The Glasshouse Garden at Chelsea Flower Show 2025 is a masterclass in bold, meaningful color – I predict this combination will be everywhere in 2026

Color is a very powerful thing, and no more so within the breathtaking garden designs at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show. There was one garden that really stood out for me this year owing specifically to its rich and bold, yet somehow sensitive color palette, and that was The Glasshouse Garden, designed by Jo Thompson.

Whenever I step into a garden, I am always searching for how it makes me feel – I want to connect with the planting. Walking into The Glasshouse Garden, the combination of deep reds, burgundy, and rich magenta, alongside softer apricot and peach tones provokes an immediate sense of power and strength. A place of possibility and vigor.

This is no coincidence. The theme of the garden is second chances through horticulture, and it was designed to offer a space of sanctuary and opportunity for female prisoners reaching the end of their sentences. Whilst maintaining a comforting, secure place of solace, the garden and the color scheme within it exudes strength, symbolising the incredible power of nature when it comes to changing lives.

Harnessing power with plant color

This garden was created for The Glasshouse, a social enterprise that supports women who are coming to the end of their prison sentences. Its mission is to reduce reoffending through horticultural training and employment.

Speaking exclusively to Homes & Gardens, Jo Thompson explains how the planting choices were inspired by the prisoners she met whilst designing the garden, and draw on the idea of strong beauty.

‘I didn’t want to make a pastiche of a feminine garden,' she says. 'I didn’t want it to be overtly pastel, so I opted for these strong colored flowers and roses with real depth to them. We’ve got Rosa ‘Alfred Colomb’, 'wild rover' – an open flower which wildlife adores – 'Tuscany superb', 'Emma Bridgewater', and then many deeper fuller roses as well.’ Rosa 'nuits de young' being one of them, with its dark, dusky maroon blooms that are almost velvet in appearance.

The roses are interspersed with softer perennials to give a relaxed, cottage garden feel such as geum, astrantia and foxgloves, as well as flowering shrubs such as Deutzia x hybrida 'Strawberry Fields'.

For structure, Jo says instead of choosing ‘sharply manicured taxus, we went for loosely cut copper beech domes instead’, which also weave those deep burgundy shades throughout the space.

Sanctuary in nature

The central structure in The Glasshouse Garden is an elliptical glass pavilion with a bronze frame, created by Holloway Studio. It emerges from cascading foliage, achieved with beautiful Zelkova serrata, river birch, and hawthorn. The structure is designed to offer women a private and calm space to connect or reflect in the garden.

‘When I met the women on the programme they really challenged my preconceptions of what being in prison might be like, and they talked very much about the deprivation of nature; having no link to nature and not being able to see anything through windows apart from brick walls,’ says Jo.

‘When I was talking to the women, this notion of strong beauty struck me; I wanted to create a place for them that was immersed in nature, hence this elliptical pavilion opening up into a garden, but that can also close off and offer a safe space.

‘When closed the doors are made of semi opaque recycled acrylic, so you can see through but you can't see people’s faces.’

With no front or back, the lightweight building invites visitors to enjoy the garden, explains the Holloway Studio team, encouraging exploration from every angle. Its curved form allows the garden to slowly unfold as people move around the space, creating an ever-changing experience.

How to get the look in your own garden

When recreating a bold, rich color scheme such as the one in The Glasshouse Garden, it’s useful to know a little bit about color theory. If you choose a deep red rose, for instance, think about all the different shades of flowers within the red spectrum that could grow alongside it – this might be anything from burgundy to salmon, to the palest of pink. Then you can combine the jewel tones from within this spectrum and soften it using a few subtle touches of the paler, warm shades such as peach and apricot.

Jo explains how this relates to The Glasshouse Garden: ‘The river birch trees were chosen because of the pinks and browns in the bark. Same with the zelkova, chosen for their dark stems which create a highlight against the planting, but also work really well with the bronze of the pavilion.’

Jo advises to think about structure within the garden, too: 'whether it is the copper beech or another structural planting within a border, then think about a choice of shapes.

'Here we have the umbels of the Pimpinella major 'Rosea', starry dots from the Astrantia major and aquilegia, and within that we dotted lots of round, soft poppies,' she adds.

The Glasshouse Garden proves you can still achieve a romantic and soft, cottage garden look even when incorporating a color scheme that commands attention. By combining large, round textures with ethereal umbels, and opting for copper foliage to blend the moodier elements of your color scheme with structural planting, you'll be well on your way to an elegantly designed garden with a subtle yet certain commanding presence.

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