to our new-look catalogue which from now on, as well as showcasing my favourite things this season, will include lots of useful information and inspiration to help you make the most of your garden, large or small (see Tom's town garden on page 34). We hope you’ll keep and refer to it, tear things out, stick them on to plans and make really good use of these pages, much as you might with a magazine.
Last year was, no doubt, a challenging one for gardeners. But with lighter spring days ahead, I’m looking forward to the growing season with excitement and optimism. Not least because this season is dahlia planting time. As my favourite plants ever, there are many pages dedicated to them in with plants in every shape, colour and size — from the elegant and ethereal (like ‘Verrone’s Obsidian’ on page 20) to the gargantuan and showy, where one flower alone will fill a bowl (see ‘Café au Lait’ on page 20).
Josie, Tom and I have been working on breeding our own dahlias, both here at Perch Hill and in the Netherlands. I’ll tell you a bit more about that process on page 18. These are our babies and we think they’re exceptionally beautiful, but there are other reasons they lead the way — with unusually long vase lives (like ‘Molly Raven’ or ‘Perch
Hill’, see page 19), or because they’re particularly beneficial for butterflies and bees (‘Lou Farman’ and ‘Sarah Raven’, see pages 19 and 20).
I started gardening through growing cut flowers and veg. Both feel like foundation stones of my life. If that’s your thing too, we have some great new selections for you to try (see page 40).
Of course, wherever you garden, containers are key —
so I’m particularly excited to show you our new collections for months of colour and scent.
So let’s hope we avoid the endless rain of last spring and that instead, the sun shines — and so do our gardens!
Here’s a short story which explains why gardening and the natural world can be the best of friends.
I was sitting at a table writing in our perennial cutting garden at Perch Hill over the long weekend we had for the Jubilee in 2022. It was early June and our band of lupins was at its most splendid, but we had a bad case of lupin aphid, along with a heavy infestation of greenfly, coating and devouring an increasing number of stems.
Soon a pair of blackbirds came to join them and then three robins, down at ground level. After an hour I went to see what was going on. Across the whole line of lupins there was not a single aphid, whereas the evening before, the spires had been alive with bugs.
This was my eureka moment. Look after the garden birds and they’ll help keep our pests in balance and under control.
collectively, we really can make a meaningful change
The evening before I’d jetted the flower spires with a hose — that’s a good way to get rid of bugs. Sitting 10 metres away the following morning I noticed a clutch of justfledged blue tits, still pretty rough and ready with their new punk-rocker plumage, going to and fro from their nest in the hawthorn hedge on the southern side of the garden.
There was a continual circuit of young birds moving between the hedge and lupin row. Once there, they were hopping around at ground level and then one by one, climbing up the flower spires.
In the spring, many breeding garden birds move from mainly eating seeds to gathering caterpillars, aphids, small slugs, snails and their eggs to feed their young. They are your helpers — as of course are butterflies and bees and a huge number of the cast of things in a natural garden.
Improving biodiversity in all its parts is core to what we do. It benefits the world and enriches our enjoyment of the space. Be patient and observe the changes as your garden evolves into a vibrant and thriving ecosystem.
Collectively, we really can make a meaningful change.
We’re thrilled to be the first online garden retailer to become B Corp certified — a huge achievement that demonstrates our ongoing commitment to positive social and environmental practices.
It’s always our aim to reduce, recycle and repurpose. From our Lincolnshire nursery, powered by its own bio-thermal energy; to Perch Hill, where we garden organically and 100% peat-free. We’re conscious of our actions, and considerate in the choices we make to maintain our high sustainability standards.
To learn more about B Corp and our sustainability promise visit: sarahraven.com/b-corp
The Pollinator Pair Collection 513552
FOR abundance
There’s something incredible about having the best possible florist and greengrocer right on your doorstep, especially when stocked with all your favourite things.
People always say when they come to supper here, “Did this all really come from your garden? Did you really grow all those flowers in that vase? All those herbs and leaves in that salad?”
And nothing gives me more of a glow than being able to say, “YES we did!” I know I have help and a crazy amount of space, but with cut-and-come-again, even with a windowbox, we can all do it.
TO ENJOY irresistible scent
Perhaps because so much of the way people talk and write about gardening is visual, scent always seems to be the Johnny-come-lately of the garden, but we all know that sudden surge of pleasure and even amazement when, on a warm evening, you find yourself enveloped in a cloud of surprising deliciousness from a highly scented rose or sweet pea arch or tower.
Vintage Sunflower Collection 512076
Venetian and Harlequin Sweet Pea Collection 510682
Plum and Apricot Cut Flower Collection 140082
FORcolour
In the midwinter months I develop something that feels like a real hunger for colour. More than the cold and even the damp, it’s the lack of colour in winter that gets me leafing through catalogues and websites again. In my book, a garden is really nothing without colour.
Cranberry and Lime Zinnia Collection 190597
Helianthus annuus ‘Claret’ F1 020073
TO CREATE biodiversity
Ever-increasingly at my home at Perch Hill, I look to encourage many of the wild things to co-occupy the garden with us. Nowadays, a garden without birds, butterflies or bees seems like a completely diminished thing. It’s the whole ecology that matters, so that companion plants, seedy and nectar rich, fruit-thick gardening HAS to be the way. This doesn’t need to diminish all the other great things a garden can have — in fact, it enhances what we can all get from our gardens.
So make your garden a mini nature reserve — yourself and the world will be greatly better for it!
In April this year, writer Adam Nicolson (Sarah’s husband) will release his latest book ‘Bird School: A Beginner in the Wood’. It follows Adam’s story of getting to know the birds at Perch Hill.
SCAN THE CODE
to find out how to transform your outdoor space into a wildlife haven
dahlias
The superstars of the summer and autumn garden. Discover the roots of Sarah’s favourite flower
‘Rip City’ was the first dahlia I grew. I bought it from the nursery at Monet’s garden in Giverny in 1999. Dahlias were out of fashion then, but the sight of ‘Rip City’ growing in the ‘paint box beds’ (that’s what the colour co-ordinated beds are called at Giverny) in late September instantly converted me. I loved this one’s rich, plush texture and the dark colouring of its flowers. Plus, the scale of the flowerheads was impressive, being the size of a small plate.
I bought three plants, stashed them away in a cold frame until the following spring and then planted them with the similarly textured Mexican sunflower (Tithonia rotundifolia) and some matching chocolate cosmos (C. atrosanguineus). The dahlias romped, growing to nearly my height, with just those three original plants of ‘Rip City’ giving bunch after bunch of flowers every week for 20 weeks or more. That was it for me. I’ve been a big dahlia fan ever since.
Our newly mild winters mean that dahlias can be treated much like a perennial; in all but the coldest, highest and wettest spots, they can be left in the garden through the winter in the UK. There is then no more generous, lowermaintenance flowering plant.
Dahlias are all prolifically cut-and-come-again. Whether you’re live-heading or deadheading, by removing the leader of any stem, you are encouraging axillary buds to develop below and more flowers to form. The lower you pick in the plant, the longer the time delay until the next lot. I regularly pick three foot stems for huge vases at home; that means I won’t get another flower on that part of the plant for two or three weeks, but it’s always worth it. I just need more plants.
I harvest in the cool of the evening or early in the morning when the flowers are fully open, but the petals at the back still look fresh. On average, dahlias picked at this time of day should have a vase life of four days. There are a few that do better: ‘Perch Hill’, ‘Molly Raven’, ‘Night Silence’, ‘Adam’s Choice’ and ‘Zundert Mystery Fox’ all last nearly a week in water.
Most of those in the single-flowered group are generally not so long-lasting, looking good cut for only a couple of days. Those in the anemone-flowered group, such as ‘Blue Bayou’ and ‘Totally Tangerine’, don’t make good cut flowers either. They’re best left in the garden, but look magnificent there.
Since planting ‘Rip City’ 25 years ago, we now have more than a hundred different varieties. We have dahlias in the herbaceous borders, dahlias in pots, dahlias in the cutting garden and on the veg and salad bank. I even decorate our salads with a jazz of dahlia petals (which are edible). We’ve run a dahlia trial every year for more than a decade and in 2018 we created a new garden almost completely devoted to dahlias. In spring 2020, we added two other vast dahlia beds, both 15 metres across. You can’t move for dahlias here in the autumn.
Extracted from Sarah’s book, A Year Full of Flowers. Exclusive signed copies of this, plus Sarah’s latest book, A Year Full of Pots, are available on our website, plus much more.
