‘Model’ gardens at RHS flower shows had modest beginnings – the first were small rock gardens mounted on the top of tables within the show tent at the flower shows that pre-dated Chelsea. They gradually outgrew this format and relocated outside. Today the show gardens, associated with big name designers and even bigger budgets, are the feature of the Chelsea flower show that attracts the most media and public attention. Over the years the quality and ambition of the show gardens has been taken as a barometer of the health of garden design and even horticulture as a whole – despite the fact that they bear as much resemblance to real gardens as Michelin-starred restaurant food does to home cooking. Nevertheless, show gardens do reflect and shape horticultural trends and garden design.

Read on to see our pick of the ten most influential RHS Chelsea show gardens since the show began in 1913.

This was the first garden to win a Gold Medal at Chelsea and represents the dominance of rock gardens in the early shows. John Wood owned a nursery specialising in alpine plants in Boston Spa near Leeds. This garden was admired because, unlike many earlier rock gardens, it attempted to accurately reflect the natural appearance of Yorkshire limestone in the landscape.

John Wood’s dedication to realism was so great that the next year he attempted to include two live mountain goats in his show garden. The RHS responded with a ‘no livestock’ rule, a rule which stands to this day.

This garden is typical of the type of formal garden that was popular well into the 1960s. It was designed to commemorate the role of commercial shipping in the Empire and featured an upended boat and conch shells.

Beyond these themed features, the blowsy azaleas and regimented display bedding were very conventional and would have been recognised and appreciated by countless suburban gardeners. Like many show gardens of this period, the emphasis was on the immaculate presentation of the plants rather than innovative design.

This was the garden that brought modernism to Chelsea and influential in promoting concept of architectural planting. John Brookes won a competition run by the Institute of landscape Architects to design a garden for Chelsea that would introduce more modern styles to the show.

His clean-lined garden featured a layout of interlocking squares, an L-shaped pool and a concrete pergola. It also popularised the idea of what was to become known as ‘architectural planting’, using large plants with striking foliage.

This was the first time that a garden designer was given a credit alongside show sponsor and marks the beginning of the rise of the profile of garden designers in the show. Famous designers had created gardens at Chelsea for decades, but in many cases their names did not appear in the catalogue – unless they financed the garden themselves to publicise their firm. This garden paved the way for designers to be given equal billing with the garden sponsor and now garden designers are the ‘stars’ of the show, enjoying a great deal of media attention.

This garden was noteworthy for its naturalistic planting and scene setting, replicating a strip of coastal vegetation complete with thistles, brambles and ragwort. Today we are used to gardens that mimic natural landscapes and habitats but it was controversial at the time, stretching the idea of what was a ‘garden’.

When it was awarded ‘Best in Show’ there were calls for the exclusion or at least the creation of a special category for displays that were not ‘real gardens’.

This garden was awarded Best in Show and was a highly influential mix of old and new. It was a modern reinterpretation of a traditional Islamic enclosed garden. Highly architectural, the garden created a clear, calm space for very precise planting, dominated by old roses, inter-planted with grasses.

Christopher Bradley-Hole designed a series of Chelsea gardens which married a modernist sensibility with detailed research into historic planting and global gardening traditions.

This garden represents the many Chelsea gardens designed with an explicit social message in mind. With its global media coverage, Chelsea is seen by many charities as a highly effective stage for getting their message across. Garden designers have used their skill and imagination to convey complex and sometimes challenging concepts in three dimensions.

This garden, which won a Gold medal, featured entwined sculptures made of steam-bent oak, which linked the different elements of the garden. It was inspired by the concept of ‘togetherness’ which was at the heart of the Cancer Research UK message, ‘Together we will beat cancer’.

It was not until the late 20th century that sustainability came to the forefront in the design and construction of show gardens. This garden was designer Nigel Dunnett’s first Chelsea garden. ‘Future Nature’ was a demonstration garden, with themes of rainwater management, biodiversity, urban nature and ecology, reclaimed materials, climate-change adaptation, and diverse plantings for pollinators. 

The garden revolved around a 4 metre tall habitat tower, filled on two sides with reclaimed and waste materials to form bug hotels and invertebrate homes, and on the other two sides with planted living walls. These themes and features are now regularly seen in show gardens. The fact that more and more gardens are now relocated in whole or in part after the show also helps address the need for more sustainability.

Diarmuid Gavin has had a love-hate relationship with Chelsea. His 9 gardens to date have not always attracted critical acclaim or gold medals. However this garden, a 24m tower made of scaffolding with different garden designs on each level, exemplifies a sense of showmanship that ensures the Chelsea Flower Show continues to attract attention beyond the world of horticulture. This type of garden is tailor-made for publicity stunts and photo-opportunities.

The RHS sponsors its own gardens at the Chelsea Flower Show, often with the aim of making a specific point about the value of gardens and gardening. This garden is interesting because it aimed to demonstrate how gardens can be designed to promote health and wellbeing, a major research theme for RHS science.

The garden was also the first design borne from the partnership between the RHS and the NHS to promote the wellbeing benefits of gardens. The ongoing partnership will see Chelsea gardens relocated to an NHS trust after the show is over, with trusts up and down the country entering a competition to win a garden.