A YEAR FULL OF POTS by Sarah Raven chronicles "Container Flowers for All Seasons." Its gorgeous cover is a mere hint at the absolutely stunning photographs interspersed throughout the detailed, practical explanations about plant types and care. Raven, a Sunday Times bestselling author and avid gardener for decades, lives in England which is the only quibble I have with the text. Her "spot-on" (and chronological by month) recommendations work well for that mild climate, but may not translate easily to the varied growing zones across the US. Still, there is so much to learn and lovely photos to savor – this text is worth a look.

The pictures in this book are amazing. A Year Full of Pots gave me so many ideas on how to design my garden this year. I also appreciated how it gave ideas on what plant colors blend well together and how to get the most out of using pots to add color to a garden space.

I currently have so much inspiration to grow everything in pots.
As someone who has been sowing their winter seeds, in anticipation for Spring, this book came at the perfect time. I am now looking forward to moving certain items into containers and pots. This jounrye can only be more fun, now that I have read A Full Year of Pots, and gained the knowledge that was taught.

This is a gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous book that features the container garden of Sarah Raven at Perch Hill, a container garden, I might add, that contains over 300 pots. I have about 16 pots, and I have trouble keeping up with them. Yes, Sarah has help, but she has an incredible knowledge of flowers, their pairings, their care, and a wonderful eye for color, and the arrangements of types, and textures.

Many of us have heard that when filling a container we need a thriller, a filler, and a spiller. Sarah takes that one step further by telling us that we need to choose a BRIDE (the star of the show), a BRIDESMAID (similar to the bride but smaller and less conspicuous), and a GATECRASHER (the color contrast, which brings the whole thing to life). I don’t think I will ever go to a garden center again without having this in mind.

There is so much to love about this book. I was so captivated by the photos, that I barely had time to read the text. One of the wonderful aspects of this is that, following her instruction, you can have a beautiful container garden that will bloom nonstop from spring until fall. For those of us with limited space, her suggestion of mounting flowerpots on walls, or elevating them to the table in order to put them on display, is a good one. I cannot say enough about this book. This is going to be my Bible this summer.


Many thanks to NetGalley and Bloomsbury Publishing for allowing me an advanced look at this beautiful, volume in exchange for an honest review.

I’m so excited to get started using some of the amazing info I have learned from this book to create some gorgeous potting arrangements! It’s such a great book because it helps explain that preparing your planter pots is not just for the warm months—it’s a year round event!
The first section on designing pots helps you figure out what types of plants and colors work best together. Beautiful, richly colored photos accompany the palette ideas and provide lots of inspiration! The form that the plants will take on as they grow also has a section to read about for consideration when designing your planter pots most effectively.
The months of the year are broken down into sections explaining what plants work best that time of year. I love that there are specific plant names included so that you can find them a bit easier on your own. I also really love the ‘plant combo list’ illustrations to clarify what to include or look for when creating your pot. There is also detailed info on sowing and when/how to do this that is very helpful for the beginner.
I really enjoyed this book and gained so much from it! This is one I would love to order so I can have a hard copy in my home library, both for gardening help as well as for a reference for my artistic projects! The photos are so high quality and gorgeous, and provide so much inspiration.
This book has given me so many ideas to try, and I would also love to gift it to my flower-loving friends! Thank you for creating this amazing resource!

A Year Full of Pots by Sarah Raven – Filled with Helpful Garden Design Ideas, Information and Spectacular Photographs

I listen and learn from Sarah Raven’s podcast and was eager to read her newest book A Year Full of Pots. What a tremendous resource this book is for gardeners.

Sarah specifically focuses on plants in pots throughout the year, month by month. She starts out by giving some rules of thumb for designing combinations of plants that work well together.

Then month by month, Sarah shares what plants she puts in containers. January and February bring color into the new year. In March and transition from winter to spring and using bulbs. In April learning to do a bulb lasagna and how to do it. May is working with tender perennials. June, summer begins with making plant supports and fertilizer. July the garden flourishes. August looks at flowering plants. September when tender perennial climbers are at their peak performance. As autumn comes having perennials and those plants that will perform late into the season. In November and December there are still some hardy flowering plants to take center stage as wells as bulbs. Worked into each chapter are tasks that need to be done.

I appreciated the helpful information and details about different varieties that Sarah uses in her garden pots, what she likes about the different plants. The book is chock full of pictures, gorgeous photos that you will want to look back on for design ideas for your own garden, in pots or perhaps worked into landscape.

Even though I live in a very different area than Sarah, I can take the ideas and designs work them into our home garden. I loved this book and was on sensory overload looking at the spectacular photographs. So many beautiful photos, ideas and information to enjoy and learn from.

I highly recommend A Year Full of Pots by Sarah Raven. I plan on purchasing a copy of this book when it is published on April 9, 2024. I want to use it as a reference guide filled with helpful information and design inspiration.

I would like to thank Bloomsbury USA Publishers and NetGalley for an opportunity to read a complimentary copy of A Year Full of Pots by Sarah Raven. I was under no obligation to give a favorable review.

This book has me dreaming of warmer weather so I can incorporate these flowers into my yard. The pictures were lovely. The book was broken up nicely into organized sections. I think this book will be very helpful for someone looking to add more flowers to their yard.

I loved the photos and the descriptions of the plants the author used in her container gardens. Sarah Raven’s gardens at Perch Hill contained over 300 pots. I was overwhelmed last summer, in the drought, watering the seventeen containers I had in my garden.

Understandably, the author has a head gardener and most likely more folks on staff to plan and carry out the gorgeous gardens she has.

This book is a wealth of gardening information. It is organized month by month in describing tasks and goals for producing a fantastic garden of plants potted in containers. It is important to note that because this garden is in Britain and makes use of flowers, seeds, and plant materials from the UK and the Netherlands, gardeners in the U.S. might not be able to acquire the same varieties.

Most gardeners would enjoy adding this volume to their library. On a cold winter day like this, it is great to kick back and just look at flower/garden photos!

Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read and give an honest review of
this book.

This is a fantastic book for its audience, even though I personally didn’t enjoy reading it. The book is huge, brimming with beautiful photos, and packed with information.

That said, I personally had to make myself read it as is not useful to me for several reasons. Firstly, the author seems to spend thousands of dollars on her hundreds of pots every single year. Most of these plants must be replaced every year, and she plants monthly so it’s an enormous continual expense. Not only is that out of reach for many of us, but it’s not very sustainable or environmentally friendly either. These are (mostly) not native plants that help wildlife. These are mass grown hybrids shipped out from far away and grown with chemical fertilizers and pesticides. In addition, this seems to be all she does with most of her time, as she is sewing seeds, placing orders, planting bulbs, replanting pots, etc every month of the year. That’s not really realistic for most of us either.

All of that aside, it is a beautiful book and her knowledge of these plants is extensive. Most gardeners will love this book for the eye candy alone.

I read a temporary digital copy of this book for review.

The author has filled this book to overflowing with beautiful stunning images of flowers and arrangements. This book gives not only different kinds of flowers, perennials, and annuals but also color combinations, cultivars, arrangements, sunlight requirements, as well as pollinator-friendly and sensory-oriented collections. I would recommend this read for the serious floriculturist or anyone trying to increase their knowledge of the variety of flowers and subspecies available for the serious horticulturist.

A breathtaking look at the authors garden.Planting a gorgeous color palette of flowers in Sarah Ravens collection of pots.This book is a guide to how and when to plant to bring out the most beautiful flowers.so eye pleasing a delightful book.#netgalley #bloomsbury.