Click below to listen to my review: A Year Full of Pots by Sarah Raven
As we plan and prepare planting our seasonal containers, I was given the opportunity to review Sarah Raven’s book “A Year Full of Pots”. It is a tome of information and amazing photos for each season of the year.
From her Sussex property, she starts with spring and takes us through winter. Calling her containers the “bubbles in champagne, the cherries on the cake” on a property .
After decades of perfecting her container combinations, she focuses on good performers. Those plants you can rely on.
From color to form, she starts with the Thriller, the centerpiece, if you will. Something I’ve shared with you for decades now! Then it’s the Filler. To quote Sarah, these are the plants that “froth and fill the gaps”. And of course, the Spiller. Those plants that hang over the edges of your pots. While not always necessary, especially in smaller pots, she adds one more component and calls it the Pillar. This plant is typically a type of climbing vine attached to a trellis.
Sarah offers practical information on planning, sowing your own seed during the downtime to explaining the best plant performers.
From tulips to petunias, dahlias to climbers and well beyond. Offering advice on color combinations from “dark and rich” to “soft and warm”; to something she calls “boiled-sweet brilliance”, these plants have a luminosity. As well as fragrance and sun/shade containers, I meant it when I called this book a tome!
The Photographs by Jonathan Buckley will blow your mind. Don’t be intimidated by the size of Sarah’s book or property, this is one of those books you’ll have forever. It’s a wealth of information that you can go back to over and over. She even discusses mounting flower pots on a wall or setting them up on tables.
I’ve got some stepping up to do!
