Who won the Chelsea Flower Show 2022?

Yahoo Life UK contributor
·3-min read

Watch: Queen tours Chelsea Flower Show

This year's RHS Chelsea Flower Show is in full bloom.

The world's biggest gardening extravaganza is back in its traditional May slot for the first time since the COVID pandemic struck.

The event, which features 39 gardens created by 44 designers, will run until Saturday, 28 May, but the winners have already been revealed.

Here is everything you need to know about the show.

General view of the Rewilding British Landscape garden during the RHS Chelsea Flower Show press day, at the Royal Hospital Chelsea, London. Picture date: Monday May 23, 2022. Photo credit should read: Matt Crossick/Empics
A Rewilding Britain Landscape was awarded Best in Show at the Chelsea Flower Show 2022. (Empics)

The Chelsea Flower Show awarded its Best in Show prize to an "exquisite" garden that recreates a beaver wetland habitat.

A Rewilding Britain Landscape, which also won a Chelsea gold medal, features a beaver lodge, dam, a pond and stream and naturalistic planting.

Judges praised the "charm" of the garden, which was designed by Lulu Urquhart and Adam Hunt for the charity Rewilding Britain.

Chairman of the judges James Alexander-Sinclair said: "It's exciting to be back at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show in May, and while all of this year's gardens are sensational, a few really stood out.

"It was a hard-fought debate between the members of the judging panel to decide which garden to award Best in Show.

"In the end, all the judges were captivated by the skill, endeavour and charm of A Rewilding Britain Landscape – every step is exquisite."

Lifting a log after sunset, a large beaver rebuilds a portion of his dam after the high spring waters of Bear Creek washed out a section in Lakewood, Colorado.
The winning garden recreates a beaver wetland habitat. (Getty Images)

The rewilding garden shows how beavers create habitats for other wildlife by building dams, creating wetlands and felling trees to open up woodland.

Beavers were once found throughout Britain, but the species was hunted to extinction in the 16th century for their fur, glands and meat.

They are now found living in the wild on a number of rivers in Scotland and England through official trials and illegal releases or escapes.

They have also been introduced into enclosures in a number of English counties.

Sara King of Rewilding Britain said: "We are also in an ecological emergency, so we need more diversity and beavers are incredible engineers – they create this diversity.

"They bring in opportunities for mammals, for invertebrates, for a whole range of wildlife. They really do, in a quite a short space of time, create so much diversity and nature recovery."

Tickets are still available for the final three days of Chelsea Flower Show 2022. They can be bought through the RHS website or its official resale partner, Twickets.

RHS members receive discounted ticket prices.

If you can't attend this year's event, don't worry, as highlights are being broadcast every day on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.

The winner of the BBC RHS People's Choice award will be announced by presenters Sophie Raworth and Joe Swift on Friday, 27 May.

Twenty-five gardens will live on after the show ends, when they are moved to community spaces across the country, including schools and a children's hospital.

The rest of the gardens will distribute plants and flowers to good causes, according to the RHS.

Latest stories