The Bold and Brilliant Garden

The Bold and Brilliant Garden is a stunningly beautiful book, crammed full of inspired ideas with glorious photography by Jon athan Buckley.Sarah Raven knows her plants and has a sure instinct for drama and daring. This is no-holds- barred gardening at its most exhilarating--few other gardeners would risk bright pink hyacinths amongst burnt orange wallflowers, punctuated by young rhubarb shoots, newly liberated from their forcing pots, in shades of pink and yellow; or suggest enhancing the effect of the almost black tulip Queen of the Night by scattering the gold and scarlet slashed Mickey Mouse amongst them. Her work as a flower grower and florist ensures that she has sought out the best varieties and many unusual colour variations.

One of the great strengths of this book is that although the brilliant flowers are undoubtedly the stars, the supporting cast is not neglected--foliage is used throughout as a backdrop, for structure and as a foil for the vivid colours of the flowers. Sarah Raven admits that her type of gardening is labour intensive, but at a time when too much gardening attempts to be "instant" it is refreshing to read a book which honestly states that effort is required to achieve stunning results. --Stephanie Donaldson

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Bold and Borrowed - Rated
a good gardening book but somewhat misleading, in the small print it tells you that the plants and arrangements are not actually in Sarah Ravens own garden. I find this quite dissapointing.

A fantastic and inspirational book - Rated
Having borrowed this book from my local library several months ago and renewed it so many times I feel guilty, I've come to realise that I simply must buy this book. Having read it cover to cover and gazed at the gorgeous pictures, I now dip into it in on a regular basis for reference and ideas. This book is full of suggestions for filling your garden with a riot of colour and dramatic foliage with sections on suggestions for damp, dry, sunny and shady areas with helpful planting plans. Not a book for those who like their gardens sedate and pastel coloured but for everyone else it really is a must have book. Honestly one of the best gardening book I have ever read.

The best gardening book around - Rated
Too many garden books these days are blighted both by pockets of bad taste and by dreary colour schemes. You cannot accuse Sarah Raven of either of these. Her favoured flowers are stunning and her sense of colour does what all gardens should do-cheer you up. Her selection is quite tight, which prevents confusion-a great asset. In addition, the book is clearly set out, with simple guidance as to which plants are suitable for a)early and late flowering b)shady or sunny ground. Lastly, the photographs are superb so that, even if you are a novice (like me) the book is, quite simply, a beautiful read.