RHS lifts Chelsea Flower Show gnome ban for charity auction
A temporary gnome truce at Chelsea turned into a £20,352 charity lift, as stars painted the banned icons for school gardening.
The Royal Horticultural Society brought gnomes back to Chelsea for only the second time in the show’s history, turning a long-running ban into a charity auction that raised £20,352 for children’s gardening.
Celebrity-painted gnomes by Sir Brian May, Dame Mary Berry, Cate Blanchett, Alan Titchmarsh, Tom Allen, Dame Joanna Lumley and Bill Bailey were displayed and sold online from Friday 15 May to Sunday 24 May 2026. The auction closed at 7pm on Sunday 24 May, with proceeds going to the RHS Campaign for School Gardening.
The moment landed neatly inside a show built on polish and prestige. The 2026 RHS Chelsea Flower Show ran from 19 to 23 May at the Royal Hospital Chelsea in London, and it sold out before opening to the public, the first time that had happened since before Covid. Public days ran from Thursday 21 May to Saturday 23 May, drawing crowds keen to see prizewinning blooms and a more playful side of the institution.
For the RHS, the gnomes were not just a joke but a calculated signal that there is room in elite horticulture for humour, accessibility and a little British eccentricity. Clare Matterson, the RHS director general, said the charity wanted people to be playful with gardening and that Chelsea is its biggest charitable fundraiser. The auction’s final total, £20,352, will help the RHS back school gardening work it says can support children’s wellbeing, skills and environmental awareness.
The gnome ban itself dates to 1927, when rules at Chelsea said no statuary or other sundries could be exhibited in the tents. The society later widened that restriction across Chelsea gardens. The ban was last lifted in 2013, when the show marked its centenary and again used gnomes to raise money for school gardening.
This year’s temporary reprieve also echoed a familiar touchstone at Highgrove Garden, King Charles’s residence in Gloucestershire, where a gnome is often seen in the Stumpery. The RHS and The King’s Foundation Curious Garden, designed to encourage curiosity and fun in gardening, appeared at Chelsea with input from King Charles, Sir David Beckham and Alan Titchmarsh. Together, the displays showed how the show’s carefully guarded brand can still make room for whimsy, so long as it serves the larger prestige of the cause.
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