LONDON — After a spring dominated by cherry blossoms in Taipei, tulips in the Netherlands and major showcases in Philadelphia and London, the second half of 2026 belongs to royal garden debuts, harvest festivals, giant vegetables and parade floats made entirely of dahlias. The Royal Horticultural Society is debuting a touring show model, while Colombia’s largest flower festival and the world’s biggest flower parade headline a packed calendar from July through September.
RHS Sandringham Flower Show: Royal Collaboration Debuts July 22-26
The most significant shake-up to British horticulture in years arrives July 22-26 when the RHS holds its first-ever flower show at Sandringham Estate, the private country retreat of King Charles III and Queen Camilla in Norfolk. The event follows a major calendar overhaul announced in 2024: RHS Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival became biennial, and RHS Flower Show Tatton Park was reduced to once every three years. In their place, the RHS launched touring shows at new venues, including Badminton Estate in Gloucestershire, which ran July 8-12.
The Sandringham centerpiece is the RHS Royal Legacy Garden, designed by Catherine MacDonald of Landform Consultants in consultation with the King. Preview reports describe a garden built around natural fractal patterns and branching structures, with winding paths through a biodiverse mix of trees and perennials. The garden features many of the King’s favorite species with a bold, personal color scheme. A run of Long Borders mentored by Chelsea veteran Tom Hoblyn and Show Gardens celebrating Norfolk’s landscapes accompany the main attraction.
The show includes a Floral Marquee with 50-plus specialist growers, a Flower School, a Summer Fruit and Vegetable Competition for junior growers, and a “Leaf Letters” activity where children write messages to the royal couple on hand-chosen leaves. At the earlier Badminton show, Jo Thompson’s Archers 75th Anniversary Garden recreated Bridge Farm, the fictional home from BBC Radio 4’s rural drama, with character-specific welly boots and sweet pea seeds referencing plotlines. Tom Stuart-Smith’s Julia Rausing Garden, at 2,400 square meters, was reportedly the largest show garden the RHS has ever staged.
Early reviews suggest the touring model is off to a strong start, testing whether it can replicate the loyalty Hampton Court and Tatton Park built over decades.
Feria de las Flores: Medellín’s Ten-Day Celebration July 31-August 9
As Sandringham concludes, Colombia’s biggest annual celebration begins. The 69th edition of Feria de las Flores runs July 31-August 9 in Medellín, featuring ten days of concerts, classic car parades, farmers’ markets and Antioquian folk music across 30-plus locations and more than 100 public events.
The festival builds toward the Desfile de Silleteros on the final Sunday. Flower farmers from the mountain community of Santa Elena carry elaborate floral arrangements called silletas strapped to their backs. Some arrangements stand over three meters tall and weigh up to 80 kilograms, built over months using dozens of flower varieties depicting Colombian landscapes and cultural symbols. More than 500 silleteros of all ages, including children and participants with disabilities, will walk a 2.4-kilometer route to Plaza Mayor, where floral monuments remain on display for days.
Organizers describe it as the single largest showcase of hand-carried floral craft in the world, rooted in the region’s flower-growing economy rather than garden design.
Southport Flower Show: UK’s Largest Independent Show August 20-23
The UK’s largest independent flower show returns to Victoria Park August 20-23, running continuously since 1924. Unlike RHS shows, there are no members-only preview days; the show opens to all four days, drawing more than 55,000 visitors.
The late-August timing places the event after summer planting and before autumn clear-up, when perennials and annuals peak. New for 2026 is “The Lakeside Reset,” a redesigned water-feature area intended as a calmer counterpoint to the busy showground. Competitive classes for cut flowers, pot plants and specialist growers are judged by midday each day. Broadcaster and horticulturist Adam Frost opens this year’s Garden Theatre lineup.
Bloemencorso Zundert: World’s Largest Flower Parade September 6-7
In the Netherlands, autumn opens with Bloemencorso Zundert, held in the small North Brabant town on the first weekend of September. The parade is built entirely around dahlias. Twenty neighborhood teams spend the year cultivating dahlia fields, using about eight million blooms total, six million grown locally in Zundert. During the final “Stick Week,” volunteers attach flowers by hand onto steel-and-papier-mâché float structures up to 19 meters long and 9 meters high.
Floats parade through town Sunday afternoon, judged by an independent jury. A public exhibition day Monday allows visitors to inspect the floats up close. From a distance, the most accomplished floats appear painted; only close inspection reveals the entire surface is made of living dahlias. Founded in 1936 and recognized on the Netherlands’ national inventory of intangible cultural heritage, it remains the largest flower parade in the world, built entirely by volunteers.
Malvern Autumn Show: UK’s Biggest Harvest Celebration September 25-27
The season closes with the Malvern Autumn Show at Three Counties Showground in Worcestershire, positioning itself as a full harvest festival rather than a traditional flower show. Alongside RHS floral displays and more than 100 “Grow to Show” competitive classes for cut flowers, succulents, fruit and vegetables, the show features the CANNA UK National Giant Vegetables Championship. Competitive growers chase Guinness World Records with marrows, giant green beans, super-sized sunflowers and enormous pumpkins.
Worth Watching For
Regional chrysanthemum and dahlia society shows run through October and into November across the UK. Bishop Auckland’s Late Chrysanthemum Show typically falls in early November. Organizers note that most events remain weather-dependent. Given 2026’s volatile growing conditions for UK growers, including a wet, record-warm June following a deluge-heavy January, late-summer and autumn show reports may include significant discussion of irrigation and heat-stressed bedding plants.