.Japanese influenced American Garden design .Presenting 14 gardens by the award-winning West Coast landscape architect Ron Herman .Herman has been a major influence on the design and evolution of private gardens in North America .Includes beautifully illustrated garden plans by the noted garden illustrator Chip Sullivan .During his 35-plus year career, Herman has created more than four hundred full-scale garden designs, including many of the U.S.'s largest and most intricate residential gardens .A multitude of ideas for readers' own gardens The fourteen gardens presented in this book by landscape architect Ron Herman provide a rich sampling of the work of a man who, in his own words, has been "involved in gardening and plants for most of my life. When I was growing up in Southern California, I worked with my father, who was a nurseryman, horticulturalist, and garden builder." He later went on to study landscape architecture at UC Berkeley and the University of Kyoto and then began a several decades-long career as one of the most distinguished and celebrated landscape architects in the United States. Heavily influenced by his experiences in Japan, a country he has returned to often, Herman's gardens are nevertheless an eclectic mix of styles and approaches that reflect his broad view of garden design."