Sarah Eberle's On the Edge garden at RHS Chelsea 2026, featuring the Gaia sculpture carved from windfallen trees

Our RHS Chelsea Journey 2026. Focus on: On the Edge by Sarah Eberle

We continue our Chelsea Journey series this month with a look at Sarah Eberle's On the Edge — a garden created for the Council for the Protection of Rural England and one of the standout moments of this year's show.

After stepping back from designing RHS Chelsea gardens, Sarah decided to return in 2026 — and was rewarded handsomely. She received an RHS Gold Medal for her main avenue garden and took home Best in Show: a remarkable double for a designer of her calibre.

Sponsored by Project Giving Back, On the Edge set out to celebrate those often-overlooked spaces on the fringes of urban areas. Frequently scruffy and weed-filled these marginal habitats are often the only connection people in towns and cities have with the natural world. They are vital refuges for insects, birds, and other wildlife, and the garden made a compelling case for taking them seriously.

The centrepiece was a striking sculpture of Gaia, mother Earth, carved from a windfallen tree with willow hair . It stopped Chelsea visitors in their tracks and drew them deeper into a garden of quiet beauty: a calming pool, ferny glades, and drifts of wildflowers that felt both wild and considered.

We were proud to have supplied a handful of cultivars early in the project, grown on for the show: Disporopsis undulata, Disporum 'Night Heron', and Uvularia perfoliata. All three carry delicate bell-shaped flowers, and both the Disporopsis and Disporum go on to produce berries later in their life cycle — a lovely detail in a garden that rewarded close looking.

 

Disporopsis undulata, a shade-loving perennial with arching stems and delicate white bell-shaped flowers

Disporopsis undulata

 

Disporum Night Heron, an elegant woodland perennial with dark stems and pendant bell-shaped flowers

Disporum 'Night Heron'

Sarah lived for a long time in Hampshire relatively local to us. And we have grown plants for several of Sarah's Chelsea show gardens over the years. We were absolutely delighted that our plants were selected once again for this one.

Sarah Eberle is now the RHS's most decorated garden designer, and one of only three women to have won Best in Show as a solo designer in Chelsea's 100-year history. Following the show, On the Edge has found a permanent new home at the Grade II listed Park Hill Flats in Sheffield.


If you missed last months article about our RHS Chelsea Journey about the Kings Foundation 'The Curious Garden' you can read more here.

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