Chelsea Flower Show 2026 - a bit dull?

[LoserWinner]

I try to do the CFS every year, and I’ve been musing about this year’s offering. Despite all the usual TV hype, I found it all rather unexciting this year. There’s obviously the most amazing level of skill and design genius, but almost all the show gardens, and all but one of the balcony gardens were mostly “fluffy” planting in very muted colour schemes, mainly with rather worthy themes. I wonder if this is a reflection of the general mood in the country, the current fashion, or something else? The mood was quite different in the pavilion, where the displays were mainly full of colour and imagination.

I have my first visit tomorrow ?? I’m excited please don’t tell me it is dull!!!!! Argh

Hey, it’s the Chelsea Flower Show. It’s only, in my opinion, a little duller than in previous years. It’s still wonderful. For a pop of colour, do visit the Seasalt Painted garden in the balcony gardens section!

Yes I would agree. The show gardens weren’t very inspiring. While I appreciate the agenda pushing for biodiversity and sustainability, this year it felt like it came at the expense of beauty. The gardens seemed a bit austere, lots of bare earth, and repetitive planting. It’s funny how alliums were everywhere for about 15 years, now it’s geums, grasses and wildflowers.

@Daybydayhouri still had a great day though!

Gardens go through fashions like anything else. We don’t seem to have had much change for quite a while now. I personally like the muted colours but it would be good to see more variety. I think the reality is however that everyone is trying to adapt to our changing climate and give people sustainable themes.

I’m not a fan of big, blousy colourful blooms, so I’m in heaven.

It’s the sameness of so many of the displays that struck me. I like big and small, blousy and modest, colourful and muted. One of the things I have enjoyed in the past at Chelsea is the sheer variety, and this year, there doesn’t seem to be as much variety when it comes to the show gardens and most of the balcony gardens.

Yeah fair enough

It was exactly the same last year - the same plants in every garden and honestly underwhelming.

I have just been to my first show. It was hot and overcrowded. I also found the gardens very samey and thought with the crowds and nowhere to sit down in the heat, I rather pop down my local garden centre.

I can only afford to go every few years, so have to rely on the tv coverage.

Enough with the garden designers, and the endless banal chit-chat interviews, and the celebrities with a sudden interest in gardening please, and just get the bloody camera crew to walk round the entire place and show us the displays.

Yes I thought Main Ave was all very samey in terms of planting but I spent HOURS in the pavilion. Absolute bliss viewing all the special collections!

Yes, I agree. I think the pavilion was fabulous. Did you see the Grenada stand? But they were all lovely.

Well I have to say I don’t think it was worth the money. Huge crowds and couldn’t get into any show gardens - all roped off and I’m short - are you just supposed to stand at the ropes you can’t physically go in the show gardens !!!! Argh. Very disappointed to be honest. Did buy a nice plant though!

Interesting article in one of the gardening publications saying gardeners are getting pissed off with the celebrity worship and huge crowds which mean you can’t actually see anything,

personally I think Hampton court is far better. More space and fewer people.

Apart from Sarah Eberle’s garden there were no dramatic features. I always love the Japanese garden but disappointed to see that awarded a silver gilt rather than the gold as IMO it was perfection.

I used to enjoy the tv coverage but I’m not interested in what celebrities think about gardens. I’ve only seen a clip of France Tophill, Charles, Beckham and Titchmarsh ‘planning’ which was enough to know it’s going to be very cringe.

Many of the balcony and container gardens were lovely. I particularly liked the Alzheimer’s and Flood Re gardens. In contrast the sightsavers container garden was awful, irregular planters made from sharp abrasive engineers brick are pretty much the worst possible choice for people with sight loss and for everyone else the brick planters were ugly and dominated. Whilst they claimed to have focussed on scent none was perceptible and I’m not convinced their ‘wheelchair turning circle’ would actually let you manoeuvre someone in a turning circle around without banging into the sharp edged planters, it certainly wasn’t suitable to guide someone with sight loss. It looked like a builder had bricks left over and thought they’d use them up.

Chelsea is always too crowded. The pavilion is, I agree, the best bit. The businesses are fascinating.

Show gardens are always a bit samey because of the plants available in the year. I also get increasingly annoyed at how artificial the planting is: you couldn’t sustain these displays in real life.