The Jewel Box Garden

Everything I wanted and more from a garden inspiration book. I live in Southern CA and I want to make my garden drought friendly without going a la natural, this book brinks a lot of wonderful ideas that I am working on NOW.

Hobbs made me realize why I saw so many gardens that I didn't appreciate, be they well tended, stocked with plants, and groomed to perfection. Such gardens were bursting with blooms or stuffed with woody or bushy growth but again and again I left them thinking they were all the same and the unsatisfied feeling they gave left me empty and wanting something different that I couldn't explain. I was unable to put into words why I felt that way. Suddenly, the answer came in Hobbs books. His exquisitely photographed book clarified what I'd been feeling about the sameness and lack of imagination in these gardens. I had an revelation about gardening after reading Shocking Beauty and immediately bought Jewel Box Garden. I couldn't believe he could write another book that was as good as his first but he did. In fact, it will take your breath away. I've read both books until they are dog eared, given several copies as gifts, and am completely tearing apart and redoing my garden because of them.

As a garden designer and writer, I travel widely to broaden my horizons. Prior to a recent trip to Vancouver, I had thought that I had seen it all - there simply were no more new garden design inspirations anywhere for me. Then I saw Thomas Hobbs garden and was completely blown away. His garden is the most beautiful I have ever seen. I discovered this book (which includes his garden)when it won an award at from my garden writers group. Like his garden, it is the most beautiful book I have ever seen. Even though I live in Florida, I am filled with new ideas, particularly for mixing textures and foliage color. Thank you, Thomas, for this exciting inspiration.

A more appropriate name doesn't exist. Imagine opening a beautifully crafted jewelry box to find the most sparkling baubles and brightly colored gems. David McDonald's photographs create this effect with the most exquisite flowers and plants imaginable. Nature's beauty surpasses the traditional sparkling trinkets one might expect to find and Thomas Hobbs describes them in the manner they deserve. I found this book to be a work of art, a gallery of paintings that happened to be growing from the earth. A must have for every gardener, artist, or anyone who appreciates beauty.

Thomas Hobbs, who also wrote "Shocking Beauty, has written another exquisite book. In "Jewelbox", he elaborates more on his philosophy about gardening (actually, life). This book carries the thread of Shocking Beauty, but is in no way redundant. There are wonderful close-ups and elegant garden vignettes, as well as humorous and "shocking" images (from the gardens of people who are most likely his friends). Mr. Hobbs is gifted, articulate and knowledgeable about plants, and he is an extraordinary editor. The gardens in this book run the stylistic gamut, but each has something wonderful to say about personal style and about having the guts and the eye to make a garden so undeniably individual.I can't imagine not loving this book.