10 sublime photographs from the 2021 RHS Photographic Competition

Some truly breathtaking images were among the best photographs in the 2021 RHS Photographic Competition.

Dreamlike flowers, a dragonfly with ‘invisible’ wings and a startlingly geometric overheard view of a garden were among the winners in the 2021 RHS Photographic Competition.The overall winner was Oliver Dixon for his image of the flower garden at Loseley Park, Surrey, taken with a drone. It’s an image which really captures the mix of Man and Nature which goes in to a great garden.

A gardener pictured amongst the stunning flower garden, full of forget-me-nots, wallflowers, euphorbia, tulips and other spring flowers at Loseley Park Gardens in Guildford, Surrey, photographed by drone. RHS Photographic Competition 2021. ©Oliver Dixon

Our picture editor, Lucy Ford, particularly loved another image: Molly Hollman’s  ‘sculptural’ love-in-a-mist (Nigella damascena), taken in her garden in Canterbury, Kent. It was the winning photograph in the Plants category.

Nigella. RHS Photographic Competition 2021. ©Molly Hollman

You can see several more of our favourites below, while there is a full list of winners and runners-up in all categories at the RHS website. The site also has details of how to enter the 2022 competition.

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Crystal wings. RHS Photographic Competition 2021. ©Serhii Miroshnyk


Great tree. RHS Photographic Competition 2021. ©Sergei Koliaskin


Sunset over a lupins field. RHS Photographic Competition 2021. © Prabu Mohan


Rhubarb. RHS Photographic Competition 2021. ©Suvi Ruotsi


Jack Sedgwick won the young photographer prize with ‘Fantasy flowers’. RHS Photographic Competition 2021. ©Jack Sedgwick


A deep border around the dovecote in the walled Round Garden is full of grasses and late season perennials including Rudbeckia fulgida var. sullivantii ‘Goldsturm’, Salvia ‘Amistad’, Aster × frikartii ‘Mönch’, Hakonechloa macra ‘Aureola’ and hedychiums at Llanover Gardens, Monmouthshire in September. ©Carole Drake


Wildlife Disco Lights. RHS Photographic Competition 2021. ©Hasan Baglar