Dahlia ‘Rip City’ 229142
MEET OUR
latest dahlia collections
Our newest collections bring something special to the garden table. Curated by Sarah and a few honoured guests, they showcase our absolute favourite new colourways and combinations from the growing beds at Perch Hill. July — late October
1. Tom’s Dahlia Collection
Tom, our Head of Horticulture, loves dahlias as much as I do. He put together these apricot and crimson varieties to plant in his small, town garden. He has a jam-packed flower and colour-abundant space just waiting for this collection to fill it all summer and autumn. 229683
2. Bea’s Summer Dahlia Collection
Selected by Bea Andrews, our Head Gardener before Josie Lewis, from our dahlia trial beds. Bea is now a florist and comes back to Perch Hill to decorate the whole place for our open days. She knows what she likes to pick and these were her favourites last summer and autumn. 229684
new
Shells on the Beach
Dahlia Collection
Seasoned customers will know I love to divide flowers into four different colour palettes, the most fashionable right now being Soft and Warm, which includes pastel colours in the café-au-lait, apricot and peach range. They remind me of cashmere jersey colours or shells on a sandy beach. That’s just what inspired this dahlia collection, with just a splash of rich crimson to stop the mix becoming too sweet. 229691
new
1. Best Ever Dahlia Collection
If I had to take only three dahlias to a desert island, it would be these. Marvellous as individuals and magnificent as a trio — passionately recommended! 229303
2. Jemima’s Dahlia Collection
Before moving to the Sarah Raven Marketing team, Jemima worked with us in the garden and school at Perch Hill and developed her own strong, well-evolved and distinct dahlia passions. This collection is perfect for pots too. 229682
3. Marrakesh Dahlia Collection
Bold, exotic and architectural with a hint of Islamic patterns, tiles and mosaics, this is one for the interior designers. 229613
4. Pewter Dahlia Collection
The beauty of this duo is as much in the texture of the flowers, as the fantastic combination of colours. ‘Night Silence’, as matte as a pewter plate. Alongside the coppery ‘Adam’s Choice’, they are the perfect pair. I love the ipomoea growing through the two (as shown here). 229675
5. Molly Raven
Dahlia Collection
Dahlia ‘Molly Raven’ has become a stalwart here with fantastic vase life, as well as being a pot-compatible size, so when one of our plants threw up single and semi-double flowers, we got excited and so have now bred enough to offer it (we’ve called it ‘Jonathan Buckley’, see over page). To me, this has an extra grace and delicacy, mirrored by the others I’ve picked ‘Molly’ with here. 229674
LOVED BY pollinators
Selected for their open single or semi-double form, and ideal for visiting insects our pollinator-friendly dahlias give a boost to biodiversity.
Pollinators’ Party Dahlia Collection
Butterflies love these open-faced dahlias, because they can easily reach the nectar inside. What I love about this collection is that the colours, in combination, are as seductive and attractive to us as the flowers are to the butterflies — a double win. (Pictured here.) 229505
1. Arthur’s Doorstep
Dahlia Collection
The coolest dahlia party. More at home in LA than East Sussex, they’re vibrant, sassy, juicy and rich. All are brilliant singles stacked full of pollen and nectar for the bees. 229452
2 Like Butterflies for Butterflies Dahlia Collection
We have long loved ‘Blue Bayou’ and have been working with our Dutch suppliers to find more dahlia varieties with the same feel. As a result we have created this beautiful anemone-flowered collection. They look as showy as doubles, yet every flower centre is filled with nectar tubes, making it twice as beautiful. 229506
‘Rhubarb and Custard’ 229716 ‘Jonathan Buckley’ 229709
‘Blue Bayou’ 229204
‘Princess Nadine’ 229695
See below photo of this same collection arranged in a series of vases. For dill seedlings, see our website.
Our dahlias for cutting have been selected for their beauty, cut-and-come again qualities and for their stand-out vase life.
From Border to Vase Dahlia Collection
Some highly bred dahlias are in my view, best for picking, while others (more natural-looking) are best for growing in a border — but I promise that this lot are excellent for both. Grow with dill (Anethum graveolens), for the perfect contrast in colour and form. Put some seedlings in this year and it will then forever self-sow. 229685
ESSENTIAL floristry kit
Follow our simple steps to enhance the vase life of your cut flowers
RECOMMENDED KIT:
• Picking Bucket
• Florist’s Scissors
• Willow Flower Picking Trug
• Niwaki Pin Holder
• Favourite Jade Vase (see right)
• Cut Flower Food
STEP 1. HARVESTING
Use snips for thinner stems and scissors for thicker ones, collecting flowers in a Willow Trug (see below) for ease before placing into water.
STEP 2. CONDITIONING
Strip the lower stem of foliage and sear in boiling water for five seconds to kill bacteria and prolong vase life.
STEP 3. CREATING A BASE
It’s important to provide support for your arrangement at the base of your vase. Avoid florists’s foam or even chicken wire and opt for pinholders and Florafix instead.
STEP 4. FILLING YOUR VASE
Fill with clean water, adding a pinch of Cut Flower Food per litre to help extend the vase life.
1. Ascot Hat Dahlia Collection
Is it a fascinator you’re after, or a fully blown, ostrich feather decked hat? With this lot you can have that glamour in your garden. They look like they are marching down a runway or are on parade at Ascot. 229619
2. Willow Crossley Dahlia Collection
Willow is a great florist and the queen of the bicolour tulip and dahlia. Her arrangements are all garden-based but have an unparalleled glamour, just like you see with this tablescape mix of dahlias picked by her at Perch Hill. 229679
See page 38 to meet the rest of the Sarah Raven Collective
3. Jemima’s Cut Flower Classic Collection
I asked Jemima (see p13 for more on Jemima) to go into the garden and pick her favourite six flowers last summer. This is what she put together. The loveliest tonal colour mix of dahlias and annual cut flowers from Perch Hill. 513329
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dahlia breeding
SPOTLIGHT ON: dahlia breeding
Every autumn, several of the Sarah Raven team head off to the Netherlands on an annual dahlia-hunting trip, visiting the best breeders of one of my all-time favourite plants. With the dahlia’s return to fashion there are now hundreds of new varieties released every year. This makes it easy to feel overwhelmed, but as long as we know what we’re after, this trip is one of the most exciting and rewarding weeks of the year.
The thing about a dahlia is that it’s easy to hybridise and you can create endless new possibilities, selecting a couple of good parents — one perhaps a prolific seed producer, the other a great beauty — and then seeing what emerges. With each new
cross, no seed produces the same flower as its brother or sister. Each one is unique and that’s part of the joy. Of course, there are some that don’t make the grade; the yellow being too strident or the red too pillar box due to dominant genes. Nevertheless there are always a few jewels in amongst them.
Josie Lewis, our Head Gardener, is as dahlia obsessed as I am and today she’s in charge of our mini breeding programme closer to home at Perch Hill. The process here starts every July, when Josie nets the flowers of the mother plants she’s selected. The air-permeable bags protect the stigmas from pollinators who would otherwise do the job naturally.
We then wait until the flowers have fully developed before bringing the pollen of the other parent to the netted flower to unite the two, brushing the pollen of the cut flower onto the stigma of the one that’s still growing. The pollinated flower head is then re-netted to ensure purity.
If we get a decent autumn with some dry weather (sadly
rather lacking in 2024), we can then harvest a partially dry seedhead which continues to ripen, the stem sitting in 1cm of water inside. We usually get between five to 20 seedlings from each head, which can be planted out once the frosts are over in their very first year of life.
Then it’s the moment to judge the fruits of our labour. We walk the trials with a bundle of canes to mark any seedlings that look particularly unusual or interesting. The tubers of the chosen few are dug up before the frosts at the end of their first flowering season. We then trial and test for two or three more years to check the new hybrid is favourable for cuttings from the tuber; has a good vase life; and is easy and robust to grow before we back a very select few. We have found and made some incredible dahlias in just this way — and that’s the process behind all the varieties on the next page.
‘Molly Raven’ 229395
‘Klara Zak’ 229657
‘Adam’s Choice’ 229655
‘Sarah Raven’ 229346
OUR DAHLIA
‘Cafe au Lait’ 229285 ‘Labyrinth’ 229270
‘Sweet Sanne’ 229635
Year in year out, this selection of dahlias is the crème de la crème
‘Lou Farman’ 229425
‘Totally Tangerine’ 229271
‘Peaches’ 229631
‘Copper Boy’ 229624
‘Verrone’s Obsidian’ 229326
how to grow dahlias
Dahlias are the highlight of the summer and autumn garden. But to guarantee their success and a floriferous display, timing is everything. Follow our simple guide, below, to get a head start this spring. Or if you don’t have the space, time or inclination, let us grow them for you and buy already well-established plants which will be sent out to go straight into the garden in May.
Essential kit:
Sarah Raven
Recycled 3L Pots 420112
1.
POT UP Start tubers off undercover in early spring. Half-fill a 3L pot with peat-free compost and place the tuber with the central stem upwards. Cover with compost, label and lightly water. Then place somewhere cool, bright and frost-free. Shoots should appear in two to three weeks ready to pinch out.
3.
STAKE Dahlias grow quickly, and so should be grown alongside a stake. Continue to tie in every couple of weeks during summer as they can easily break off at the base in wind or rain if not securely staked.
Essential kit: Willow Flower Stakes 410119
SCAN THE CODE to read our full Growing Guide, from more growing advice to aftercare tips and much more
2.
