Murmann, a Russian-born landscape designer and artist, published this volume in 1914 as California Gardens: How to Plan and Beautify the City Lot, Suburban Grounds and Country Estate (originals now bring over $350). It provides 103 inspiring photos of California gardens, including overviews of formal flower beds or rustic lotus clusters, as well as close-ups of details like fences, pergolas, teahouses, lanterns, and benches made of raw branches. Although the photo captions are generic—“beautiful pansy beds give a special note of charm”—sharp-eyed Arts and Crafts connoisseurs will recognize some of the landscapes as belonging to iconic Pasadena houses designed by the Greene brothers. Murmann also supplies 50 suggested garden plans for lots ranging in size from postage-stamp bungalow lawns to 10-acre compounds with greenhouses and orchards. His variety of styles and plant species is impressive: straight or snaking footpaths cross through symmetrical beds of Dutch bulbs, Japanese raked-sand planes, or simulated Alpine cliffs. Too bad the book doesn’t come with suggestions for adapting his ideas to terrain outside California; the introduction tantalizingly provides Murmann’s mailing address, inviting readers to pay him for blueprints and lists of “plants selected to suit the climatic conditions of your locality.”