The 2026 season at Sofiero - Rediscovering what time left behind

The 2026 season at Sofiero Palace and Gardens unfolds under the theme Out of sight – out of mind. It is a meditation on the stories that fade when they are no longer told, and the plants that quietly vanish when they cease to be grown.

“During the season, we shine a light on what has slipped into the shadows – plant varieties, people and stories that risk disappearing unless someone continues to champion them,” says Helen von Platen, Head of Programme and Events at Sofiero Palace and Gardens.

Opening on 27 March, the spring exhibition springs from the art of plant breeding. In the Dahlia Quarter, visitors will encounter heirloom narcissi – heritage varieties once commonplace in gardens and cultivated landscapes, but gradually edged out over time.

In The King’s Greenhouse, the story turns to the cultivated plants themselves and the people behind them: growers and breeders who, over centuries of knowledge and patient experimentation, developed new varieties. Some were so rare and coveted that they commanded fortunes on the markets of their day. Others quietly faded back into the soil.

Inside the palace, the spotlight in this season’s exhibition falls on the garden pioneers – the women who entered the male-dominated horticultural professions at the turn of the twentieth century and helped shape both the physical landscape and the future of women as professionals.

The exhibition highlights garden designers, advocates of cultivation and influential voices of their time. Among them is Swedish Crown Princess Margareta, who was active at Sofiero between 1905 and 1920. She created many of the flowerbeds that are still carefully preserved and have become part of Sweden’s horticultural heritage. She also authored some of Sweden’s earliest popular gardening books, helping to bring horticulture to a wider audience.

The theme Out of sight – out of mind will also surface in other ways. From 8 May, Sofiero becomes the setting for an outdoor photographic exhibition exploring the notion of hidden power. The palace gardens have always been more than ornamental displays; they have served as informal meeting places where ideas, collaborations and agreements between royalty and statesmen took root – often while weeding beds or planting flowers. Was it perhaps easier to reach agreement amid the greenery?

In Sofiero’s kitchen garden, the season also celebrates the history and significance of the allotment movement. Heritage varieties – plants of proven cultivation value and practical use, some of which have fallen from favour – will once again be grown and given centre stage.

New features and an extended season

In addition, the 2026 programme introduces an new theme garden: Daisies for Daisy, devoted to asters, marguerites and other daisy-like blooms.

For the first time, the season is extended until 29 November and concludes with a brand-new winter event. Meanwhile, Sofiero Classic – a recurring event since 2007 – will pause in 2026 to allow for evaluation and to make space for the extended season and its expanded programme of exhibitions.

“The theme Out of sight – out of mind weaves its way through the entire season, surfacing in subtle and unexpected forms across the gardens and exhibitions. We warmly welcome everyone to Sofiero in 2026,” concludes Helen von Platen.

Season 2026 at a glance

Exhibitions

Garden Pioneers – The Women Who Shaped the Landscape
27 March – 29 November

This palace exhibition transports visitors to the turn of the last century, when women entered a male-dominated horticultural industry and paved the way for professional independence. Meet the designers, cultivation advocates and inspirational figures who changed both their own time and the future.

Between Greenery and Oblivion – What We Do Not Grow Disappears
27 March – 26 April

Beginning in The King’s Greenhouse and continuing in the Dahlia Quarter, this spring exhibition celebrates the history of plant breeding. Discover unique varieties developed, forgotten and rediscovered across the centuries; heirloom plants such as pink narcissi, striped tulips and black violas – and the tireless, inquisitive minds behind them.

Hidden Power in the Green
8 May – 14 September

An outdoor photographic exhibition in the palace grounds revealing the garden’s role as an informal meeting place where royalty and political leaders forged relationships and agreements amid the greenery.

Garden rooms

The Kitchen Garden: Allotments and Heritage Crops
5 June – 19 October

Step into an allotment garden shaped by the spirit of earlier times. Vegetables and flowers once commonly grown are cultivated here again. Many of them are recognised heritage varieties with long, well-documented histories, selected for preservation in the National Gene Bank.

New Theme Garden! Daisies for Daisy
12 June – autumn

Located in the Jubilee Garden, this new space showcases asters, marguerites and other daisy-like flowers that bloom throughout the summer and reach an even more magnificent peak in early autumn.

Events

Midsummer Celebrations – 19 June
Traditional festivities for all ages on the Royal football pitch.

Garden Days – 13–23 August Featuring lectures, inspirational show gardens, workshops and horticultural inspiration for the whole family. This year’s theme, The Unexpected, naturally connects with the season’s overarching theme.

Autumn Lights – 25 October – 8 November
A firm favourite with visitors, as the palace park is transformed by glowing light installations and an atmosphere of quiet enchantment.

New Winter Event! 20–29 November
Floral exhibitions focusing on winter plants, alongside activities for the whole family in a beautifully winter-clad Sofiero.

Seasonal Highlights in Bloom

Spring Display – 27 March – 11 May
Tens of thousands of bulbs lie sleeping tucked in the flowerbeds, waiting for their moment to sprout. In 2026, the narcissus takes centre stage, accompanied by tulips and a chorus of beloved spring companions.

Rhododendrons, mid-May – early June
Early summer reaches its most radiant moment in the palace park, as the rhododendrons burst into colour. Sofiero’s devotion to these blooms began in the early twentieth century, when King Gustaf VI Adolf started to shape the celebrated collection that still flourishes today.

Summer Planting, 15 June – 15 September
The spirit of Out of sight – out of mind finds expression in quotations from Crown Princess Margareta, gently placed among the flowerbeds. The planting scheme itself carries a note of nostalgia, with carnations, delphiniums and snapdragons lending the gardens a whisper of another age.

Dahlias, August – September
Thirty varieties of dahlia in spectacular bloom in the Dahlia Quarter.

Autumn in Bloom, 15 September – 23 October
As the season begins to turn, especially the northern part of the gardens and the new Daisies for Daisy theme garden come alive with late colour: chrysanthemums, nerines and salvias lingering in borders and pots.

Visit www.sofiero.se for more information