Stars have been showing off the gnomes they have decorated for charity as celebrities and royals get a sneak preview of this year’s Chelsea Flower Show.
The annual Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) event at the Royal Hospital Chelsea this year features show gardens containing everything from a Barbara Hepworth sculpture to a huge wooden carving of a Mother Nature figure from a fallen mature tree among the array of flowers and trees.
And – with the RHS lifting its Chelsea gnome ban for only the second time in the show’s history – visitors to the event can spot one or two of the cheery ornaments in displays such as the RHS and King’s Foundation Curious Garden, which aims to get people curious about gardening.
Queen guitarist Sir Brian May, comedian Bill Bailey, TV gardener Alan Titchmarsh and presenter Dame Floella Benjamin were among those who were showing off their gnomes – which are being auctioned for the RHS’s Campaign for School Gardening to help children access gardening.
Sir Brian said he decorated his “little generic gnome” by hanging a guitar around his neck and nicknamed it “Billy Badass”.
He said: “I’m rather proud of him really. I don’t really want to let him go.”
The guitarist, who has a couple of gnomes at home, also questioned the ban on them at the show.
“You’ve got to be very careful when you’re dictating people’s taste,” he said.
Earlier, Bailey said gnomes have been “much maligned”.
“The Romans had them as guardians of the dark, and to protect against malign spirits,” he said.
Asked if it took him a long time to decorate his gnome, comedian Tom Allen said: “Oh, ages.”
“Mine’s got a suit and tie on, which I don’t think they normally wear. He doesn’t have any eyes. So, it’s about a dozing thing.”
Titchmarsh, who was wearing a blue suit, said: “I did mine to match me.”
Asked if Chelsea had taken itself too seriously with its themes in recent years, Titchmarsh said: “It doesn’t take itself seriously.
“It takes gardening seriously, which more people should do – seriously, in that it’s important, but it’s all about fun and improving everybody’s wellbeing, being out in the garden, you feel better.”
Titchmarsh said “misery” would be the one thing he banned from the Chelsea Flower Show, while Allen said: “I’d be inclined to ban leaf blowers.”
Clare Matterson, director general of the RHS, said she was thrilled with the King’s Foundation Curious Garden, a centrepiece at Chelsea that aims to encourage people to get curious about gardening and which has been designed with input from the King, Sir David Beckham and Titchmarsh.
Speaking about the gnome auction, Ms Matterson said: “Every penny will go to support the RHS Campaign for School Gardening so we can get children up and down this country enjoying the benefits, the joy, the health, the learning of gardening.”
Sir Brian’s gnome, “Billy Bad-Axe”, which comes complete with a guitar, had already earned a bid of £650 by Monday morning, with the auction running until Sunday May 24.
Other celebrities spotted on Monday included Dame Joanna Lumley, X Factor winner Alexandra Burke, rugby player Chris Robshaw, artist Grayson Perry, Lady Amelia Windsor, broadcaster Piers Morgan, reality TV stars Spencer Matthews and Vogue Williams, actor Emma Corrin and singer Will Young.
This year’s Chelsea show features gardens including one championing “edgelands” on urban fringes that connect people with nature, from the Campaign to Protect Rural England and designed by Sarah Eberle.
The garden centres on a huge piece of art, a Gaia – Mother Nature – figure, lying across the garden, carved from a fallen mature tree and willow hair forming the top of a dry stone wall snaking through the display of native and naturalised plants and flowers.
Also among the show gardens is one from Tate Britain, inspired by the gallery’s art – and complete with a Barbara Hepworth sculpture – and which will be moved to Tate Britain’s Millbank site after Chelsea.
The Parkinson’s UK garden features a wide accessible path leading through brightly coloured planting, with peonies, irises and tulips, and a “hand rill” that functions as both a water feature and handrail.
The Killik and Co A Seed In Time garden designed by Baz Grainger celebrates traditional crafts from Britain’s natural wetland heritage and the need to respond to climate change, while a display for Asthma and Lung UK is a woodland-edge garden designed as a restorative “breathing space” for people living with lung conditions.
Horticulturalist Roy Lancaster presented the RHS’s annual plant of the year award, which celebrates outstanding plants with a new or improved feature that set them apart from those already on the market.
For 2026, first place went to the Hosta Red Ninja, a plant with red and green foliage that judges called “novel, attractive and growable” and “a great addition to gardens”.
It all comes ahead of royals visit the event, which opens its doors more widely from Tuesday.
Chelsea In Bloom, London’s largest free flower festival, also officially launched on Monday with its 2026 theme, “Out of this World”, produced by Cadogan in collaboration with the Royal Horticultural Society.
Chelsea was transformed into an intergalactic wonderland as more than 145 shops, restaurants, pubs and hotels - from Jessica McCormack, Smythson, RIXO, Lululemon and Trinny London to The Trafalgar, New Forms and Space NK - unveiled spectacular floral displays inspired by the allure of space travel, astrology and spiritual symbolism.
Produced by Cadogan in collaboration with the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), Chelsea in Bloom extends the Chelsea Flower Show out into the local neighbourhood.
In addition to the 125 participating businesses, Cadogan once again commissioned six large-scale floral art installations in key locations, each more extraordinary than the last.
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Highlights include a spectacular zodiac-inspired constellation at Sloane Square; a UFO hovering over Pavilion Road; a lunar landscape at Duke of York Square; and a mythical four metre dragon and Pegasus on Sloane Street. On the King’s Road, an enormous floral globe seen from space honours David Attenborough’s 100th birthday this May.
Complimentary walking tours and rickshaw rides are available throughout the week via the Chelsea in Bloom Information Point on Sloane Square.
Gold, Silver, Bronze and Merit awards are granted to participants by RHS and lifestyle judges, alongside top accolades including Best Floral Display, Highly Commended and the Innovation Award. Winners will be announced on Tuesday 19 May.
Voting for the People’s Champion is decided by the public, with online voting now open from 5pm on Monday and closing at midnight on Thursday 21 May, 2026.
Visit chelseainbloom.co.uk for further information.
