RHS Chelsea Flower Show

What makes the RHS Chelsea Flower Show so special?

RHS Chelsea Flower Show has been held for more than a century in the grounds of the Royal Hospital and is the pinnacle of garden design and horticulture, but why do we love it so much?

Campaign to protect Mother Nature
Mother Nature made her mark at RHS Chelsea in 2026

Internationally significant show

The RHS Chelsea Flower Show is the place to see cutting-edge garden design, new plants and find ideas to take home. It is an event which draws a truly global crowd and is the ‘haute couture’ of the international gardening scene. It is often seen as a once-in-a-lifetime experience, yet visitors flock back year after year and leave with memories and inspiration.

The RHS is the UK’s gardening charity and its objectives are to promote the art and science of horticulture. The RHS Chelsea Flower Show helps to raise funds to meet these objectives and your support is greatly appreciated.

Nothing like Chelsea

There are so many reasons to plan a visit to RHS Chelsea. It’s where specialist nurseries reveal new plants for the first time, top designers from around the world show off their astonishing creations, and fashion brands and manufacturers launch their latest lines at the trade stands.

And yet it is so much more than that – it is a place to revel and celebrate, to sip Champagne, to enjoy the finest dining experience or have a picnic in the shade. There is nothing else quite like Chelsea.

Guests at Chelsea Late
The RHS Chelsea Late is a special evening of entertainment at the show

Chelsea Pensioners with primary school children
The Chelsea Pensioners are much-loved guests at RHS Chelsea

A potted history

The RHS Chelsea Flower Show has been held in the grounds of the Royal Hospital Chelsea, London every year since 1913, apart from gaps during the two World Wars and during the pandemic in 2020.
 

Read about its history

Interesting facts about RHS Chelsea Flower Show

  • The RHS Chelsea Flower Show is organised by the Royal Horticultural Society, which was founded in 1804

  • The first show in Chelsea was held on May 20, 1913 and was known as the Great Spring Show, lasting three-days and held within a single marquee

  • In 1927 there was a campaign to get the RHS to ban foreign exhibits from RHS Chelsea to reduce competition with British firms. The RHS refused saying, ‘horticulture knows nothing of nationality’

  • In 1932 the rain at the Show was so severe that a summer house display fell to pieces. One very wet year an exhibitor named it ‘The Chelsea Shower Flow’

  • The Great Pavilion is roughly 11,775 square metres or 2.90 acres, enough room to park 500 London buses

  • In 2026 the RHS lifted the ban on gnomes for only the second time, to raise funds for the RHS Campaign for School Gardening. Celebrities including Sir Brian May, Dame Mary Berry and Cate Blanchett decorated gnomes and these were sold at auction, raising an astounding £20,352.

Get involved

The RHS is the UK’s gardening charity, helping people and plants to grow - nurturing a healthier, happier world, one person and one plant at a time.