PLANT OUT Once the risk of frost has passed, dig a generous planting hole in a sunny, sheltered position. Add organic matter and grit for drainage. Place into the hole with the tubers just below the surface and fill in around the rootball.
Essential kit: Niwaki Golden Spade 440208
4.
HARVEST Enjoy a glorious show in the garden, with plenty of flowers to cut and bring indoors. The dahlias will continue to flower into November. Remember to deadhead to keep the dahlias looking their best. Visit sarahraven.com/essential-dahlia-kit to shop even more must-have dahlia essentials
Essential kit: Horticultural Potting Grit 430155
Essential kit: Florist’s Scissors 279079
cont ai n e r plants
Fill your pots with colour, scent and more
new
No garden is complete without pots overflowing with colour, scent and texture. Even if you garden on a windowsill or balcony, a single planted container can totally transform your space.
At Perch Hill, we pride ourselves on our ever-changing pot displays. But they also serve a vital function: as testing ground for different plant combinations to determine those that will perform happily for months on end, unbothered by their cosy proximity with their fellow container neighbours.
We do the trialling and testing for you to guarantee success. This season’s collections are no exception, with carefully chosen planting combinations for low-effort and maximum impact.
For stunning effect in a larger space, group containers together or stage at different levels to draw the eye. Or, collect on an outdoor table as an al fresco centrepiece. For paths
and doorways too, a planted container softens hard edges, particularly if you fill it with pollinator-friendly varieties. These will bring nature right up to your door.
Wherever you garden, find a place for these tried and tested combinations and sit back to enjoy long-lasting displays of foliage and flowers.
Most of our container plants thrive in full sun See our website for full growing information.
Sarah Raven Classic Container Collection
This huge container illustrates all our rules of what to put with what: a Thriller, the petunia; Filler, the phlox; Spiller, the thunbergia; and a Pillar, the salvia. Whether in one large pot or four, these look so good together. 513429
Butterfly Pink Pot Collection
An outstandingly longflowering, incredibly pretty, low maintenance container combination. This collection excelled in our 2016 summer trial, was continually busy with butterflies and bees and we’ve grown it for every one of the eight years since. 190576
Our container plants are low-effort for MAXIMUM
IMPACT
They will give you an exceptional succession of colour and texture from early summer to the end of autumn
Set the stage for these showstopping collections, specially curated to give you whopper displays all summer long.
1. Sarah’s Favourite Large Pot Collection
I don’t want to be inventive when naming this trio of plants growing together in this large pot. Instead, I just want to tell you that this was my favourite pot collection last summer. It features a marvellous newly-bred dahlia, the single soft flame-coloured ‘Hawaiian Sunrise’, with the ever-good understorey of phlox and black eyed Susans trailing down the sides of the pot. 513412
2. Strike a Pose Pot Collection
Powerful, punchy container dahlias — not for the faint-hearted but much-loved in the garden here last summer paired with the equally long-flowering Salvia ‘Angel’s Wings’. 513415
3. Crimson Silk Pot Collection
A brilliant, low-maintenance combination for clouds of carmine and crimson, flowering from June until your first hard frost. 190570
centrepieces
Go for great mixes of colour, along with beautiful rich textures (of flowers and leaves), as well as scent for stellar table centre pots. Every one of these was trialled and tested throughout summer and autumn with these characteristics in mind, and are featured here because they excelled.
1. Fragrance and Daisies Collection
Perfect for a sunny table, window ledge or south facing wall, this pairing of scented leaf pelargoniums and ever-flowering erigeron is one I’d recommend to anyone seeking low-maintenance, good-looking pots all summer and autumn. Crush a leaf as you walk past and you’ve also got one of the best garden fragrances ever. 513406
2. Daisies — Little and Large Collection
A great pairing of erigerons. So super easy, long-flowering, showy and perennial too, for a pot that lasts for years. 513434
Visit sarahraven.com/plants/daisies for more varieties from the daisy family
1. Elegant Fuchsia Pot Collection
We’ve had these three fuchsias in pots growing at Perch Hill for five years and every year I take my hat off to them, for their pretty year-round loveliness. They’re the most elegant fuchsias we’ve trialled and such performers, they’re hard to rival. 513377
2. Living Table Centre Container Collection
The epitome of my Bride (bidens), Bridesmaid (calibrachoa) and Gatecrasher (nemesia) colour combination rule, this flowers long and late to fill a windowbox or table centre for any garden, mini or huge. 512431
3. Nemesia ‘Lady Ruby’
Part of the new ‘Lady’ clan in a real ruby amethyst, as its name implies. This is densely flowery and early too, putting on a show from April or May. 190688
a warm welcome
Line paths and dress doorways with cheerful containers, full to the brim with colour and scent — perfectly placed to welcome you and your guests.
1. Josie’s Doorstep Collection
In the sunny yard outside Josie’s office, the Bride here is the single dahlia ‘Happy Single Juliet’, matched by the oh-so-cheerful Phlox ‘Brilliant’, with the contrasting colour (or Gatecrasher) the cedar-scented Pelargonium quercifolius. 513401
2. Filigree Pot Collection
With delicate looks but a robust growing habit, this pairing on our sunny greenhouse doorstep did so well for so long last summer it became one of our favourite pots in the whole growing season. I’ve long admired the acer-lookalike foliage of annual Hibiscus ‘Mahogany’, perfectly accompanied here by the hard-to-beat Cosmos ‘Rubenza’. 513400
3. Perfect Pairing Zinnia and Dahlia Pot Collection
If you’ve been shopping with us for a while you’ll know I love dahlias and zinnias equally — and none better than these two. Both are an ideal size for container growing; and they flower and flower, looking good right into autumn. Both pick beautifully too. The zinnia lasts three weeks in a vase. 513391
4. Purple Doorstep Pot Collection
Scent and minimal TLC yet superb flower performance. This is ideal for those with little space and time but who want lovely looking things to pass on their doorstep or on window ledges everyday. A perfect present for the starter urban gardener. 513436
Achillea millefolium 'Flowerburst Red Shades' I have this in pots on the doorstep of my office, selected because it’s one of the longest-flowering perennials you can grow, which still looks nice with seedheads into winter.
Drought-tolerant, low-maintenance and the perfect height for a decent-sized container.
513098
Visit our website to discover our range of zinc pots and containers
a room WITH A v ew
Make the most of every growing space, turn window ledges into focal points by filling them with pots, whether you have a garden or not.
Cosmos atrosanguineus ‘Chocolate’, Pelargonium ‘Attar of Roses’, Gaura lindheimeri ‘Sparkle White’ and Verbena rigida growing in a windowbox within Tom’s Town Garden. Discover more on pages 34 and 35
Make your pots and containers as beautiful, long-performing, abundant and floriferous as you possibly can with our tried and tested windowbox and balcony pot collections to admire from outside and in.
1. Summer Fruit Salad Container Collection
A marvellous summer fiesta in a pot with the classic Sarah Raven contrast of burnt orange and purple — hard to beat. The nemesias, if overwintered inside will come back for a second season. You’ve got to try it! 510994
2. Calibrachoa ‘Double Can-Can Wine Red’
Like brocade curtains for hanging down the side of our window boxes and larger pots at Perch Hill, this is one of our top five new container plant discoveries of recent trials. It flowers June to November without deadheading plus it is heat and drought-tolerant. 511572
Visit our website to shop our full range of hanging planters
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Zinc Oval Curved Troughs 430136
Round Wire Hanging Basket
The shape of this basket provides lots of room and will look good hanging against a wall or shed, if you are short of space. Pack the base with moss or Hortiwool, to help retain moisture. 420483
1. Loose and Lovely Window Box Container Collection
With the unmistakable perfume of heliotrope combined with the delicate and at the same time showy cartwheel flowers of the petunia, this made for a loose and lovely window box pairing all last year. 511996
2. Niagara Falls Hanging Garden Collection
A waterfall of flowers with a backdrop of cascading silver foliage, this basket contains (tender) perennials. So, if you can find it a spot to hang it frost-free for the winter then come spring, out it can go to reach down to the ground in its second year. Inspired by a similar basket I saw in Holland, this is one of our prize plants now at Perch Hill. If hanging baskets are not for you, this works just as well in a balcony window box, or a tall container. 513383
The pots we choose are all visually quiet, allowing the plants to do the talking. Our picks are made from zinc or terracotta, or super light willow or robust terracotta look-alike plastic — the latter are ideal for a high-in-the-sky rooftop or balcony.
1. Huge Centrepiece Tub
Planted up with your favourite seasonal plants, this will create serious impact on any large doorstep or table. The perfect way to introduce a jamboree of colour on scale. Also features built-in drainage. 420539
Use all around the garden for bold splashes of colour, with tulips in spring and cascading pelargoniums and verbenas in summer. They’ll look like they’ve always been there. 420223
3. Last-a-lifetime Plastic Pots for Successional Planting
Made from recycled Tetra Pak® packaging, these regulate temperature throughout every season and promote phytostimulation, improving root health. Lightweight, frost-resistant and safe for edibles. Use them for vegetables, bulbs or annuals. 420610
2. Ribbed Planters
3.
