Herb Schaal

"This project is really about bringing books to life. Of all our gardens this is the most complex project my team has worked on.When you think of 74 children's books and how you want them created and organized in a garden structure, it becomes quite a challenge."

Herb Schaal is a landscape architect with over 30 years of experience in a broad range of applications of the profession, including urban design studies; site planning and design for corporate facilities and campuses; and highway and corridor work. He specializes in public gardens, including educational gardens for children and contemplative gardens for health care facilities. He is also an authority on the creation of natural landscapes and revegetation of difficult sites and disturbed areas. Thirty-eight of his projects have been recognized for awards by the American Society of Landscape Architects, including Bookworm Gardens, which recieved the National Merit Award for Planning & Urban Design in 2009. Herb was also recently named "Designer of the Year" by the American Horticulture Society.

Herb holds a MLA from State University of New York at Syracuse and is a Fellow with the American Society of Landscape Architects. He is a registered landscape architect in California, Missouri, Utah, and Wyoming, and is also certified with the National Council of Landscape Architects Review Board.

Herb's philosophy about designing for children stresses providing open-ended, interactive opportunities and engaging all the senses. Herb's gardens always include water to touch and hear, fragrant plants to smell, striking color combinations to see, and fruits and vegetables to taste. There are no keep off signs!

Herb has designed over twenty children’s gardens across the country, including: