The Chelsea Flower Show is a place where gardeners and designers showcase their best ideas. Although the show gardens aim for perfection, which is rare in everyday gardens, visitors can still find inspiration to take home. Here are six main trends spotted at the 2025 event.
1. Rocks Take Center Stage
Rocks appeared everywhere in the gardens, in many shapes and sizes. Some looked natural, while others were clearly designed garden features. They served many purposes—seating, tables, birdbaths, pools, and decorative accents. Some rocks were real, others artificial but very realistic. The Red Cross’s “Here for Humanity” garden highlighted this trend with hexagonal stone planters arranged like the Giant’s Causeway. This garden, featuring alpine plants, won a gold medal.
2. Trees with a Story
Many gardens embraced an “urban forest” theme, focusing on multi-stem trees, especially river birches with their attractive peeling bark. Tom Massey’s gold-winning “AI” garden combined trees with technology. Each tree had a device that monitored growth, sap flow, and air quality. This garden showed how artificial intelligence can enhance a beautiful, layered garden.
3. Burgundy Shades Add Depth
Dark red and burgundy tones were popular for adding richness to borders. Jo Thompson’s gold-winning Glasshouse Garden featured roses, astrantias, and dark purple beech shrubs. Burgundy lupins, poppies, and alliums were also favorites among designers.
4. Japanese Garden Influence
Japanese-style gardens were a highlight, with Kazuyuki Ishihara’s “Cha No Niwa” winning both gold and best in show. This garden featured carefully raked stones and layered plantings inspired by ikebana, the Japanese art of flower arranging. Other smaller gardens also reflected Japanese themes, showing a clear admiration for this style.
5. Natural, Messy Paths and New Soil Ideas
Paths were often made from natural materials like hoggin, gravel, or sand, designed to look informal and well-used. Even paved areas had moss and creepers for an aged feel. A new trend in planting was the use of gravel and mineral mulches instead of traditional compost. Nigel Dunnett’s Hospitalfield Arts Garden used sand as the planting medium, with no compost at all, supporting drought-tolerant Mediterranean and coastal plants.
6. Water Features Get Creative
Rills, small streams, and waterfalls were popular water features, replacing traditional ponds. Designers included rain chains, dune pools, and even a seagrass pool with live oysters in Ryan McMahon’s “Seawilding” garden. These features added movement and sound, making gardens feel lively and fresh.