Josie Lewis, our Head Gardener at Perch Hill
1. Plant Theatre
Three iron graduating shelves to display pots in the conservatory or in a very sheltered spot on the patio, with a rustic, aged appearance which will increase over time. No tools required — just fold out the sides and slot the shelves into place. 420122
4. Tub Planter
Our signature green tub planter. Complete with drainage hole and matching green interior. Please note that slight hand-painted imperfections may be visible from piece to piece. 420533
2. Iron Plant Theatre
Make a real show of your potted plants. Add a collection of your finest containers to the shelves of this iron plant theatre and savour the spectacle. Ideal for use on the patio, or at tabletop height indoors or on a balcony. 420596
5. Recycled Plastic Terracotta-look Pots
A lightweight alternative to traditional pots. These plastic containers may resemble terracotta, but they are far easier to move around the garden. 420588
3. Grey Rattan Classic Planter
Suitable for indoor or outside use, this chunky rattan planter is plastic-lined, so compost won’t fall through the weave. 420568
Visit our website to shop our full Rattan Planter range
6. Pie Crust Terracotta Bowl
Hand-crafted terracotta plant bowl with a pie crust rim. Fill it with succulents, let it burst with bulbs or use it to grow herbs for the kitchen. 420601
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Tom holding Pelargonium sidoides in one of our Ribbed Terracotta Planters 420600 Looking into Tom’s Garden with pelargoniums,
Tom’s town garden
Tom is our Head of Horticulture and he has a beautiful garden — small, exquisite and perfectly formed! Together, Sarah and Tom have curated an array of bold and brilliant plant collections perfect for small gardens.
I have known Tom for five years. From the moment I walked into his garden in Ely, the cathedral town in East Anglia, I felt at home. We have the same aesthetic — a love for jam-packed spaces and a passion for plants where more is more. We both love strong colour, as well as some softer whites, pinks and blues, to lift the spirits as well as soothe. There are containers a-go-go in Tom’s garden; small portable ones in groups, or as singles, lifted up onto tables so you can really see them, or as living table centres chosen to perform for weeks or months. And there are
whopper pots here too, housing some of the best small garden trees which can be moved around occasionally to make the most of them, season by season. In a small-town garden, that’s good to do, reset the scene every few weeks to maintain the drama.
This garden is a place of great beauty, but it’s more. Tom’s plants are selected because they’re also deliciously scented and/or laden with pollen and nectar to create an oasis for him and the butterflies, bees and the many visiting insects. As you open the gate, the tone changes and there’s a dynamism from the array of butterflies and small garden birds. And the wonderful thing is, this space is 10 x 7 metres, a pint-pot sized garden. There’s joy in that. This is a haven of flowers, fragrance and colour from the start of spring until the frosts arrive in winter and yet it’s easy to look after, needing only an hour or so each week to keep it looking good. Even in winter, with perfectly clipped box, an upper storey of small trees and swathes of climbers over all the fences, its structure holds and keeps you in a mini-Eden.
This garden is literally bursting with beauty
wherever you look. Every vertical plane, fence panel and horizontal surface is clad with interesting and beautiful, often scented, plant combinations. Most importantly here, you never feel drowned. There’s just the right amount of structure to define the air inbetween so you can see the shapes and silhouettes of the carefully selected plants — both the flowers and their leaves.
To me, Tom’s garden is a lesson in making the best of your lot — a garden as good as it can be on a small scale. It talks back to you whenever you visit, with enough there to give a sense of change and excitement for what’s coming and a surprise from day to day. As one flower finishes, it’s replaced by something equally beautiful and new.
It’s an inspiration and the garden I would love to make if I did not have Perch Hill.
For more on Tom’s town garden visit our website
The Nemesia Collection for bursts of colour and fragrance
Summer window box with Cosmos ‘Chocolate’, Erigeron ‘Profusion’, Gaura ‘Sparkle White’, Verbena ‘Homestead Purple’ and Verbena rigida
Tom includes Heliotrope ‘Reva’ often for its incredible scent
SPOTLIGHT ON:
pelargoniums
Tender pelargoniums are perfectly behaved, low-maintenance plants — often exquisitely scented. Grow them outside during summer and enjoy in pots inside over winter. June — November
1. Scented Pelargonium Collection
I’m obsessed by these four scented-leaf pelargoniums. I pick the foliage for very long-lasting arrangements; use the edible flowers to decorate puddings; and harvest the leaves all the time to use as flavouring. Plus they look fantastic. 190361
2. Pelargonium ‘Attar of Roses’ (Scented)
This looks fabulous in pots, growing in the border or in flower arrangements — I use it for cooking too. It has a delicious scent and flavour to make cordial and makes a hugely popular herb tea — good to help ease anxiety before bed. I passionately recommend. 190098
3. Country House Pelargonium Collection
To flower outside all summer and autumn and then bring into the house for winter, this is my selection. As someone who loves to be outside as much as possible, I struggle a bit in the cold months with low light levels and few flowers from November until March, but this group sustains me well. 512389
2.
3.
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For Ribbed Planters, see page 32
P. ‘Attar of Roses’
P. ‘Prince of Orange’
P. ‘Pink Capitatum’
P. ‘Sweet Mimosa’
P. ‘Lord Bute’ 190090
P. ‘Shrubland Rose’ 511635
P. ‘Deerwood Lavender Lass’ 511685
P. ‘Pink Capitatum’ 190100
P. ‘Mystery’ 190091
THE SARAH RAVEN
COLLECTIVE
SPRING 2025
The Sarah Raven Collective is a curated group of tastemakers who are pioneers within their sector, often setting trends. From fashion to design, floristry to homeware, these designers have an entrepreneurial quality, pushing aesthetic boundaries for others to follow.
In collaboration with Sarah, each mover-and-shaker has created their own dahlia collection. To see our full family of design partners scan the code on page 39.
Cath’s C. Atherley Dahlia Collection
Cath is a friend and colleague, whose passion for floral patterns and textiles we have all come to know and love. So when Cath launched her scented-leaf pelargonium body care brand, C. Atherley, I couldn’t wait to ask her to create a collection that encompasses her story — showy, pattern-like dahlias and a fragrant pelargonium. Shown here with Pelargonium ‘Attar of Roses’ (page 34). 229672
‘Dutch Delight’
‘Red Emperor’ ‘Orange Girl’ ‘Porcelain’
SEASONAL RECIPE:
pelargonium & lemon cordial
FILLS 2 X 750ML BOTTLES
• 2 handfuls of Pelargonium ‘Attar of Roses’ leaves
• 3 unwaxed lemons
• 850g sugar
• 900ml boiling water
• 30g citric or tartaric acid (if you want to store it, rather than drink it fresh)
With a swivel potato peeler, cut thick ribbons of rind from the fruit, leaving the white pith behind. Put the rind and pelargonium leaves into a heatproof bowl. Add the sugar, pour over the boiling water and stir, keeping the water moving until the sugar has all dissolved. Leave the mixture to cool and then add the juice from the lemons (and the citric acid if using) and leave everything to steep overnight.
Next day, strain the rind and leaves away and pour into sterilised bottles. Don’t leave the rind any longer or the cordial will become bitter.
To serve, add just a little in the bottom of a glass and dilute with still or sparkling water.
This will store for about a month in the fridge, or you can pour it into clean plastic milk cartons and freeze.
Cath Kidston
Cath Kidston Padgham MBE is a British designer and entrepreneur known the world over for her pattern and print design.
“Having been a friend and avid customer of Sarah’s for many years I was delighted to be invited to work with her on this project. Choosing dahlias and pelargoniums, my two favourite plants, was absolute heaven!”
- Cath Kidston MBE
CAN YOU SHARE YOUR FIRST GARDEN MEMORY WITH US?
My first garden memory is going to pick carrots for our donkeys. My mum had rescued Beauty and two weeks later to everyone’s surprise she had Bertie, so it was carrot picking every morning for a while! We had a kitchen garden which was my favourite place as a child.
TELL US ABOUT YOUR GARDEN
My garden is really mainly about the view and trees and not too many flower beds. Our house sits on a small escarpment looking down a valley called Paradise.
We have one long border which is an ever-evolving mix. But my main project is my geranium collection. They are where I spend hours and love experimenting and collecting new varieties. Next to them I have a small cutting garden so I can grow tulips, anemones, lots of dahlias and sweet peas. Last year I went mad for sweet Williams.
Keep reading Cath’s Q&A by scanning the code below
DISCOVER MORE
Read pages 50 and 72 to meet the rest of the Sarah Raven Collective or scan the QR code for more
grow your own
VEG | FRUIT | HERBS | SALAD
As a passionate cook, a plot packed full of cut-and-come-again varieties is a priority and I hugely recommend it — it makes for a well-stocked greengrocer with all your favourite veg, salad and herbs right on your doorstep. If you have space, why not move to growing more of your own?
