The Jewel Box Garden

Rating:
Summary: agree with reviewer below
Review: I agree with the review below. Hobbs is really condescending. He insults anyone who's ever bought a petunia. And he expects the reader to buy expensive, rare, and tender plants in order to be interesting. But then he insults the reader by saying that a banana in the garden is like "foliar graffitti." Well, which is it? I don't appreciate the mixed messages of encouraging creativity and then mocking those who do try to be creative. I did not like this book.

It's also assumed that readers have the money, time, and knowledge to stage their gardens. Not everyone owns a rare plant nursery! And has a whole staff to help them with their garden.

Rating:
Summary: All About Echeverias
Review: If you love Echeverias, bowling balls and risque sculptures in your garden, you'll also love this book. A big disappointment after Shocking Beauty.

Rating:
Summary: Buy this book
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: Very Dissapointed
Review: While the pictures in "The Jewel Box Garden" are great and may provide the reader with some inspiration, the author's condescending and judgemental text is pedestrian and fails to provide the reader with any original ideas regarding how to think about and plan a great place in a small space.