A drone shot of a formal garden in spring has scooped top prize in the Royal Horticultural Society’s annual photographic competition – which saw a surge in entries this year.

The RHS said there were a record number of entries following a growing appreciation of nature and gardens during lockdown, with winners drawn from thousands of entries from around the world.

The horticultural charity hopes this year’s winning images will inspire people to get out and enjoy a dose of “vitamin G” as part of National Gardening Week in the UK next week.

Oliver Dixon was the overall winner for his image “spring from the air”, an aerial shot of the flower garden at Loseley Park, Surrey.

The prize for overall young winner was awarded to Jack Sedgwick, who entered in the under-11s category with a combination of three photographs taken on a rainy summer day at RHS Garden Harlow Carr in Harrogate.

Prizes were handed out in a series of categories including “welcoming wildlife”, “plants”, “gardens” and a new category of “indoor gardening”, which the RHS said proved popular.

Chris Young, chair of judging for the RHS Photographic Competition, said: “The range of photographs, the variety of artistic endeavour and the breadth of subjects shows how global and varied gardening and wildlife can be.

“The adult winning image by Oliver Dixon not only celebrates everything about spring, but the linear symmetry to it makes it pleasing to the eye.

“The winning children’s image shows great graphic intent and a keen eye for detail – something to be richly applauded for our junior category.

“We were pleased to see the number of entrants rise this year and clearly with lockdown, and people spending more time at home during 2020, there was more chance of capturing nature, the beauty of plants and the importance of gardening at this time.”

Award winning garden photographer and competition judge Richard Bloom said: “The diversity of imagery in this year’s competition has been astounding, with some very creative, unusual, dark, joyful and sometimes humorous work entered.”

The 2022 competition is now open for entries until February next year.

Winners for this year’s competition can be viewed and entries submitted for 2022 at rhs.org.uk/photocomp