Kale ‘Raven’ F1 190238
Courgette 'Bianca di Trieste', see our website
Sarah Raven Nasturtium Mix 512083
Chard ‘Bright Lights’ 510424
I want my garden at Perch Hill not only to be beautiful, jam-packed with flowers and colour, but also to produce food. I’ve loved cooking since I was a child and have always known that home-grown is best, so a veg patch has been a long-standing priority.
In the parts of our garden given over to veg, I have concentrated my efforts, over what is now 30 years, on trying to ensure that we get the maximum amount of delicious things from every corner, throughout the year.
That’s my number one driver as far as edibles go: year-round, square inch (or square metre) productivity. It’s why most of the veg garden at Perch Hill is devoted to cut-and-come-again plants which we can harvest on one day, only to find a week later, that we can do so again.
This is what makes the most productive, efficient patch. Veg classics, such as cabbages and maincrop potatoes, therefore don’t usually make it into my plot, yet salad leaves, plenty of herbs and leafy greens always do.
Join Sarah for her insightful course ‘A Year Full of Veg’ at Thyme in Gloucestershire or at Perch Hill in East Sussex. See page 74 for more details or visit sarahraven.com/courses-events
Solid Steel Raised Beds 420603
Peat Free Compost 430197
Steel Weave Raised Beds 420604
Poachers Spade 440099
summer
ESSENTIALS
If you only grow a handful from our range of edible varieties and collections, pick these and harvest all summer long
1. T. ‘Costoluto Fiorentino’
A medium-sized, delicious, juicy Italian variety of tomato, which grows and crops very reliably here. Another favourite from our trials. It’s more prolific and easier to grow than other larger fruited kinds. Really best under cover, or against a south facing wall. 510429
2. T. ‘Noire de Crimée’
An extraordinary, crimson-skinned, Russian tomato with incredible flavour and a firm, but juicy texture for the ultimate tomato salad. Harvest according to feeling for ripeness, not the skin colour, as this can be misleading. 512629
3. Sarah Raven Salad Collection
This salad collection includes the five best lettuce and salad leaf varieties to give you delicious and easy salads to pick and eat throughout the year. These have excellent flavour, crunch and a hint of spice from the mustard and mizuna. 510433
4. Cucumber 'Baby Rocky' F1 (Grafted)
Small but mighty and prized for its disease resistance, uniformity and incredible productivity. These cucumbers are crunchy, crisp and super refreshing. The makings of a perfect summer snack. 512523
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Bush Basil 512981
Flat Leaf Parsley ‘Gigante di Napoli’ 512998
Pot Marjoram 513038
Coriander ‘Leisure’ 510771
French Tarragon 510055
Rosemary ‘Foxtail’ 511012
Culinary Sage 512996
Jekka’s Thyme 511013
Sweet Bay ‘Little Ragu’ 512614
FROM THE cutting patch
Fill your garden with cut-and-come-again varieties and enjoy vase after vase of flowers
I am passionate about growing cut flowers — it’s my main gardening obsession and has been for over 30 years. And over those years I’ve discovered if you select the right plants (annuals, biennials and dahlias) and grow them correctly from the start, then the more you pick, the more they flower.
If you pick them right, above a pair of leaves, you promote axillary bud formation and these then develop into flowers. By picking one flower, you create the potential for at least two more in a week or 10 days. On and on it goes until the end of that plant’s natural season. It really is the key to a prolific cutting patch.
1. Cutting Patch Collection
Last summer I decided to recreate a 20 x 20ft cutting patch to pick for our family and house with my desert island cut flower varieties. This is it, the cream of cut-and-come-again flower annuals. Add in the Sweet Peas for Teepees Collection and you’ve got the very best lot based on 30 years of growing and trialling cut flowers. They’re right here. 513361
2. Sweet Peas for Teepees Collection
With a major passion for sweet peas, it’s hard for me to choose which to grow in my own personal precious cutting patch. Well, last summer, these were the six — the varieties I selected for that hard won space. And they were superb, filling our kitchen, bathroom and bedroom with scent for weeks at a stretch. 513359
PAPAVER RHOEAS
‘Amazing Grey’
We’ve been on the hunt for this one for years and finally we’ve got this stunning variety into our range!
The loveliest annual poppy ever which lasts two or three days in a vase with stem ends seared. 512411 new
Ethereal Poppy Collection
Not much is better than poppy ‘Amazing Grey’ but maybe you can improve it one touch by combining it with the equally lovely ‘Pandora’. 513372
WE ONLY SOURCE the best of the best
30 years ago I planted up 12 metre square patches of different cut flowers and then compared how many stems, over how many months, I was able to pick from each. And of course, whether they lasted well in a vase.
That’s the basis of our cut flower trials ever since. So, what you get from us is guaranteed to be beautiful, but also to produce bucket after bucket of marvellous home-grown flowers from just outside your door.
For more inspiration join Sarah for her fabulous course ‘Grow Your Own Cut Flowers’ at Thyme in Gloucestershire or at Perch Hill in East Sussex. See page 74 for more about Sarah’s courses
COLOUR PALETTES: cashmere tones
SOFT & WARM
This family of colours have plenty of white in them, so that orange, brown, gold or crimson become peach, milky coffee, ivory, apricot (with more yellow in it than peach), faded coral and muted, smoky pink. This palette is fashionable at the moment, with a vintage 1970s air.
1. New-but-looks-traditional Sweet Pea Collection With an old-fashioned feel and scent to go with it. This trio of sweet peas filled our house for not weeks but months last summer. 513353
2. Pastel Cosmos Collection
Like a bag of sugared almonds. Both grow in a pair of pots in our Dutch Yard and fill a corner of our cutting garden. This quartet of cosmos reigned supreme in our trials last summer — I loved picking them for my Favourite Jade Vase (see page 17).
512153
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SOFT & COOL
Then there’s the cool lot, where mauves, soft blues, blue-pinks, primrose yellows and off-whites continue getting paler until you reach the purest bright white flower. This is what I think of as the chicest palette — very crisp and smart, sort of Parisian. All well-pressed clothes and smart high heels.
There’s something faded, like peeling brocante-finds, about this lot. That’s what I felt as I collected them together in my hand. Perfect for a summer’s day and very lovely for it. 513347
4. Cretan Verge Collection
Any seasoned customers will know that I bang on quite a bit about Crete; an island I truly love. This group of four hardy annuals is elegant, beautiful and glamorous. They grow together and self-seed along many of the road verges when we stay in the mountains. All four pick brilliantly too. 513371
5. Blue Lace Collection
Lacy yet stylish, soft but not sweet, colourful but not brash. I love these three growing and I cut to arrange together. 513368
3. Brocante-blue Cut Flower Collection
COLOUR PALETTES: rich velvet colours
Starry Night Collection
Inspired by a summer night. I was having dinner outside as the sky was inky black and the stars were brightly radiating. The next day, I went into the garden and put together this collection to try and recreate it. Here you are: starry nights in a vase. 513343
DARK & RICH
On the edge of decadent and undeniably rich, this palette was one of my first true loves. A very saturated and earthy family of colours, I think of them as velvets you want to wrap yourself in.
1. Bestseller Cosmos and Zinnia Collection
A faded, muted collection of zinnias and cosmos in their newest forms. Keep picking from this lot in a cutting bed or container and they’ll keep flowering, long and hard. This grouping can’t fail to look lovely. 511582
2. The Velvet Brocade Collection
One of the foundation pillars of the SR business in the early days were crimson-black dahlias, picked and arranged with boiled sweet colours of orange and acid-green. We’re reintroducing this wonderful Collection as a celebration of our 30 years — just as desirable now as it was then. 513462
3. Summer Pudding Collection
Snapdragons are the epitome of cut-and-comeagain; and in nectarine, raspberry, strawberry and peach, yes please. Planted and then picked by the armful from my 20 x 20 foot Cutting Patch last summer, these filled their corner of the garden and countless vases with irresistible colour. 512451
Arranged here with Dill (Anethum graveolens) and Tithonia rotundifolia ‘Torch’
THE SARAH RAVEN WITH COLLECTIVE
Milli Proust
Milli is a flower grower and florist working from her field in West Sussex.
1. Milli’s Favourite Cut Flower
Annuals Collection
Featuring vibrant zinnias, softlycoloured snapdragons and the delicate white flowers of Queen Anne’s Lace, Milli’s collection creates a bright, cheerful and fresh arrangement. 513330
Zinnia
Milli's Dahlia Collection
Milli is all about garden-grown flowers in soft, delicious, subtle and harmonious tones. Whether it's with roses, sweet peas, cosmos or dahlias, it's to romance that she turns. That's why I asked her to design a simple yet stunning collection for us to release this spring. 229680
Antirrhinum ‘Costa Apricot’
Zinnia ‘Queeny Lemon Peach’
Ammi visnaga
‘Queeny Lime Red’
Poppy Seed Head Vases
Sculptural ceramic poppy seed head vases in two sizes that look striking on their own or grouped together. Also available in Pink, see left. 450396
The Sissinghurst Vase
These bright, globular glass vases pack a colourful punch, whilst their pretty, scalloped texture elevates their style and gives each vase a unique look. Available in Yellow (shown here), Blue, Green and Turquoise (see page 54). 450185
favourite vases
The perfect vase should be stylish and eyecatching, but not so much so that it takes away from your flower arrangement. Discover our top picks for showcasing your cut flowers in a complementary way.
