Lately, I’ve been musing on what is considered good taste in the garden.
One dictionary definition of good taste is ‘satisfying generally accepted social or aesthetic standards’, while bad taste is ‘something that is offensive and is inappropriate for the situation’. The Union of Beauty and Functionality.
Is Good Taste Really Universal?
And what has taste got to do with being On-Trend? Words used to describe On-Trend include fashionable, stylish, modern, and chic, which rather implies that anything that is currently in favour is good taste. I would beg to differ.
Surely Taste is purely subjective? Stereotypical Good Taste rather implies restraint and subtlety; The White Garden at Sissinghurst, box balls and neatly clipped lavender hedges, springs to mind. It’s not exactly challenging, is it? Dare I say boring even? Christopher Lloyd was the first renowned horticulturalist in my lifetime to push the boundaries and say To Hell with convention, when he ripped out his mother’s prized rose garden at Great Dixter in the 1970s, in favour of an exotic extravaganza. Known for its bold, clashing colours and daring plant combinations, no one would dare accuse the esteemed Christo of exhibiting poor taste.
Sustainability and the new definition of beauty
Annual bedding schemes, showcased by the elite as cutting-edge in the Victorian era, remain popular in public squares and gardens throughout the land, for their instant, high-impact colour. However, in recent years, there has been a seismic shift towards more sustainable, eco-friendly, and lower-maintenance alternatives. Local councils, keen to respond to national trends, are greening up public spaces. Increasing numbers of parks and squares are ‘rewilding’ patches of manicured lawn into wildflower meadows, growing pollinator-friendly flowers that will self-seed easily. Parks departments are replacing grass verges with hardy perennials and ornamental grasses, and retailers and cafes are funding pavement container installations to enhance the streetscape.
Opened this April, a two-acre disused plant nursery in Regent’s Park has been transformed into the Queen Elizabeth 11 Garden, to mark the anniversary of her 100th birthday. Recycled steel from the glasshouses has been repurposed to build a new pergola. The obsolete water tower has been converted into a public viewing platform. The scheme features drought-resistant and pollinator-friendly plants. Climate resilience is at the core of this garden.
So, is it just semantics? Swap outrageous for eccentric, and you’re considered a trend setter. Beyond the pale or pushing the boundaries? Justify your unconventional combinations as experimental, and you become avant-garde.
The Chelsea Flower Show
Why gardening trends mirror fashion trends
The Chelsea Flower Show is renowned worldwide for showcasing innovative garden design and extravagant floral displays. In many ways, it can be compared toLondon Fashion Week: cutting-edge creations that gradually filter down to the high street and ultimately into the domestic setting.
But who exactly decides that purple is the new black, or why last year’s flat pumps have conceded to this year’s kitten heels? Trend forecasting agencies spend millions on AI data modelling to predict trends, often years in advance. High-profile designers and celebrities, social media and influencers all drive trends. In recent years, the greatest influence in garden design and horticultural practice has been through the societal shift towards sustainability and biodiversity. Ultimately, though, popularity is dictated by the public.
Chelsea Show Garden 2018
Up until the 1970s, gardening was considered by the majority to be an elite hobby, but that was about to change: In 1972, influential designer John Brookes showcased his minimalist space-saving designs at the Chelsea Flower Show and kickstarted a national trend for socialising in the garden. And by 1979, the popular TV show ‘The Good Life’ sparked off a new gardening trend throughout the UK. Funny how growing fruit and veg on the allotment, once considered the preserve of the older generation, is now the ultimate go-to hobby of every aspiring young family in the land! The introduction of the prairie planting style by Dutch nurseryman Piet Oudolf in the late ‘90s was considered the pinnacle of good design. Groundbreaking at the time, now, nearly thirty years later, some form of ornamental grass is almost compulsory in your herbaceous border.
But why do some trends become passé while others remain timeless? James May’s Plasticine Garden of 2009 & Dermot Gavin’s Colourful Suburban Eden, with its sea of brightly coloured lollipops in 2004, caused quite a stir in the horticultural press during Chelsea Week, but somehow never caught on! However, as a nation of dog lovers, Monty Don’s Dog Garden in 2025 was a resounding success, heralding a more relaxed approach to gardening.
Chelsea’s naturalistic style
This May, the Royal Horticultural Society, keen to be relevant to the new generation of gardeners, has, for the second time in its history, lifted the ban on gnomes at Chelsea. The RHS is inviting celebrities to decorate gnomes to feature at the Flower Show, which will then be auctioned off to raise funds for the RHS Campaign for School Gardening. The initiative will be featured at The King’s Foundation Curious Garden, to ‘encourage everyone to be curious and have fun gardening.’ Previously considered ‘tacky’, organisers felt that gnomes disrupted the aesthetic, appearing ‘not in keeping’ with the show’s prestigious reputation. How times change! I dare say, the fact that King Charles keeps a gnome in his Stumpery at Highgrove, occasionally moving it around to surprise visitors and keep the staff on their toes, has served as validation for the RHS. In gardening, as in life, it doesn’t pay to take yourself too seriously!
Boxing Hares Chelsea 2018
Hanging baskets; now there’s a subject that divides opinion! Have you ever seen a hanging basket in a Chelsea Flower Show garden? No, I didn’t think so. I’m guessing that a single-flowered, perennial wildflower, in a sustainably sourced coconut shell, will win hands down in the taste stakes against a rattan basket crammed full of multicoloured, trailing annuals.
What the Chelsea Flower Show 2026 says about modern gardening
So, what’s in store for us at this year’s Chelsea? Key trends to look out for are foraging gardens, dark, gothic planting schemes, structural grasses, dramatic foliage, and climate-resilient shrubs. And this year’s colours? Purple and black!
