RHS CHELSEA FLOWER SHOW 2026
Q&A with Max Parker-Smith
We caught up with RHS Chelsea Flower Show designer Max Parker-Smith to find out more about the inspiration for his Journey Beyond the Tracks: Adelaide to Perth garden for 2026. Read on for his views on the transformative power of travel, his love for grass trees, and his thoughts on why the combination of the Indian Pacific train journey with time spent in both South Australia and Western Australia makes for a winning holiday.
What attracted you to designing an Australian garden at this year’s RHS Chelsea Flower Show?
“I have a strong connection to Australia having visited in my early 20s on a typical gap year. I worked with lots of gardeners and farmers and visited many national parks and I fell in love with the country. It’s the most incredible and fascinating place and I made some pretty serious life decisions when I was out there. The first being to come back to study garden design; and so, I have my experience in Australia to thank for my career. Designing this garden has connected me back to this amazing country in a really special way.”
Your garden highlights the opportunity to book a holiday which connects two Australian states with a multi-day train adventure. What makes this trip so appealing?
“It’s the breadth of experiences that makes combining South Australia, Western Australia and the Indian Pacific so compelling. The range of environments, the depth of insight offered by local hosts and guides, and the rail journey itself linking Adelaide and Perth together create a strong and rich holiday itinerary."
What were your impressions of the Indian Pacific train journey between Adelaide and Perth?
“The spirit of the Indian Pacific is very lively. It’s fun, beautifully designed, and full of character. The train nods to its history while offering a modern, refined take on the traditional, with quirky details that reference its past in a contemporary way. Having travelled thousands of kilometres across the Australian outback over more than fifty years, it carries a real sense of depth. It’s civilised and comfortable, with an undercurrent of liveliness and joy.”
DESIGNER PROFILE
MAX PARKER-SMITH, Maximillian Design
After graduating with a first in Creative Advertising, Max Parker-Smith went onto study at The Inchbald School of Design in 2018. He’s now an award-winning designer and founder of Maximillian Design – who create landscapes with emotional depth; spaces that connect people to place through thoughtful, layered design, where the modern blends seamlessly with the romantic.
At the heart of every project is the belief that a garden should be a quiet space for emotion and imagination—one that invites, rather than imposes, meaning.
L-R: Indian Pacific, Lake Hart, SA; Max Parker-Smith and the Indian Pacifc in Cook, SA; Dining onboard the Indian Pacifc.
Max Parker-Smith in the Gold Premium lounge onboard the Indian Pacific
What was your big takeaway from travelling on the Indian Pacific?
“Train journeys, in particular, connect you deeply to landscapes and place. From your window, the moving landscape becomes a living picture, giving you time to slow down, breathe, and truly experience the beauty around you.”
Did anything surprise you about the train journey between Adelaide and Perth?
“Traversing the Nullarbor desert was a complete surprise. There's a richness there with a quiet and unassuming beauty. What initially feels rugged or sparse reveals a surprising wealth of life the longer you look, and the resilience of the flora and fauna is incredibly inspiring. Being there forces you to slow down and observe, to really see a landscape that feels ancient, resilient and largely untouched. There’s a sense of perspective that comes from that, moments where you feel small in the best possible way, grounded by the scale, age and life of the land.”
"From your window, the moving landscape becomes a living picture, giving you time to slow down, breathe, and truly experience the beauty around you.”
You started your recent travels in Australia in Adelaide, the state capital of South Australia. What were your first impressions of this National Park City?
“In Adelaide and throughout regional South Australia, I was deeply struck by the collective reverence for the natural environment. Many of the winemakers, farmers, horticulturalists, chefs, guides and residents that I met shared a collective commitment to stewardship of the land.
I was also captivated by the remarkable diversity of native flora in South Australia. My visit to Mount Lofty Botanic Garden in the Adelaide Hills showed off a series of plants which I now intend to use in the garden at Chelsea Flower Show. Plants such as Eremophila, Grevillea and Adiatum — genera that combine a vibrancy and resilience."
Are there any other South Australian plants you’re you really looking forward to including in the garden design?
“I joined an e-bike tour through the Adelaide Hills with an exceptional local guide, and one of the first plants I encountered was Xanthorrhoea — the grass tree. I was genuinely thrilled. These ancient species are both beautifully architectural and have great ecological importance and I’m excited to use them in the garden design.”
Max Parker-Smith in Onkaparinga National Park on the Fleurieu Peninsula, SA
L-R: Max Parker-Smith touring Jurlique in the Adelaide Hills with Farm Manager Cherie Hutchinson; Koalas in the Adelaide Hills, SA; Max-Parker Smith discovering South Australia’s unique flora and fauna in Adelaide with Matt Coulter, Horticultural Curator.
Travel aboard the Indian Pacific with Max and discover what stayed with him long after the journey ended.
Researching local flora in Kings Park & Botanic Garden, Perth, WA
Bluff Knoll, Stirling Range National Park, WA. Credit: Tourism Western Australia
After arriving on the train into Perth, you spent some time exploring Western Australia. What were your thoughts?
“I spent two weeks in Western Australia and it wasn't enough! I didn't want to come home. The state has such diversity of landscapes - from Rottnest Island to Kings Park, there is so much to experience. The flora and fauna is otherworldly, and there were so many additional plants that I wanted to bring to the UK to add to our Chelsea garden but they are so specialist they are rarely grown here.”
Climate resilient planting is likely to be a hot topic of conversation at this year’s Chelsea Flower Show. Did your recent trip to Australia inform your thinking on that theme?
"Stirling Range National Park is about a five hour road-trip south of Perth, and that is one of the many areas you get the most prehistoric, fantastical plants I've ever seen. These are plants which are millions of years old. They've evolved to grow in these incredibly harsh conditions with low nutrient substrates, constant burning and drought. It was Charles Darwin who said that the South West of Western Australia was to become one of the most important ecological sites in the world in the future. And I think we may be at that point now where we need to be looking at these types of places for climate resilient planting."
L-R: Quokka on Rottnest Island; Wildflowers in Kings Park and Botanic Garden, Perth; Leighton Beach, North Fremantle. Credit: Tourism Western Australia
Aboriginal Australians are recognised as the custodians of the world's oldest continuous culture, with a history spanning over 65,000 years. Did you have chance to engage with the culture on your recent travels?
"I was lucky enough to take part in an In Culture tour at Kings Park in Perth, and it really enriched my experience and truly taught me about the history of the country and the Whadjuk Noongar people. I think it's amazing how much of a connection the Whadjuk Noongar people have to the landscape and how they've developed that over time. It's something I envy and actually, the more my guide spoke about it, the more I wanted to be able to have an education that strengthened my spiritual connection to my surrounding environment.
Visiting Adelaide Botanic Garden on Kaurna Country with guide Iteka Ukarla Sanderson-Bromley was also very special. Learning about the land on an Aboriginal Native Plants and Social History tour connected me to the rich traditions, history, and landscapes of Aboriginal culture in a really meaningful way.”
What would you say to people who are thinking about holidaying in Australia, and who are inspired by your garden design at this year’s RHS Chelsea Flower Show?
“If you can go, go! Due to the ease of the Indian Pacific train which takes passengers from state to state, people have the fantastic luxury of gaining access to a wealth of environments. Both South Australia and Western Australia offer different landscapes and they compliment each other so well."
Max Parker-Smith on a tour of Kings Park & Botanic Garden, Perth, Western Australia with local tour guide
“Both South Australia and Western Australia offer different landscapes and they compliment each other so well.”
Explore the regions that inspired the garden
REMARKABLE ROCKS
KANGAROO ISLAND, SOUTH AUSTRALIA
HUTT LAGOON (PINK LAKE)
YALLABATHARRA, WESTERN AUSTRALIA
MOUNT LOFTY BOTANIC GARDEN
ADELAIDE HILLS, SOUTH AUSTRALIA
WANDJINA ABORIGINAL ROCK ART
THE KIMBERLEY, WESTERN AUSTRALIA
BAROSSA WINE REGION
SOUTH AUSTRALIA
YALLINGUP
MARGARET RIVER WINE REGION, WESTERN AUSTRALIA
MURRAY RIVER NATIONAL PARK
SOUTH AUSTRALIA
BUNGLE BUNGLE RANGE
PURNULULU NATIONAL PARK, WESTERN AUSTRALIA
Indian Pacific - Adelaide to Perth
AN UNFORGETTABLE NULLARBOR CROSSING
Follow in Max’s footsteps and travel between Adelaide and Perth, where rugged outback plains, endless horizons, lush bushland and vibrant cityscapes unfold along the way. Step aboard and discover a rail journey that is every bit as remarkable as the places it connects.
JOURNEY BEYOND THE TRACKS: ADELAIDE TO PERTH
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