The Jewel Box Garden

Janet Arnett is the former campus manager of adult education at Ontario’s Georgian College. She is the author of Antiques and Collectibles: Starting Small, The Grange at Knock, and 673 Ways to Save Money.

Think of the garden as a gallery, with groups of plants as artworks.
Some, of course, are masterpieces by themselves. Others work together to
create tapestries of texture and colour. Some groupings exist for their
colours, intricate montages of subtle shades. Others play with form and
shape, exploring the architecture of space.

Or think of the garden as theatre, a place where dramas are staged and
created using both growing and inanimate props. The
props—“non-living elements”—are centre stage in this luscious
look, working to support the plant actors. Hobbs delights in huge clay
or ceramic pots, rustic containers, sculptural and architectural
objects. Almost any material can be incorporated into the garden
dioramas, he says, except “plastic is not an option.”

Visually this book is very rich. All the photographs—and there are
masses of them—have intense, spectacular colour and magnificent
compositions. Captions give the scientific name and variety of each
plant in each picture. The text is a touch pretentious, but basically
colourful and friendly.

There’s lots here for the artist, the passionate gardener, and the
coffee-table-book browser. None will be disappointed.