Every summer, the garden design world turns its attention to the big shows: RHS Chelsea Flower Show, RHS Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival, RHS Malvern Spring Festival, and RHS Flower Show Tatton Park. They dominate gardening media, set trends, and showcase some of the most ambitious and artistic garden designs in the country.

But for those of us working day-to-day as garden designers on the ground in places like Sussex, the question is a fair one: how relevant are they really?

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Inspiration vs Reality

There is no doubt that the major RHS shows are visually impressive. They represent the creative edge of garden design, where ideas are tested, materials are pushed, and planting combinations are explored at their most expressive.

They are valuable because they:

• Introduce new planting ideas and combinations
• Highlight emerging materials and design trends
• Showcase how designers interpret a brief creatively
• Offer a distilled version of design thinking at its highest level

However, it is important to recognise that show gardens exist in a highly controlled environment. They are:

• Built on temporary, often shallow substrates
• Designed for peak visual impact over a short period
• Supported by intensive maintenance and irrigation
• Not constrained by long-term client use or budget limitations

This is very different from a domestic garden in West Sussex, which must function all year round, often with limited maintenance and in far less forgiving soil conditions.

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What Actually Translates to Real Gardens?

Despite the differences, there are aspects of show gardens that absolutely do influence practice on the ground.

1. Planting combinations

Shows often push bold planting schemes that later filter into more practical residential versions. Subtle combinations seen at Chelsea, for example, often reappear in more restrained forms in domestic gardens.

2. Materials and detailing

New ways of using natural stone, metal, timber, and aggregates often emerge at shows before becoming mainstream.

3. Spatial ideas

Even if the execution is scaled down, ideas about zoning, enclosure, and movement through space can be highly influential.

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What Doesn’t Translate Well

Just as importantly, some aspects of show gardens are not realistic for everyday garden design:

• High-maintenance planting schemes that rely on constant attention
• Exotic or marginal plants that struggle in typical UK gardens
• Complex irrigation or construction systems not suited to budget conscious projects
• Designs that prioritise visual impact over longevity

In practice, many of these gardens would not survive a typical Sussex winter or summer without significant intervention.

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The Sussex Reality

Working as a garden designer in Sussex means designing for:

• Clay, chalk, or free draining soils depending on location
• Increasingly wet winters and dry summers
• Real families, real time constraints, and real maintenance limits
• Gardens that need to look good in March, July, and November, not just show week

This is where the gap between inspiration and application becomes clear.

The best designers take ideas from the shows but translate them into something more grounded, resilient, and site-specific.

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Are the Shows Still Important?

Yes, but in a specific way.

They are important as:

• A creative reference point
• A space for experimentation
• A source of inspiration and conversation within the industry

But they are not a blueprint for real gardens.

The most effective approach is to treat them as a sketchbook of ideas, not a set of instructions

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Final Thoughts

The RHS shows will always have a place in garden design culture. They push creativity forward and keep the industry evolving. But for those of us designing gardens in places like Sussex, their real value lies in interpretation, not replication.

A successful garden in the real world must do more than impress for a week in June. It must:

• Work with the soil
• Respond to the climate
• Suit the client’s lifestyle
• And improve with time

That is where good garden design happen, not just on the showground, but in the everyday spaces where people actually live with their gardens.

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