A Year of Colour: How to create a bold and bright garden

Turn your garden into a year-round celebration of colour with Ann-Marie Powell. Whether you have a tiny courtyard or acres of land, your garden is the one place devoted to joy – and designer Ann-Marie Powell knows exactly how to fill it with colour, whatever the season. In A Year of Colour, she invites you into her own garden to share her absolute favourite planting combinations, and to show you how you too can have a bold and bright garden all year round. Choose from ready-made, tried-and-tested ideas that take you through the year, including: Golden Woodland Tapestry (early bulbs and perennials for dappled shade), Flame and Fire (border tulips with staying power), Early Summer Fireworks (naturalistic planting with punch), Sun Meets Shade (late summer colour for bridging sunny and shady spots), Fiery Finale (rich textures and jewel tones for the garden’s crescendo), Sparkling Performers (airy grasses combined with bold annual blooms), Woodland Keepsakes (layered planting to create an autumn glow) and Beauty in Decay (a symphony of brown seed heads and stems). With more than 40 combinations – each with plant profiles, colour charts and expert tips – this is colour made easy and achievable. You’ll find rich and sultry tulips perfect for pots; glowing golden hues that light up dark corners; long-flowering perennials to maximise the season; and red-hot displays that work in sun and partial-shade. These are real planting ideas that work: joyful, personality-packed plantings that attract bees, butterflies and birds – and make you smile on dreary Monday mornings. Photographed by Julie Skelton throughout the seasons, this book captures colour as a living, shifting performance. Each chapter ends with Ann-Marie’s essential tasks and step-by-step tutorials – from filling gaps in borders and simple tricks for prolonging the season, to planting bulb lasagnes and creating forced displays for midwinter cheer. If you want a garden that’s bold, beautiful and brimming with life, A Year of Colour will show you how – and give you the confidence to start today. Perfect for gardeners who want more colour and aren’t afraid to get their hands dirty.