The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) is hosting a series of talks at FutureScape to help visitors create award-winning show gardens. 

It will be taking over the Inspire Theatre, in association with Rochfords, on the first day of the show, bringing along garden designers and contractors to share the secrets behind their successes. 

Expert speakers will be covering four essential areas to know and master, from the judging criteria and the sustainability targets, to managing costs and the planting scheme. 

Using examples from this year’s shows, RHS judge Dan Lobb will be demystifying the show garden judging process, divulging the criteria and what separates a Gold-medal winning garden from a Silver.  

Garden designer Harry Holding will be taking visitors behind the scenes of his The Eden Project: Bring Me Sunshine Garden which picked up the Environmental Innovation Award at this year’s RHS Chelsea Flower Show. He’ll be joined by Annie Buckley, director of Elemental – a green design tool which helps to improve the environmental footprint of show gardens – who will share examples of other sustainable materials and techniques showcased on the other gardens. 

To help maximise a show garden budget, a panel hosted by RHS shows content curator Lex Falleyn will offer strategies for securing products in kind and building valuable partnerships along with other hacks for controlling the costs. Panellists include: Christine Leung, an RHS Gold medallist who founded social enterprise Lotus Brook; garden designer Katerina Kantalis, who picked up a Gold medal for her Balcony Garden at this year’s Chelsea; and Mark Gregory of Landform Consultants, the most decorated contractor at Chelsea. 

Paul Hervey Brookes will be closing with advice on delivering a successful planting scheme. Off the back of his own success at RHS Wentworth Woodhouse last year, he will be taking the audience through plant selection and sourcing, to installation and maintenance, to then achieving success on judging day.  

View the full seminar programme. 

In its fifteenth year, FutureScape will be taking place at a new venue, Farnborough International Exhibition & Conference Centre, on 13-14 October 2026. Register for your free ticket now.