Ultimate Centrepiece Vases
For an impressive display using linked test tube vases, I love these — an endless source of flowery joy. Individual glass test tube vases that come with an iron frame to set them in. Fill each vase with one or two of your favourite seasonal stems for a quick and easy but magnificent arrangement. 450241
Vase Cupboard Essential Floating Flower Bowl
The possibilities for this sturdy glass bowl are endless. Fill it with floating flowers or decorations that change with the seasons. 450398
Shown here with the Muted Zinnia Collection. See our website for details
Shown here with Scabiosa ‘Magic’. See our website for details
INSPIRED BY Frida Kahlo
I’ve always loved strong colours, with Frida Kahlo and her homeland of Mexico a long-standing inspiration. That’s what this collection of colours and shapes is all about: candles, bowls, glasses, vases and ceramic fruit and veg to make your own flowers and produce glow
Shown above: Ratatouille Table Trio, Frida Kahlo Golden China Vase.
To shop these and much more, visit our website
4. Ceramic Artichoke Serving Plate
Just the size for a slice of something delicious, this plate is an ideal addition to any vegetable gardener’s kitchen. 340513
5. Fuschia & Blood Orange
Dip-dye Dinner Candle Set
Colourful candles never fail to bring joy. Use these delightful, dip-dyed sets to liven up tablescapes and mantelpieces. Also available Euphorbia and Moss. See our website. 470249
6. Crinkly Edged Pudding Bowls
Serve up snacks in these glossy scalloped bowls. In rich pink, ochre, petrol blue and deep purple, they’ll add colour wherever they’re used. Set of four. 340501
For Crinkly Edged Mezze Bowls, also shown here, visit our website
1. Mexican Market Embroidered Cushions
A pair of intricately embroidered bolster cushions covered with all the lovely chaos of the garden. We adore their fringed edges and delicate pink base colours. 340509
2. Bobbin Bench
This soft green bench, which can seat up to three people, makes a truly wonderful addition to patios, terraces and garden hideaways. 430220
3. Frida’s Studio Vase
Made from green-coated aluminium (so unbreakable), pack these stylish, simple vases with garden tulips or dahlias — just add three or four stems. 450399
Shown here with Dahlias ‘Bishop of Auckland’, ‘Waltzing Mathilda’ and ‘Sissinghurst’ which will be available in 2026
Make the most of balmy evenings to come and turn your garden into an extra room. Whether you’re dining outside or winding down from the day, surround yourself with soft colours and lighting which, when back lit, creates a gentle, ethereal feel. Perfect for summer garden suppers and bright, sunny spring weekends.
1. Pink Wired Festoon Lights
Perfect for al fresco entertaining, these pink wired festoon lights are ideal for weaving through branches or stringing along a fence for twinkling effect. Their gentle colour helps them to blend into their surroundings. 460191
2. The Sissinghurst Vase
These bright, globular glass vases have a wide base to make them more stable inside or out whilst their pretty, scalloped shape elevates their style. Turquoise shown here, also available in Blue, Green and Yellow (see page 51). 450185
3. Summer Garden Muted Tone Glass Tealight Holders
Add instant atmosphere with these pretty glass tea light holders, in muted pastel tones. They cast the subtlest hue to a flickering flame. 470245
4. Moroccan Glassware
This stunning glass collection is produced in Morocco using recycled glass. Each piece is handmade, making it completely unique and full of character. Also available in Green (see our website). 340488
5. Solar Table Lamp
I’m obsessed with these solar (but also rechargeable) table lights. They’re elegant and simple, throwing a lovely light, but not blowing out like a candle. Available in Teal, Green, Red and Orange. 460186
6. Let’s Return to the 70s Pierced Metal Lantern
Illuminate your garden or balcony with this filigree lantern. It’s crafted from metal and is the ideal size for a tealight or small candle. 420573
Reminds Me Of Asolo, Blown Glass Vase Set
Perfect delicate glass vases for a simple spray to dress the table. 450401 For Phlox ‘Fashionably Early Lavender Ice’, visit our website
Scalloped Metal Table
This beautiful zinc table is perfect for use indoors or out. The subtle detailing gives it a truly timeless look and feel. 430214 For more Garden Furniture, see our website
as nature
There’s a growing trend toward a more natural, plant-driven style of garden design.
4 SIMPLE STEPS FOR A low maintenance, climate-resilient garden
An approach that embraces ecology, while creating gardens that need less work and thrive more as nature intended. The idea is simple: match the right plants to the right place, let them settle in and let nature do the rest.
By encouraging self-sustaining plant communities, you’ll end up with a garden where plants work together, balancing survival and growth while conserving water and keeping weeds at bay.
The secret? Choose plants that thrive in your conditions; plant them closer together to cover bare soil; and reduce your reliance on constant care like feeding and watering.
Over the next few pages we’ll share with you our top picks for each stage and why we love them so you can design and grow your dream, free-flowing space.
KEY TO OUR SYMBOLS
Look out for the below symbols in the coming pages and on our website to help you choose the best varieties for your garden’s aspect
Full sun
Part shade
Full shade
The Farmhouse Garden at Perch Hill full of foxgloves, sweet rocket, euphorbias and roses (see the following pages)
1
base layer
The foundation of this style is a base layer of tough, lowmaintenance plants. Think lowgrowing perennials, hardy grasses or ferns that spread and weave together over time. Choose plants with similar needs and staggered bloom times to keep your garden lively and colourful all year round. They should be drought-tolerant, suited to your local conditions and resilient — though not so vigorous that they take over and create extra work.
1. Matteuccia struthiopteris
Magnificent shuttlecock or ostrich fern, with huge bright-green fronds. A superb plant for the border or woodland. 510911
2. Persicaria bistorta
The ever-flowering, bottle-brush plant, which first comes into bloom with tulips, in dappled shade beneath our apple tree. It then flowers on and off all summer. 511710
3. Geranium nodosum
A real woodland hero that’s wonderful for any natural or semi-wild planting schemes. Ideal used for underplanting and excellent as ground cover, where it will happily form carpets topped with myriad of pearly pink flowers. Will seed itself and requires minimal TLC. 511845
4. Tellima grandiflora
A favourite for a shady spring border. It’s a totally invaluable, easy-to-grow border filler and an elegant upper storey cut flower. 510910
5. Brunnera macrophylla ‘Silver Spear’ Silver-green heart-shaped leaves are the standout feature of this plant, catching the eye as they grow larger. The little blue-violet flowers are incredibly pretty too. 513110
BOISTEROUS
blooms
2
To add some flair, mix in boisterous blooms that stand out with contrasting height, texture or colour. These accents create a sense of rhythm and draw the eye, adding splashes of interest to your garden. They also help make your space a haven for pollinators, birds and other wildlife.
1. Salvia nemorosa ‘Amethyst’
Compact, bushy and flowery, this is one of my favourite repeat plants cascading out of the front of a border, or along the edge of a path. It plays the same role as nepetas and alchemilla, but flowers for at least twice as long. 511315
For more salvias see page 63
2. Knautia Combination
The knautia brigade (here both crimson and soft mauve), as with their close cousins scabious, flower endlessly, cut brilliantly and, rich in both nectar and pollen, are some of the most visited flowers in our garden by butterflies. 513192
3. Digitalis purpurea ‘Sutton’s Apricot’
A lovely soft pink foxglove which flowers at the same time and looks beautiful with peonies in June. This is one of my absolute favourite plants. Bees and butterflies love them too. If you pick the king flower (the main spire) you create lots of prince flowers and the plants will then go on flowering for longer. 510339
4. Lupinus ‘Masterpiece’ (Westcountry Series)
Lupins’ architectural flower spikes and saturated colour would be enough reason to grow them, but the fact that they flower reliably in the May/June gap, carrying the colour baton from the last of the tulips to the main flood of summer perennials, should shoot them straight up any priority list. The West Country bred varieties flower for longer too. This amethyst purple is irresistible. 512191
Echinacea pallida
One of the best perennials for pollinators. Echinaceas are also brilliant for picking, with plenty of flowers right into late autumn, which last two weeks in the vase. 511204
3
BILLOWING balloons
Don’t underestimate the value of filler plants — bulbs, annuals, biennials or short-lived perennials. These temporary additions fill in gaps, quickly covering bare soil while your permanent plants take root and settle in. They provide instant colour and protection, giving slower-growing plants the time they need to establish.
1. Ammi majus
Lacy white flowers, like a more delicate form of cow parsley. The best white filler foliage plant you can grow and great arranged in a cloud on its own. 510403
2. Cosmos bipinnatus ‘Purity’
Large, open flowers of pure white, with delicate apple-green foliage. The classic cut flower and a supremely lovely garden plant, which no one should be without. 510296
For our Cosmos and Ammi Collection, see our website.
