those living with myeloma to pause, simply feel and be in the moment. Features include patterned planting, a calming water feature, intricate artworks, and planted woodland with two temples and multiple vistas.

'It's definitely a garden to be appreciated slowly,' says Chris. 'If there were a horticultural equivalent of slow food, this would be it.'

Show Garden | Award: Gold | Best Show Garden

This immersive, restorative garden is a place of sanctuary and hope with stone cairns set amid light, airy planting. This is the first garden at Chelsea designed with the requirements of people with mobility needs at its heart, and it embraces the mission of Horatio's Garden charity to create and nurture beautiful, accessible gardens in NHS spinal injuries centres.

Show Garden | Award: Gold | Best Construction Award

The central structure of this garden is a part-demolished, ruinous house, which has evolved over time as nature has taken over — it's a visceral metaphor for what it means to be young and homeless. The mixed planting includes so-called 'weeds' and a fallen tree, whilst the Pointillist style of the yew paintings on the back wall uses roughly 120,000 dots to highlight the number of homeless young people in the UK.

Show Garden | Award: Gold

This garden represents the medicinal herbal colony located in the eastern part of Jirisan, known as 'the mother mountain of Korea'. Rocks weighing more than 200 tonnes form a recreation of the mountain as they're layered along small streams, while the planting is based on native Korean species, such as the endangered Filipendula formosa Nakai. The surrounding trees, edibles and herbs are selected for their healing and medicinal properties.

Show Garden | Award: Gold

Taking inspiration from Cedric Morris' Benton End garden, which was known for its naturalistic design and breeding of at least 90 different Iris varieties, this garden focuses on Benton Iris and a wild planting palette, while straw-cob walls provide a backdrop to the plantings.

READ MORE: Monty Don praises 'calm, poised and incredibly elegant' Nurture Landscapes Garden

Show Garden | Award: Silver-Gilt

Another masterpiece from Chelsea legend Mark Gregory is the first working kitchen garden at Chelsea, adopting a plot-to-plate approach. Michelin green-starred chef Sam Buckley will be the chef in residence, foraging from the garden and cooking lunch for the Chelsea Pensioners. This horticultural and culinary collaboration showcases edimental planting, and aims to change the way we think about our gardens, as well as the way we eat and source our food.

Show Garden | Award: Silver-Gilt

A spiritual, uplifting, and inspiring space for reflection and contemplation, this garden is centred around opening up positive conversations about the end of life, encouraging people to discuss the often hard-to-broach topic of death and share their dying wishes with loved ones. It immerses visitors in the healing power of nature through thoughtful design, beautiful planting schemes and clever use of water and light.

Show Garden | Award: Silver-Gilt

This thought-provoking garden is inspired by the stories of people who found the courage to reach out to Samaritans in their darkest times. The front presents suspended concrete panels, spiny plants and a cracked pathway, but as you step through the garden it becomes calmer and more open, with a sunken level featuring a sculptural bench that allows two people to sit, talk, listen, and be heard.

Garden designer Darren, who is a Samaritans volunteer himself, says he has lost friends to suicide: 'I hope people who go to the show and have struggled with their mental health might look at the garden and immediately recognise something that isn't pretending life is perfect.'

Show Garden | Award: Silver-Gilt

This rich, diverse garden demonstrates the sharing of horticultural knowledge through the generations, and provides a space to relax, find restful moments and enjoy plants. It's centred around a young couple who, having drawn on the experience and expertise of their grandparents, create their ideals of longevity, biodiversity and habitat for the future.

Show Garden | Award: Silver-Gilt

This design highlights how valuable insects are in gardens, the wider UK landscape and the global environment with a unique insect eye-inspired outdoor laboratory. The lab's roof structure is inspired by a compound insect eye. During the week, the lab will be used for real scientific research, monitoring and studying insects visiting the garden.

Show Garden | Award: Silver

This garden depicts the Afromontane landscape of Central Africa and the fascinating habitat of the endangered mountain gorilla. It maps the journey of an ecotourist on a gorilla trek, tracing a rough track through changing landscapes, eventually leading to a gorilla nest – all set amongst bamboo and a towering five-metre high waterfall.

Show Garden | Award: Silver

This urban community garden celebrates the relationship between authentic connections with nature and mental health. The garden uses crushed site waste as aggregates producing a wealth of wildflowers, grasses and hardy shrubs, as well as sand piles and habitat layers for wildlife. At the heart of the garden is a 'mushroom den' made from a reclaimed steel-clad shipping container.

Sanctuary Garden | Award: Gold | Best Sanctuary Garden and Best Construction Award

Designed to be enjoyed by people living with rare forms of dementia, particularly visual and spacial forms of the condition, this garden offers a balance between exploration and calm navigation. Highlights include a textured path, brightly coloured seating areas, sheltered spaces that promote independent wayfinding and soothing water features to enhance the restful environment.

Sanctuary Garden | Award: Gold

Inspired by the Doddington Estate in Battersea – a green oasis tucked between tower blocks with trees, shrubs, perennials and edibles – this garden is centred around bringing together a community where people can meet, relax, share food and connect with nature. There's a pergola with an outdoor kitchen, a big communal table with chess and draughts and colourful recycled chairs repurposed by The Repair Shop's Jay Blades.

Sanctuary Garden | Award: Gold

In Japan, a 'hanare' is a small house separated from the main building. Here, the hanare is considered a place of healing. Wonderfully, light and shade streams through the lattice and the sound of the waterfall surrounds the hanare. Created from a biophilic concept, a direct connection with nature can be felt while spending time inside the building.

Sanctuary Garden | Award: Silver-Gilt

Alfresco dining comes to Chelsea with this contemporary outdoor living space reminiscent of the look, feel and smell of sunny Mediterranean landscapes. While an outdoor kitchen is the focus here, there's a wonderful palette of Mediterranean plants such as clouds of scented shrubs, aromatic herbs and drought-tolerant ornamental perennials.

Olivia Heath is the Executive Digital Editor at House Beautiful UK, covering tomorrow's biggest interior design trends and revealing the best tips, tricks and hacks to help you decorate your home like a pro. Week by week Olivia shares the most stylish high street buys to help you get the look for less and showcases the best real homes, from House Beautiful's One Room Renovation video series, to the hottest and most unique properties on the market.

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