Book excerpt: Find inspiration and fresh ideas with this beautifully photographed garden design book. In Shocking Beauty, visionary garden impresario Thomas Hobbs offers his original and trendsetting treatises on garden design. In inspiring essays such as "Portable drams", "Staging Incidents" and "Zonal Denial, Hobbs uses examples from exceptional gardens throughout North America and Europe to demonstrate how a garden freed from the bonds of conventional design can result in spaces of singular and startling allure. Hobbs suggests that nature is the best teacher for blending color, texture and plant species to create "shocking beauty" in a garden. Shocking Beauty offers an in-depth gardening book with a twist-it enables you to discover what it takes to stop people in their tracks and realize how stunning nature can be. Illustrated with over 200 striking full-color photographs, this thought-provoking book will inspire people who've never gardened before and invigorate the passions of those who already know the joy of gardening. Garden design topics include: Inspiration Zonal Denial Good Neighbors High Tension Color: Cause & Effect Staging Incidents Portable Drama Home Visions