3. Phlox drummondii grandiflora ‘Cherry Caramel’
A mix of coffee, raspberry and cream in this truly beautiful annual phlox, which lasts well over a week in the vase. It has spindly stems, so support as it grows. 511257
4. Zinnia elegans ‘Queeny Mixed’
My favourite late summer and autumn combination of flowers and colours in a large pot and cut flower borders. I adore the muted, faded tapestry of this mix. 512430
5. Setaria viridis ‘Caramel’
I love their fluffy feather-duster plumes in pots, in the border and picked for arranging. Self-seeds readily, so perfect for naturalistic plantings. 512437
6. Verbena officinalis var. grandiflora ‘Bampton’
This unusual and much revered verbena was discovered in a public garden in Bampton, Devon. Like the native vervain in style, with an open airy habit and long blooming lavender-pink flower spikes. The stand out feature of this is its long wiry stems and tiny serrated leaves, flushed with a purple sheen as it emerges from a tight evergreen crown in spring. 511453
4 BOLD bones
Finally, add some showstoppers: bold shrubs, vertical perennials, or taller ornamental grasses. These focal plants bring height and structure to your garden, breaking up the horizontal spread of the base layer. They catch the eye and create visual resting points, giving your garden a sense of drama and excitement.
1. Clematis ‘Prince Charles’
Very reliable and longflowering, covered in light blue flowers from late June until the end of August. Fantastic with climbing roses or, as you’ll see it in my favourite garden at Great Dixter, growing up through shrubs. It also does well in a large pot. 520033
2. Sambucus nigra f. porphyrophylla ‘Eva’
The lacy black-crimson leaves and its soft, smoky-pink dome flower put this elder in a class of its own. Its AGM proves it’s a cracker. 511398
3. Verbena bonariensis
A haze of purple flowers at head height from late summer to autumn, which is a confetti of butterflies the moment there is a glimpse of sun. Mix it with cosmos and gaura to create a lovely, airy addition to a border; and there is no better plant for lining a path. 510222
4. Viburnum opulus ‘Roseum’
Also known as the snowball bush, my favourite foliage plant for late spring and early summer picking. From early May, this is covered in bright acid-green fluffy tennis balls and elegant indented leaves. As the flowers mature, they move through creamy-green into pure white. 510612
S
May — November
With an exciting number of new varieties appearing, salvias have quickly become British garden stalwarts. With their striking colours and intricate forms, they’re fantastic for bees and butterflies too.
1. Salvia ‘Amistad’
If I was only allowed to take one plant to a desert island, this would be in the running. It flowers May to November with petals cut from silk velvet. It is unfussy and easy to grow in a pot or border. 190503
2. Jewel Salvia Collection Photographed on 28th October — can you believe the stained-glass colours still sitting out there in the garden when almost everything else is brown or grey? These are also the best pollinatorfriendly and companion plants for roses to keep them fungus and aphid-free. This clutch of salvias is pure joy. 512092
HOW TO grow salvias
Flowers: May — November
Aspect: Full sun
Position: Borders or pots
Height: 30 — 150cm
Pollinator friendly: Yes
Good for cutting: Yes
Soil type: Moist but free-draining
SPRING & SUMMER CARE CHECKLIST
• Prune back established plants
• Plant out new plants once risk of frost is over in spring
• Keep plants weed-free
• Deadhead throughout the summer to ensure flowers up until the first frosts
SARAH’S TOP TIP:
Underplant any roses in your garden with salvias. At Perch Hill we’ve learnt that the scent profile of many types of salvia are effective at preventing black spot and other fungal diseases from damaging your roses. Salvias also come into their prime once the roses are going over, so you get a double benefit.
SCAN THE QR CODE to keep reading our salvia guide
1. S. ‘Berry Blast’ EXCLUSIVE
We are excited to introduce this sparkling new variety. Similar in form to ‘Amistad’ but with a more compact and manageable habit, it’s perfect for smaller gardens and containers. The rich purple flowers, with gorgeous contrasting dark calyxes, are displayed on well-branched, arching stems from summer to first frosts. 513242
2. S. ‘Cream Soda’
We’ve been on the look out for more soft-coloured salvias to add to our range. Superb, robust and easy to grow with gentle, pastel, palest-pink flowers. 513242
3. S. greggii ‘Naomy Tree’
Soft pink blooms provide elegant colour from late spring to early autumn with this easy to grow and versatile plant. 513132
4. S. ‘Peach Melba’
A pollinator magnet, boasting brilliant blooms of peachy salmon bicolour flowers with bright pink tips from spring, deep into autumn. Compared to other similar colours this is a softer pastel which is much easier on the eye and harmonises in the mellow evening light. 513405
5. S. microphylla ‘Wine and Roses’
These microphylla salvias are some of our longest flowering garden plants at Perch Hill. Therefore, we’re always on the lookout for new colour forms and this is one of the finest of all our recent discoveries. Flowers are a striking two-tone, red and purple combination with a strong upright habit. 511524
6. S. jamensis ‘Magical Rio Grande’
A charming and compact variety adorned with pleasing orangepeach flowers that bloom from late spring through to early autumn. 201602
OUR EXCLUSIVE MIXED
border collections
We have carefully selected the best flowers and plants for garden borders and created beautiful combinations that take all the difficulty out of trying to figure out which plants look best together.
If you have a border that needs a facelift, a new garden, or just a few humble square metres, simply choose one and start planting.
Sarah’s Soft Border Collection
Here you’ve got the plants and flowers for a soft-coloured, romantic and ethereal border that feels restful and calm for sunny summer days. Gentle, but not too polite, this lot group together into a fluffy and spire-studded cloud. 512374
The
Beginners Border Collection
new new
Plants for Naturalising Collection
When you start off gardening you need encouragement and fool-proof plants and advice. That’s what you’ve got here — a selection of garden heroes, quick to establish, tried and tested over generations. You can be sure these will deliver without demanding attention and knowledge. 512365
The Hot and Dry Border Collection
If you live on a site with either poor or free-draining soil, and that is a heat trap but long for a garden full of vigour and colour, then this drought tolerant mix will be the answer. Resilient with plenty of summer flower-power. 512364
This could just as well be called the self-seeding garden collection. I can vouch for every one of these plants being gradual naturalisers, not seeding around too much to become almost weeds, but enough to make a self-sustaining and self-perpetuating garden. All it requires is a tiny bit of editing. It’s my favourite and the most sustainable way to garden. 512368
Rich Border Collection
Inject some classic midnight glamour into the border with this mix of deep, dark, luxurious tones. If you like your plants to seduce you, this jewel-like cluster is the one. 512373
Illustrations by Esther Palmer
Sarah’s
border collections
These specially curated collections are designed to plant direct into your space. Whether your garden is well established, or you’re totally starting from scratch, these unique combinations will guarantee stunning and long-lasting displays.
1. On-and-on-it-goes Perennial Border Combination
We have this perennial collection on a prominent corner at Perch Hill. It provides soft and gentle tones and textures in the garden and vase from early summer until winter. First comes the alstroemeria (which also gives a second flush of flowers in autumn) along with an eruption of the best-ever perennial grass, Stipa gigantea, which froths up in May and is still standing, elegant and glorious, in November. Then graceful and unusual foxglove turns heads — and from late summer is joined by the pure-as-it-comes thalictrum. 512325
2. Jemima’s Bulb and Border Collection
We all fell on this mix of alliums and soft spires of foxglove and linaria, planted really as an accident with the toadflax seeding itself into the bed and the alliums popping up in the same place now for 10 years. Backlit in the evening outside Jemima’s office it felt like a firework display in its drama, but soft and delicate at the same time. 512352
3. Posh Bedding Collection
We loved this collection of four last summer with the graceful foxglove spires providing the first hit of colour followed soon after by a frothy pink carpet of cosmos. Height comes from the atriplex, with its deep bronzed foliage and red stems; and from the chenopodium (tree spinach) whose brilliant pink baby leaves are great for picking and using in salads. Bedding taken to a new level! 513362
HOORAH FOR
hydrangeas
With their unrivalled, immense flower heads, hydrangeas flaunt old-fashioned grandeur. Easy to cultivate, tolerant of almost any soil and producing abundant blooms to fill many a vase, or for drying, there’s one for every garden. Almost all hydrangeas will thrive in shade.
1. H. arborescens ‘Incrediball’ (Strong Annabelle)
An offspring from the classic ‘Annabelle’, loved for its larger heads and with stronger necks than ‘Annabelle’, to keep its vast pompoms looking perky. This variety was a huge hit last year! 511141
2. H. paniculata ‘Limelight’
My all round favourite hydrangea, which opens the cleanest, brightest, acid green. Then the flowers fully flatten and turn pure ivory, before being washed with rich pink. Fantastically long garden value. 510606
LIFETIME GUARANTEE
We now offer a lifetime guarantee for all fully hardy plants. For more details visit sarahraven.com/terms
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1. H. macrophylla ‘Wedding Gown’
This plant combines the best of both worlds, initially flowering like a lacecap, before becoming more like a mophead. Unlike some other white hydrangeas, the flowers are not pink or blue depending on the soil type, but instead bloom in a pure white before turning light green and then red in the autumn.
