The Bold and Brilliant Garden [Paperback]

Sarah Raven (Author), Jonathan Buckley (Photographer)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 3, 2001

This work offers a new approach to planning and planting. It shows how to throw caution to the wind and orchestrate colors, textures, scale and scent to spectacular effect from spring until autumn. The key is color: intense, strong and voluptuous - deep crimsons combined with acid green and incandescent orange, for example. Integral to Sarar Raven's vision is a feeling for dramatic scale: plants with huge presence, architectural foliage, strong, sculptural shapes. To complete the effect, she includes flowers with silken and velvety textures and describes how to flood the garden with scent. There are schemes for sunny, open beds and borders for shady areas, for damp soils and to clothe walls and fences - many of which include lots of quick-growing annuals and take only a season to achieve.

Editorial Reviews

Review

An antidote to pale pink and blue gardening. -- Stephen Anderton Times A seriously researched and really useful guide. -- Monty Don Observer With stunning photography by Jonathan Buckley, this beautiful book is a must=have for anyone who loves their garden Period Ideas

About the Author

Sarah Raven, writer, cook, broadcaster and teacher, is an expert on all things to grow, cut and eat from your garden. She runs cooking, flower arranging and gardening courses from her farm in East Sussex and is the author of several books on gardening, including The Cutting Garden, which won the Garden Writers' Guild Award for Best Specialist Gardening Book in 1993. She also writes for national newspapers and magazines and is a presenter on BBC Gardeners' World. Sarah is married to the writer Adam Nicolson and has two daughters and three stepsons. They live at Perch Hill Farm in East Sussex. To visit Jonathan Buckley's website click here

Product Details

• Paperback: 168 pages
• Publisher: Frances Lincoln (May 3, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0711217521
• ISBN-13: 978-0711217522
• Product Dimensions: 11.2 x 9.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #881,092 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An inspiring book, June 6, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Bold and Brilliant Garden (Hardcover)

I loved this book- it had beautiful photographs and good descriptions of the plants used. It was helpful to have the seasons and preferred exposure of the plants included in their description. There are also several good sample garden plans. My only disappointment (if it can be so considered) was that many of the featured plants are not hardy in my zone 4 garden (Ms. Raven's garden is in Britain).For anyone who loves contrast in their gardens, this is the book to inspire you!

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars For those who LOVE color, October 5, 2005

By 

Brian M. Shea (Chicago,IL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Bold and Brilliant Garden (Paperback)

I LOVED this book. Ms. Raven is a woman after my own heart. We have the same color sensibilites and I naturally gravitated towards this book. She is a proponent of using bright,saturated colors and deep,rich colors in the garden,in contrasting groups as opposed to soft pastels and whites-the "wedding colors" as she calls them. She also is fond of using bold,architectural foliage. I couldn't agree with her more. I loved the two page layout of the "floral pallette" she uses,they are all of the colors I love(and I love color). The photographs are beautiful and I really liked how they took photographs of flowers,with their colors and blended the pages into a kind of pallete. I do share the dissapointment of one reviewer-that Ms. Raven's garden is in another zone from mine,and so therefore many of the plants she grows will not survive in my zone 5 Chicago garden. And I don't even think I have ever seen a wallflower here in my life! The text on plant culture is informative and helpful,but not casual reading-it can get a little boring. Use it as reference. The strongest point in this book is the photographs,as it should be. This book is about color in the garden so visual strength would be the only way to go. This book is a great combination fo informative and practical and visual and inspirational. This book really inspired me and I highly reccomend it-now on to order some spring bulbs!

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Exelent guidelines for working with bold colors, August 31, 2000

By 

A. Robredo "karmita" (Argentina) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Bold and Brilliant Garden (Hardcover)

I have found this book very inspiring. The pictures are great and the text is full of practical knowledge. Although I am from another zone (Zone 9) I found that the guidelines, the concept in the designs, are so well described that is easy for anyone to adapt them to their own zone. It is not a book for "just copying designs" but to learn how to manage color, texture, scale and develop you own creativity.