Wild Flowers by Sarah Raven

Great..unless you tell me where you bought it from:((I wouldn't have a clue:(( Would really like to buy it too xx :))

Michaella - think of a South American river beginning with 'A'

Hi KS,sounds like a good buy..I have been watching her new series (was on last night ) & it is quite interesting,,all about what flowers we can plant for the bees & butterflies..

Oh, I know it now.. thank you Andrew :))) xxx

lol Michaella! :)) Thanks everyone!

xxxx thought you went to sleep Karen :))), I am off to bed now, only God knows what I might come up with whilst in bed... for the garden. lol. Does that makes sense. lol

Will take a look K...:>)

Have enjoyed her program immensely, and often looked at her books on Ama... will take a look at this one, thanks for the tip Karen.

I have just bought some Sarah Raven seeds - I hope they live up to her reputation, they weren't cheap. (But then, what is, these days?)

The wonder of the shopping site "A"..
You can get everything there....We have a parcel of some discription arrive weekly from the great A thanks to the mrs ....LOL

My favourite site, and SOOO useful, if we can get the couriers to get their A***s in gear. We are still waiting for two things ordered back at the end of December and the beginning of January.

This is btw, but Sarah Raven is the partner of Adam Nicolson, who's book 'The Scent of Summer Grass' is a great read and puts looking for a new house into a whole new league. The gardens at Perch Hill, the house they eventually bought, features in these programmes.

Sounds like a good book - off to look it up - I have watched the series it is good

P.S the title should read 'The Smell of Summer Grass'. Sorry about that.

Will look for the book,karen,might be useful for the small Wild Flower area i'm doing this year.

I am planning a small wild flower area in my garden. I have left it for a few years now and am amazed by what has self seeded maybe helped by the birds. The trouble with a book like Sarah Raven's is you will need a bigger garden Karen to grow all you favourites especially with seeds!!!! :o)))

I love a good gardening book and have a mini library in the kitchen where the cook books should go. I often refer back to some of my oldest ones and am amazed how much parts of my garden look like pictures I loved and had forgotten.

Have had a look on Azn. and it looks a wonderful book Karen thanks for the tip, she has another one too, the bold & brilliant garden!!! Looks gorgeous.

Muddy your name should be Victor. Lol

Ha ha ha ha ha! ;-))

I have to admit, Muddy, she does come across as a bit opinionated. It did make me think twice about buying her seeds - I didn't particularly want to make someone like that any richer.

Well sorry but I think she is charming and she knows her stuff, and she is a grafter.
GM that was the one I was looking at, a beautiful book.

Bought Toby Buckland's book "Planning and planting for continuous colour" and "Making wildflower meadows" by Pam Lewis.Has anyone read these? Both are very good especially the latter one.

Perch hill does look like an amazing place to live doesn't it? I'm not her greatest fan as a presenter but this book is great. I love her website and catalogues, they are so tempting, and it was on her site that I saw the rose 'Burgundy Ice' which is wonderful, so I have a few things to thank her for. I wouldn't want her life though....blimey...all that business AND a t.v. career, she must never stop working!

I'm with Muddy, I do feel like I'm being preached at a little. The last programme showed Harrogate not winning a Gold Medal, not due to their little bit of off the rails norm (not double dahlias etc) but because the staid upright planting of other towns was more in line with the judging policy. Big clap for Harrogate who are going to continue in the line of more wildlife friendly borders in the city flower beds.

And it's all a little twee.

But who do we blame for sterile, soldiers in line planting???

My little garden is a wildlife haven, not uniform maybe a little untidy.. I don't care, I sit in my garden on a summers day and listen to the sounds of nature.

I love books Karen, but would I buy this one, maybe not...Her fathers books on botaney perhaps would more interesting.

I couldn't stand her when she was on "Gardener's World" - she loved this and loved that - I think the record was 23 "loves" in a two minutes slot.

Well sorry folks but Im with Dottydaisy - I like her too. Ive just sent off for her book 'The Bold and the Brilliant'. I think she is quite a sensitive soul really - Did anyone see the Sissinghurst programmes last year? - she had such a battle with the chef there and the NT policies and bureaucracy. Facinating to watch though. I love lots of plants too!!!