513484
2. H. anomala subsp. petiolaris
One of the very best plants for growing on a north-facing, shady wall with beautiful flowers and equally lovely seedheads. 190493
3. H. quercifolia ‘Tara’
Experience the luxury of a remarkable oak-leaf hydrangea, named for its huge and beautiful leaves. Dense flowerheads create a beautiful structure and provide interesting texture. Come autumn, leaves transform into fantastic hues of bronze and red.
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3.
Cclematis CHAMPIONS
Invaluable for adding another dimension to your garden, whether cascading down over arches, climbing up a trellis, or scrambling through hedges and trees.
Clematis come in a range of colours from pure white to the deepest, richest purple and many are deliciously scented too.
C. montana var. wilsonii Satin white, star-shaped flowers, with incredible scent. Montana varieties are the classic clematis to train up into trees to tumble down from above your head. They are quick-growing and vigorous, covered in flowers for late spring and early summer. 520073
scented
We have over 180 clematis in our range. Here are a few of our absolute must-haves.
1. C. armandii
A remarkable variety with elegant, cream flowers and dark, attractive evergreen leaves. I love it for its delicious scent that wafts through the garden in early spring. 190877
2. C. ‘Blue River’
Hugely popular on our Chelsea stand last year. This is an exceptionally long-flowering variety, compact enough to suit almost any garden. I absolutely love it — makes a great cut flower, too. 520207
3. C. ‘Madame Julia Correvon’
A producer of incredibly attractive claret-coloured flowers with contrasting buttermilk yellow stamens. This variety is both majestic and feminine. 520032
4. C. ‘Sally’ (Boulevard Collection)
A smaller variety, so ideal for containers, that produces exceptionally lovely pink flowers with symmetrical, darker pink markings down the centre of each petal. A small variety from renowned clematis breeder Raymond Evison. 190840
5. C. rehderiana
A rarely found clematis with scented cowslip-like flowers in soft lemon yellow. It’s a hardy and vigorous form which will benefit from regular pruning. Great fluffy seedheads too. 520136
6. C. x triternata ‘Rubromarginata’
This variety has the strongest scent of them all. It’s an excellent scrambler and brings a huge abundance of flowers all at once in late summer. Tolerant of dry soils and shady positions, it’s a good choice for difficult spots where other varieties might struggle. 520190
THE SARAH RAVEN WITH COLLECTIVE Shane Connolly
“I am passionate about single dahlias. To me they look interesting and ‘historical’ as they’re more like the original dahlias discovered by Anders Dahl in the 18th century. I also like it that bees and insects find them more accommodating than the deeply petalled hybrids we’re accustomed to nowadays. They somehow manage to be both subtle and impactful at once. Especially in the mouth-watering jewelbox-colours I’ve chosen for this collection.”
— Shane Connolly
Shane Connolly’s Jewel Box Dahlia Collection
The king of sustainable floristry, Shane loves garden flowers to be at the heart of all his designs. Whether in Westminster Abbey or the Royal Academy, simple flowers used in glamorous ways is the name of his game. Shane chose all the varieties here in the Perch Hill garden, which are brilliant for butterflies and bees. 229678
‘Bishop of Auckland’ ‘Sarah Raven’ ‘Lou Farman’ ‘Schipper’s Bronze’
‘Verrone’s Obsidian’
YOUR GARDEN STORIES WITH Shane Connolly
Shane is a renowned floral designer and ambassador for sustainable floristry. His clients range from great public institutions like the V&A, the RA and the National Portrait Gallery, to a veritable who’s who of the great and the good of British life.
HOW DID YOU FIRST MEET SARAH?
We first met when I attended one of her courses at Perch Hill. A longtime fan, I wanted to go for ages and tried a ‘grow your own veg’ day. It wasn’t long after that that Sarah asked me to teach at Perch Hill myself and that was the start!
WHAT IS YOUR FIRST GARDEN MEMORY?
Gardening and especially growing seeds as a child in my parents garden. I particularly remember harvesting nasturtium seeds with my mother and peeling lunaria seed pods with her to reveal the beautiful shiny moon beneath.
HOW DID YOU GET INTO FLORISTRY?
A love of gardening. Through friends of the family, I was introduced to the wonderful floral designers Michael Goulding and Elizabeth Barker, way back in 1985. I was studying psychology at university in Northern Ireland at the time, during which I stayed in London for six months. I asked if I could help them and fell in love with the world of event design. The rest, as they say, is history.
SUSTAINABILITY IS SO IMPORTANT TO YOU AND YOUR WORK. WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU LIKE TO SHARE?
I always say that sustainable decisions are ‘Good’, ‘Better’ and ‘Best’. So don’t beat yourself up if you aren’t always best. Change happens slowly and taking small steps is better than taking no steps at all.
WHAT PLANTS OR FLOWERS CAN YOU NOT LIVE WITHOUT?
The scent of flowers is very important to me — especially scented winter flowers like chimonanthus (wintersweet) and V. bodnantense.
WHAT’S ONE OLD WIVES’ GARDENING TRICK THAT ACTUALLY WORKS?
Buy the least showy/flowery plant in a nursery when choosing a specimen. Go for the healthy green one. The ones that are already performing always take longer to establish.
WHAT ARE YOU MOST LOOKING FORWARD TO GROWING THIS YEAR?
Every year you think, “That plant will do better next year”, so there’s a long list of things I am looking forward to this year! But I always look forward to the first peach from the greenhouse. The taste is unsurpassed and I eat it immediately, straight from the tree.
DISCOVER MORE
Meet the rest of the Sarah Raven Collective scan the QR code
Portrait of Shane Connolly by Britt Willoughby Dyer
courses & events WITH SARAH
Come and enjoy a day of learning and inspiration at Perch Hill with Sarah on one of our many specialised courses
A Year Full of Flowers: Gardening for all seasons with Sarah Raven at Perch Hill Farm Colour and scent are the hallmarks of Sarah’s style and they are simple luxuries that everyone can bring into their garden. On this day course, she (along with her Head Gardener Josie) will give you inspiration, planting ideas and expert advice for a beautiful garden all year round. See all you’ve been taught come to life at Perch Hill, with plenty of time to privately explore the garden
contact & delivery information
We aim to send out all our plants and bulbs at the best time for planting, so your items may arrive at different times. For full despatch information on individual varieties, please see our website. Subject to availability and unforeseen seasonal circumstances, delivery may take longer during peak season.
Visit sarahraven.com/courses-events to discover more discover our world
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For more delivery details and updates visit sarahraven.com/delivery
Free delivery on orders over £80*
Standard delivery is £5.99 Next day delivery from £6.99
Plant substitutions
On rare occasions, we may send an alternative plant that will be carefully chosen as a suitable substitute. If you are unhappy with the substitution, we will issue a full refund.
Returns, refunds and exchanges
We hope that you are delighted with your order. However, if this is not the case for any reason, you must let us know within 28 days and we will replace or refund your item.
Sarah Raven lifetime guarantee
We now offer a lifetime guarantee for all fully hardy plants. This includes hardy perennials, climbers, shrubs and trees only. All other categories have a one year guarantee. For more information please visit sarahraven.com/terms or contact our customer service team.
Contact us
We’re here to help you, please visit sarahraven.com/help to get in touch
Sarah Raven’s Kitchen and Garden Limited is registered in England, no. 06694059
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summer garden heroes
No matter what size and style space you have, these essentials will give you unmissable glamour, longevity, colour and scent throughout the summer
Cosmos bipinnatus ‘Sonata White’ 190198
Heliotropium arborescens ‘Reva’ 511598
Cosmos atrosanguineus ‘Chocolate’ 229109
Brachyscome multifida ‘Blue and White mix’ 511157
Nemesia ‘Wisley Vanilla’ 190529
Salvia ‘Strawberry Lake’ (Salgoon Series) 512400
Verbena tenera ‘Sissinghurst’ 190134
Anagallis monellii ‘Sky Lover’ 190144
Scabiosa incisa ‘Kudo Blue’ 512720
new
Farmhouse
White Pot Collection
Our white pot collection for our Soft and Cool colour palette, Farmhouse Garden. Give this the odd bit of deadheading and it will perform! 513407
new
Pastel Blue and Mauve Pot Collection
Soft and pretty mauve and blue, the didiscus flowers from spring to summer with the petunia and then that takes over until our first frost. Growing on our south-facing terrace outside the kitchen, I picked countless vases from this too. 513430
Scented Purple Pot Collection
This is the perfect trio in a pot, with a thriller (Pelargonium ‘Attar of Roses’), a spiller (Buddleia ‘Dreaming Purple’) and a filler (Heliotropium arborescens ‘Midnight Sky’), to give you a scented spot anywhere sunny in the garden. 190387
