Power of Gardens by Nancy Goslee Power

When Nancy Goslee Power, a doyen of California landscape design, was 10 years old, she predicted her life's work by writing down that she wanted to be a naturalist, a ballet dancer, a designer, and an army colonel. Her recently released book, The Power of Gardens, is a joyful record compiling her own words with photos, plans and sketches from 25 years of her firm's best gardens. But really, it is so much more. Each garden is an aesthetic statement of the sum of Power's life, beginning with the little girl who, in her mind, was always planting and painting everything around her. And it's a look forward, too, to the gardens for children and for communities that epitomize Power's passion for creating beautiful outdoor spaces for as many people as possible.

Linked stucco-clad pavilions and a titanium-clad tower compose Frank Gehry's design for the Schnabel family compound. Setting them off are pools, lawns and strong plants.

Price-Van Breda Garden

Price-Van Breda Garden: A new steel fence by designer Joe Sturges encloses the swimming pool and makes a background for kangaroo paws and Tasmanian tree ferns.

Price-Van Breda Garden: In the foreground luxuriant jasmine covers the walls of the spa, and its fabulous fragrance scents the air on warm evenings.

Faring House Garden: A new grove of sycamores softens the light coming onto the terrace and into the house during the long sunny Southern California dry seasons.

Iris 'Grandma's Purple Flag' is a midsize reblooming California favorite.

Ganz Garden: In the early morning, plum trees shade a tiny terrace of stepping stones with 'Elfin' thyme between them.

Harte Garden: Water gently bubbles up from a carved stone in the center of a pebble mosaic circle and trickles down a rill that is lined up with the highest peak on Santa Cruz Island.

Harte Garden: Chaises look over a lawn framed by Agapanthus 'Storm Cloud' to the mountains beyond.

Moraga Vineyard: Native oaks lightly shade a California lilac (Ceanothus griseus horizontalis 'Yankee Point') along a winding path across the hills.

Moraga Vineyard: Framed by low stone steps, the tapis vert provides dancing space for the owners granddaughter.

A Malibu garden: A tropical paradise with Kentia palms in a separate garden room near the house has a very long pool with luxurious steps on one side — a Powers trademark.