The Balcony Gardens at RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2026 Proved Vertical Gardening Is the Secret to Making Small Spaces Feel Bigger
Lightweight, modular arches can maximize space – plus they are mobile and perfect for modern yards
The balcony gardens at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2026 were packed with inspiration for making a beautiful, relaxing garden in a smaller space. A key feature that impressed me in several of the gardens was maximizing vertical space, which is easily achieved with a simple frame, arch, or trellis.
Vertical balcony gardening offers an ideal way to make the most of a compact space. You can get stunning flowers, foliage, and fragrance by growing perennial or annual climbing plants up an arch or trellis.
The Chelsea designers used novel designs and materials to create their balcony gardens, but you can take inspiration from their work and implement it in your own space. A perfect solution is a modular balcony arch, as it is a lightweight, impermanent structure that won’t add excess weight, plus you can pack it down and take it with you if you move.
Vertical Inspiration from the Chelsea Flower Show 2026 Balcony Gardens
Balcony gardens at the Chelsea Flower Show measure 16 feet by 6 feet, which is around a standard size for an apartment or condo. It gives a comfortable amount of space for some seating and planting, and there is room to be creative to maximize the space and create a beautiful, idyllic balcony – perfect for relaxing with a glass of your favorite tipple.
One way to make the most of the footprint you have is to think vertically. This thinking was perfectly showcased by many designers behind the balcony gardens at the 2026 Chelsea Flower Show.
One balcony that caught my eye was ‘The Transient Garden’ designed by Rebecca Lloyd Jones. It featured modular, lightweight vertical structures that added extra height and interest to the garden, with climbing plants growing up and through the black structures.
Elsewhere, different materials were on show to add height across the balconies. Designer May Starey used bold copper pipe structures on the ‘Fettercairn: The Angels’ Share’ balcony garden to provide vertical garden interest. Copper piping was a key feature in the garden, bringing warmth and a modern, sleek contrast against the black containers that housed the planting.
Those two gardens had vertical elements running front to back, but ‘A Little Garden of Shared Knowledge sponsored by Viking’ by Katerina Kantalis did things a bit differently, and super-sized. It featured a long wooden pergola that stretched across the entire length of the balcony. Over this feature grew a grapevine to provide shade and structure.
How to Get the Look on Your Own Balcony
When you have limited space for planting, like on a balcony, a wise design choice is to fill spaces that often remain bare. Vertical balcony gardening includes planting on walls – either by adding a trellis for climbing plants or a living wall to showcase lots of greenery – or using arches or pergolas to grow upwards.
Vertical elements can be added to raised beds or large containers to support plants and let them scramble up. It raises the foliage and flowers and can offer some added privacy, too.
There is such a range of climbing plants you can grow up a trellis. The likes of clematis, jasmine, passion flower, honeysuckle, climbing roses, or sweet peas can all add beauty and fragrance to any balcony.
A fantastic opportunity comes from using a lightweight modular balcony arch or trellis, like this outdoor garden arch at Amazon. In the same way that ‘The Transient Garden’ at Chelsea uses modular pieces due to the mobile nature of modern living, this type of arch offers temporary designs and layouts for a range of climbing plants suited to arches.
This particular product comes with pieces of different lengths (ranging from 8 to 28 inches) that you configure together into a flat arch to fit your space. The structure can reach a maximum of 78 inches in height, 61 inches across, and 96 inches deep – but there is a whole range of creative solutions available to make flat arches of different sizes.
The modular balcony arch only needs to be inserted a mere seven inches into the ground to ensure it is stable. This makes the product suitable for placing in raised beds or large containers on a balcony.
As each tube is less than an inch wide and made from a lightweight material, it is strong enough for climbers, flowers, or even cucumbers or squash plants, without adding lots of weight to the balcony.
Shop the Look
This modular garden arch is made from steel material and coated with plastic. It can be configured in various sizes to suit your balcony and is waterproof and rust-resistant.
These durable garden trellises can add vertical interest to a balcony or be used as a screen. Each one is 71'' H X 40'' W.
A slightly different way to add height to a balcony is to grow taller flowers and climbers in these 64” tall cages. It will give any space a vertical edge and showcase your plants.
There was so much inspiration to find across the Chelsea showground this year. You can see our guide to the best gardens at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2026 to get a taste of the treats on offer, along with tips and advice for recreating the look at home.
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