I love shock and awe gardens—plantsmanship that is over the top, design that blends elements in creative ways, funkiness that somehow works. There was a great case of this Sunday in Naperville,where Mary Ann Ostrenga once again organized an organizational masterpiece with her “Walk the Garden Path to Find a Cure for Parkinson’s Disease.” She found six worthy gardens within a four-block area, allowing walk participants to actually walk between gardens.     Two gardens blended together so visitors weren’t sure whose garden they were in at any given moment. At the other end were the neighbors whose gardens were polar opposites. One was “so spectacular it has been featured in two gardening magazines.” It was formalism, balance, pruned perfection. Annabelle hydrangeas fronted by low hedges of boxwood around the perimeter of a large turf area. Green and white and not another dab of color. Next door was a visit to a nature preserve—wood chip pathways winding around trees, shrubs, bird houses, squirrel feeders (but a chipmunk trap), eclectic statuary, blue bottles, antique clocks. Not a blade of grass once past the front yard. If you paid attention, you would see trillium, many Jack-in-the-pulpits, and Solomon’s seal. Metal plant tags were tucked every now and again near a tiny starter plant to make sure it would not have been weeded out.     The shock and awe was to stand in one yard and observe the other.If there wasn’t 180 degrees of separation in the two styles, it wasn’t any closer than 179 degrees. Then again, maybe they were seeking a similar goal—to shield themselves from the neighbor behind and his perfectly manicured, weed-free lawn. Just lawn. —Bill Aldrich

Photos: Bill Aldrich