was instead filled with plants. Potted plants: trees, shrubs, herbs. Summer containers
with foliage and flowers. Looks more assembly line than premium. Surely we can do better.
.
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A Year Full of Pots: Container flowers for all seasons
by Sarah Raven
photographs by Jonathan Buckley
a book review
Saturday, 11 May 2024
I was at Costco the other day. The forecourt where the shopping carts are usually kept
was instead filled with plants. Potted plants: trees, shrubs, herbs. Summer containers
with foliage and flowers. Looks more assembly line than premium. Surely we can do better.
Seasonal color from a pot full of flowers treated more or less as a longer lasting bouquet of cut flowers. Even supermarkets offer a pot of daffodils or tulips in the spring. Bright red geraniums (they're really pelargoniums) in summer. Spicy smelling chrysanthemums in fall. Rather basic. Yes, surely we can do better. Need some help? Here you go - Sarah Raven's new book "A Year Full of Pots, Container flowers for all seasons"
image courtesy Bloomsbury Publishing, copyright Johnathan Buckley all rights reserved
provides ideas and options, possibilities and friendly advice, all illustrated with wonderful pictures.
Sarah shares that, year round, she makes essential use of pots in every part of her garden. For example
image courtesy Bloomsbury Publishing, copyright Johnathan Buckley all rights reserved
here is a double page spread with a display of tulips in an assortment of pots made of terracotta or metal.
The essential design element, for her, is color. Let me make an aside: suggestions for container gardening often relies on Steve Silk's "Thriller, filler, spiller" advice: choose something tall, something trailing, and something filling in between. Sarah mentions this, then takes it up a level with color: Bride, Bridesmaid, and Gatecrasher. Not only white, ivory, cream. Choose the opposite and go for something rich and dark, saturated colors of dark brown, vermilion, crimson and everything between. Soft and warm colors. Soft and cool colors. Options and possibilities.
Timing is important, so the next chapter begins with January and February, the opening of the year. Discussion of primroses, and another about hyacinths. There are "best of" lists throughout the book to help you develop your own design combination.
image courtesy Bloomsbury Publishing, copyright Johnathan Buckley all rights reserved
For example, a page displaying a diversity of dahlias. It does not merely
name each of them but on the facing page offers a helpful description.
Create combinations on paper with images clipped from catalogs, magazines, wherever you find them, where you can adjust / adapt / revise / rearrange. Perhaps begin with something simple. It could be a single plant in a single pot. Or in multiple pots. Use a single color of multiple plants. Suggestions are provided but you, dear reader, are urged not to duplicate but make something of your own.
While A Year Full of Pots has a focus on flowers (as the subtitle explicitly states)
foliage is occasionally included, black leaved sweet potato vines, or as here
image courtesy Bloomsbury Publishing, copyright Johnathan Buckley all rights reserved
Osteospermum, African daisies, paired with Coleus 'FlameThrower Salsa Roja'
where the leaf color mimics the daisies center, warmed with yellow and orange.
Gardening practicalities are mentioned. Pinching - prune tender new growth with your fingers.
Potting bulbs for early spring color. Rooting cuttings. Sowing seeds. Sagacious, practical advice
image courtesy Bloomsbury Publishing, copyright Johnathan Buckley all rights reserved
from someone who gets their hands in the dirt. (Sarah advises guarding sweet peas from mice.)
Around the year indeed, from January & February to November & December. Color from flowers. Practical tasks. Specifics for particular plants from primroses to amaryllis, tulips and hyacinths. Scented plants. Climbing plants.
The table of contents does include, for each month, the extended information for specific plants e.g. May features Violas. Also what information provided in its Practical section e.g. May explains dismantling pots; preparing for planting. There is a thorough index for plants, down to cultivar level. At the very back of the book, along with Acknowledgements there is a discrete little notice that "Most of the plants, bulbs, dahlias and seedlings, plus many of the pots included in this book are available from sarahraven.com.com
A Year Full of Pots: Container flowers for all seasons
by Sarah Raven
photographs by Jonathan Buckley
published by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
ISBN: HB: 978-1-5266-6747-20, hardcover $35
A review copy of this book was provided by the publisher
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