RHS Photographic Competition 2021 winners revealed

An aerial photograph of a Surrey flower garden has beaten a record number of entries to win this year's Royal Horticultural Society Photographic Competition.

Oliver Dixon was named overall winner for his drone image of The Flower Garden at Loseley Park.

"Oliver Dixon not only celebrates everything about spring, but the linear symmetry to his image makes it pleasing to the eye," Chris Young, who chaired the judging, said.

Jack Sedgwick, in the Under-11s category, was named overall young winner for Fantasy flowers, taken at RHS Garden Harlow Carr, North Yorkshire.

The judges praised Sedgwick's image, a combination of three photos taken on a rainy summer's day, for its "originality, high degree of creativity and experimentation".

Judge Richard Bloom said of the competition as a whole: "The diversity of imagery has been astounding, with some very creative, unusual, dark, joyful and sometimes humorous work entered.

"No doubt [the work is] in some way a response to the pandemic and the lockdown, but also the introduction of the new Creative and Indoor Gardening categories, which have given photographers a greater opportunity to get creative within their own boundaries."

The 2022 competition is now open for entries.

Here are winners from other categories in the competition.

Welcoming Wildlife: Pigeon, by Angela Rogers, Santorini, Greece

Plants: Nigella flower in evening light, by Molly Hollman, Canterbury, Kent

Macro: Cactus, by Debbie Armstrong, Bangkok, Thailand

Creative: Poppies, by Giuseppe Bonali, northern Italy

Indoor Gardening: Time with terrarium, by Weerasinghe Tilan, Colombo, Sri Lanka

Social Media: Midsummer bliss, by Claudia Gaupp, Germany

Under-18s: Phoenix, by Saptarshi Gayen, West Bengal, India

All pictures are subject to copyright.