RHS Chelsea: Garden of the Decade winner announced

Mark Gregory has won the People's Choice Garden of the Decade award with his 2018 Chelsea Flower Show garden, Welcome to Yorkshire.

The garden won from a shortlist of the last 10 winning Show Gardens that scooped the coveted People's Choice Award.

Gold medals and Best in Show are what the garden designers work towards, but The People’s Choice Award has become the most sought-after at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show. It's voted for by the public, as opposed to official judges, and often (as previous year's have shown), the public's favourite gardens differ from the judges' Best in Show winners.

For this mammoth accolade – Garden of the Decade – the power was once again in the hands of the public.

Mark's show garden in 2019 was inspired by Yorkshire’s proud history of industry, manufacturing and innovation, as well as the county’s stunning natural environment and many green spaces. It featured authentic Yorkshire stonework, trees local to the county, flowing water and genuine canal lock gates donated by the Canal & River Trust. Mark said his 99th show garden had been his most ambitious to date.

• Read more > Welcome to Yorkshire designer Mark Gregory's blog, exclusively on House Beautiful

Mark Gregory's breathtaking Welcome to Yorkshire garden was one of the biggest highlights of the Chelsea Flower Show in 2018, so it was no surprise when it went on to win the People's Choice Garden of the Decade award in 2020.

The garden was a realistic representation of the Yorkshire Dales, celebrating Yorkshire's natural materials, traditional crafts and artisan food production. Monty Don previously said of the garden: 'In all the years I've been coming to Chelsea, I've never known a garden that has had such an immediate reaction.'

READ MORE: Mark Gregory's Welcome To Yorkshire Garden wins People's Choice Garden of the Decade

The inspiration for this garden stemmed from Chris's study of fractal geometry and patterns found in nature. There were colourful flower borders and a mixture of formal and informal planting with the centrepiece, an oak and limestone loggia, designed in the shape of a leaf. Rather famously, even though he was 'undoubtedly' tipped for a gold medal in 2017, Chris was awarded a silver-gilt for this garden.

• Read more > Chelsea Flower Show controversy? Chris Beardshaw's Silver-Gilt award is talk of the show

Matthew's beautiful garden in 2016 was inspired by the huge East Window at York Minster; the largest single expanse of medieval stained glass in Britain.

Matthew's garden in 2o15 was designed to raise awareness of Sentebale’s work in providing healthcare and education to the most vulnerable children in Lesotho, South Africa.

Matthew designed this garden at RHS Chelsea in 2014 for the Help the Heroes charity, 'Hope on the Horizon', which addressed the war in Afghanistan. Matthew's brother, Michael, served in the RAF Regiment and had been deployed for his fifth tour in 2014.

Chris' personal battle against arthritis led him to create this garden at the Chelsea Flower Show in 2013. The planting and sculpture reflected the impact of arthritis on sufferers' lives.

Inspired by the great Renaissance gardens of Italy, Tom stripped away the flamboyance and decadence to reveal a more minimal design in his winning 2012 garden.

One of the more unusual designs, this garden in the sky took the shape of a large pink pod containing what was essentially a traditional garden. It was a success for Diarmuid in 2011, who won a gold medal.

Described as a traditional 'British garden full of plants', Roger's garden at RHS Chelsea in 2010 featured oak pergolas, a circular 'ripple' pool, and a central crescent shape with pathways that led to an oak summerhouse.

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