RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2022: full list of medal-winning gardens revealed

Unusual plants and container gardens are highlights from this year’s medal-winning designs.
Dannahue Clarke and Tayshan Hayden-Smith collected the silver gilt for Grow2Know’s Hands Off Mangrove garden
Lucy Young
George Hudson25 May 2022

It’s all gone a bit wild at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show this year.

The judges have this morning announced which of the 38 gardens have won their golden seal of approval, and which ones fell short of full marks.

Gardens are judged against the brief submitted by the garden designers more than a year ago, along with the quality of the construction, plants and the overall atmosphere of the garden, and ranked from gold to bronze.

Rewilding, climate and reacquainting ourselves with nature are the themes that shine through this year.

Chelsea first-timers win big

These debut Chelsea designers have been awarded the prestigious gold medal for their gardens.

Giving permission to garden more freely, and highlighting the beauty of the natural environment, Lulu Urquhart and Adam Hunt’s A Rewilding Britain Landscape has also secured gold — and the overall Best in Show prize.

The garden is a microcosm of the natural world, from meadow to brook, and uses only native plants. Mounds of great tussock sedge (Carex paniculata) give way to meadow and wetland planting, whilst willows grow by the waters edge. It’s located on Main Avenue at the show this week.

Best in show: Lulu Urquhart and Adam Hunt with their rewilding garden
Lucy Young

The Wilderness Foundation garden by Charlie Hawkes, in the all about plants category, captures the atmosphere of a Japanese woodland.

A narrow path clad with charred timber zigzags past huge moss covered stones, under a canopy of Zelkova and Maackia trees, encouraging reflection on the unusual plants found on a forest floor.

The garden is located in the Great Pavilion. After the show it will be installed at a south London school.

Jamie Butterworth’s Place2Be Sanctuary garden offers a space in which children feel safe and are able to talk.

The sunken garden is surrounded by Cornus, Parrotia and Carpinus trees that provide a quiet and shaded space where two hand carved benches sit. The garden has a wild touch, using Geranium phaeum and masses of white valerian.

It’s located on Royal Hospital Way. After the show the garden will be moved to Viking Primary school in west London.

Plants for the future

There is no doubt that plants come front and centre of design at the show this year, for a flower show this sounds highly unusual but it hasn’t always been the case.

Winning gold for gardens that are using unusual plants at Chelsea this year include Sarah Eberle’s Medite Smart Ply, Building the Future Garden. As you enter the showground a striking cave like structure topped with a contorted pine tree is surrounded by thick conifers and future proof naturalistic planting combinations.

Big leaf tetrapanax meets honey spurge (Euphorbia mellifera) all plants that have proven to enjoy London’s warming climate. It’s located on Main Avenue.

Unusual planting: Sarah Eberle’sMedite Smart Ply, Building the Future Garden
George Hudson

Designed as a section of a long narrow London garden, Kate Gould’s Out of the Shadows garden progresses from sun loving mediterranean planting, to shadier jungle planting under the canopy of tree ferns and exercise bars.

As temperatures in our cities rise, so do the planting opportunities. Gould has taken full advantage to express what is and might be possible with plants such as Alocasia zebrina and the peruvian pepper tree, Schinus molle. Located on Royal Hospital Way.

City Spaces

After the success of the Balcony Garden category in September, this year sees the addition of the Container Garden category, acknowledging that show stopping gardens can be created even in a small amount of space.

The silver gilt-winning Cirrus Garden, designed by Jason Williams maximises the space by growing upwards, growing food, plants for pollinators and using grasses to soften the impact of the prevailing wind.

The silver gilt-winning Cirrus Garden, designed by Jason Williams, maximises space by growing plants upwards
George Hudson

And gold-winning container garden The Still Garden designed by Jane Porter, puts a modern take on the classic barrel planter. The moody space uses reclaimed whiskey barrels packed full of foliage plants and splashes of white, peach and purple, set against a grey slate wall.

RHS Chelsea Flower Show winners in full

Show Gardens

A Rewilding Britain Landscape

Designers: Lulu Urquhart and Adam Hunt

Medal: Gold

Alder Hey Urban Foraging Station

Designers: Howard and Hugh Miller

Medal: Silver gilt

Brewin Dolphin Garden

Designer: Paul Hervey-Brookes

Medal: Silver

Hands off Mangrove by Grow2Know

Designer: Tayshan Hayden-Smith and Danny Clarke

Medal: Silver gilt

Medite Smart Ply Building the Future Garden

Designer: Sarah Eberle

Medal: Gold

Morris & Co.

Designer: Ruth Wilmot

Medal: Gold

The Meta Garden: Growing the Future

Designer: Joe Perkins

Medal: Gold

The Mind Garden

Designer: Andy Sturgeon

Medal: Gold

The New Blue Peter Garden - Discover Soil

Designer: Juliet Sargent

Medal: Silver Gilt

The Perennial Garden ‘With Love’

Designer: Richard Miers

Medal: Silver

The RAF Benevolent Fund Garden

Designer: John Everiss

Medal: Silver

The RNLI Garden

Designer: Chris Beardshaw

Medal: Gold

The St Mungo’s Putting Down Roots Garden

Designer: Cityscapes (Darryl Moore and Adolfo Harrison)

Medal: Silver

Sanctuary Gardens

A Garden Sanctuary by Hamptons

Designer: Tony Woods

Medal: Gold

A Swiss Sanctuary

Designer: Lilly Gomm

Medal: Bronze

Connected, by Exante

Designer: Taina Suonio

Medal: Silver Gilt

Kingston Maurward The Space Within Garden

Designer: Michelle Brown

Medal: Silver Gilt

Out of the Shadows

Designer: Kate Gould

Medal: Gold

The Body Shop Garden

Designer: Jennifer Hirsch

Medal: Silver Gilt

The Boodles Travel Garden

Designer: Thomas Holbyn

Medal: Gold

The Place2Be Securing Tomorrow Garden

Designer: Jamie Butterworth

Medal: Gold

The Plantman’s Ice Garden

Designer: John Warland

Medal: Silver Gilt

The SSAFA Garden

Designer: Amanda Waring

Medal: Silver

The Stitcher’s Garden

Designer: Frederic Whyte

Medal: Silver

All About Plants

A Textile Garden for a Fashion Revolution

Designer: Lottie Deamain

Medal: Silver Gilt

The Core Arts Front Garden Revolution

Designer: Andy Smith-Williams

Medal: Gold

The Mother of Mothers Garden - ‘This too Shall Pass’

Designer: Pollyanna Wilkinson

Medal: Silver

The Wilderness Foundation UK Garden

Designer: Charlie Hawkes

Medal: Gold

Balcony Gardens

Jay Day

Designer: Flock Party (Alison Orellana Malouf, Su-Yeon Angela Choi)

Medal: Bronze

The Blue Garden

Designer: Tom Wilkes-Rios

Medal: Silver

The Cirrus Garden

Designer: Jason Williams

Medal: Silver Gilt

The Potting Balcony Garden Sponsored by Viking

Designer: William Murray

Medal: Silver Gilt

Container Gardens

A Mediterranean Reflection

Designer: Tanya K Wilson and Johanna Norlin

Medal: Silver

Mandala, Meditation and Mindfulness Garden

Designer: Nikki Hollier

Medal: Silver

The Enchanted Rain Garden

Designer: Bea Tann

Medal: Silver Gilt

The Still Garden

Designer: Jane Porter

Medal: Gold

The Wild Kitchen Garden

Designer: Ann Treneman

Medal: Silver Gilt

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