As a man Andrew you might not understand this love thing. When asked which child do you love best the mothers reply would be 'the one needing me now'. Maybe she sees the plants as 'children' and it would be a poor world if we could only love one thing in flower on any day. As a Scot I can put her expressing her loving everything down to her being English and like Poppy I too love lots of plants. Just cos you don't say it we know from the other ways you have of talking about plants that you are a plantaholic like the rest of us. I'm not a tv programme fan but if she is on when I have the time to spare I will look in. I did not watch the Harrogate item through to the end so thank you for telling us what happened and I am really pleased that she is promoting the needs of the wildlife over the Victorian planting schemes all over the country. I don't have room for a full scale wild life garden but we do have a patch of nettles for the butterflies and I always choose single rather than double flowering plants.

Like her or dislike her . . . she's opening people's eyes to the need to cherish our butterflies and bees, and doing her bit to encourage us all to grow native wildflowers. I'd read about her book, Karen, but blanched at the price - however that's a great site you mentioned (I get into a lot of trouble with OH for the number of b***s that seem to drop on our doormat, lol). I like the sound of the one by Pam Lewis (Meadowland) - she's the lady who runs Sticky Wicket in Dorset, isn't she . . .somewhere I'd love to visit (I expect you know it??).

P.S. Thanks for the "review" Karen - I've just ordered a copy from my lovely local library, for 60p! I know it's not the same as owning a copy, but will be great to look at, as not sure I want another "encyclopedia" lol. I did this for the Neil Lucas book "Designing with Grasses" (the Knoll Gardens guy), and enjoyed reading it, but was glad I hadn't paid a fortune for it. :))

Sheila you are so right, she is opening peoples eyes regarding bees and butterflies returning to our gardens, and the world can only be a better place because of it, and I say good for her, at least she is trying to make a difference.......!!

Thanks Dotty! :))

We are really fortunate being surrounded by wild countryside - there are countless wildflowers and wildlife, and we have some wonderful insect life, too: even butterflies in the garden in December this year. I wish the farming community could be persuaded not to use so many chemicals, though: we are in danger of losing so much - last year, for instance, we only heard a single nightingale, as opposed to dozens of them in previous years. I'm not sure Sarah Raven would cut much ice with the locals, though.

She'd need to parliamo Italiano wouldn't she?!

I love Sarah Raven and so does my hubby as we like her approach to gardening. We are both enjoying her new programme and will have to look out for this book. Thanks Karen.

I can always translate for her, Sheila! How effectively, I'm not sure! An idea occurred to me - why don't I try collecting all the wildflower seed this summer and pass it around - I'll swear we have corncockles growing here, and aren't they extinct in the UK?

Troppo modesto Gattina!!
Lovely idea, and I'm sure GoYers would welcome any seeds. I've actually grown corncockles in my garden for the last two years, and must admit get gasps (of delight?!) from visitors. So they are fairly rarely seen in public spaces here. They produce plenty of seed which is easy to handle. :))

Not troppo modesta at all, Sheila, I am well known for my ability to get the locals rolling in the aisles and hiccupping to the point of mirthful collapse with my hilarious take on their language. The Italian health service is thinking of making me available for intractable cases of depression.

Lol Gattina! :))))

Just popped back in because my Gardens Illustrated mag dropped onto the doormat today, and included is an "offer" from Sarah Raven. You can send for two collections: 5 dark Cosmos seedlings, or 5 pale Cosmos seedlings . . . wait for it . . . EACH collection is £11.95, for 5 SEEDLINGS!! Free p&p for readers with more money than sense, lol. They do look gorgeous, obviously, tsk! I have put her lovely catalogue on the recycle pile . . .

I now feel a bit bad about my somewhat scathing last comment . . . sorry SR :((. I have just collected the extremely heavy encyclopaedic book, Wild Flowers by Sarah Raven, from the library, and it is amazing. All that work - it must have taken her ages to compile. And lovely photographs as you said, Karen, so thanks again for the "alert"!