The Ruth Bancroft Garden is a public dry garden established by

Ruth Bancroft Ruth Bancroft ( Petersson; September 2, 1908 – November 26, 2017) was the creator of the Ruth Bancroft Garden in Walnut Creek, California. A native of the Bay Area, Bancroft began the xeric garden in the 1950s on land originally purchased by ...

. It contains more than 2,000

cactus A cactus (: cacti, cactuses, or less commonly, cactus) is a member of the plant family Cactaceae (), a family of the order Caryophyllales comprising about 127 genera with some 1,750 known species. The word ''cactus'' derives, through Latin, ...

succulent In botany, succulent plants, also known as succulents, are plants with parts that are thickened, fleshy, and engorged, usually to retain water in arid climates or soil conditions. The word ''succulent'' comes from the Latin word ''sucus'', meani ...

s, trees, and shrubs native to

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

, and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. It is located at 1552 Bancroft Road in

Walnut Creek, California Walnut Creek is a city in Contra Costa County, California, United States, located in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, about east of the city of Oakland, California, Oakland. Walnut Creek has a total population of 70,127 per t ...

USA The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 contiguous ...

History

The Garden began in the early 1950s as Ruth Bancroft's private collection of potted plants within Bancroft Farm, a property bought by publisher

Hubert Howe Bancroft Hubert Howe Bancroft (May 5, 1832 – March 2, 1918) was an American historian and ethnologist who wrote, published, and collected works concerning the Western United States, Texas, California, Alaska, Mexico, Central America, and British Colum ...

(grandfather of Ruth's husband Philip) in the 1880s as an

orchard An orchard is an intentional plantation of trees or shrubs that is maintained for food production. Orchards comprise fruit tree, fruit- or nut (fruit), nut-producing trees that are generally grown for commercial production. Orchards are also so ...

for pears and walnuts.Relocation Walnut Creek (retrieved 29 October 2010)
/ref> In the 1950s, Bancroft brought home a single

, an

Aeonium ''Aeonium'', the tree houseleeks, is a genus of about 35 species of succulent, subtropical plants of the family Crassulaceae. Many species are popular in horticulture. The genus name comes from the ancient Greek αἰώνιος / aiōnios (ageles ...

grown by plant breeder Glenn Davidson. By 1972, the collection was moved to its current site, when the orchard was cut down and the land was rezoned. In 1989, it became the first garden in the United States to be preserved by

The Garden Conservancy The Garden Conservancy is an American nonprofit organization whose mission is to preserve, share, and celebrate America's gardens and diverse gardening traditions for the education and inspiration of the public. Founded in 1989, by Frank Cabot ...

, and has been open to the public since 1992. Today the Garden is an outstanding

landscape A landscape is the visible features of an area of land, its landforms, and how they integrate with natural or human-made features, often considered in terms of their aesthetic appeal.''New Oxford American Dictionary''. A landscape includes th ...

xerophytes A xerophyte () is a species of plant that has adaptations to survive in an environment with little liquid water. Examples of xerophytes include cacti, pineapple and some gymnosperm plants. The morphology and physiology of xerophytes are adapted to ...

(dry-growing plants). It is open to the public for an admission fee of $810.

Collection

Garden collections include the following plants: *

s *

Aloe ''Aloe'' (; also written ''Aloë'') is a genus containing over 650 species of flowering plant, flowering succulent plant, succulent plants.WFO (2022): Aloe L. Published on the Internet;http://www.worldfloraonline.org/taxon/wfo-4000001341. Acc ...

s *

Agavoideae Agavoideae is a subfamily of monocot flowering plants in the family Asparagaceae, order Asparagales. It has previously been treated as a separate family, Agavaceae. The group includes many well-known desert and dry-zone types, such as the agaves ...

Brachychiton ''Brachychiton'' (kurrajong, bottletree) is a genus of 31 species of trees and large shrubs, native to Australia (the centre of diversity, with 30 species) and New Guinea (one species). Fossils from New South Wales and New Zealand are estimated ...

trees ''including Brachychiton rupestris'' *

Brahea ''Brahea'' is a genus of palms in the family Arecaceae. They are commonly referred to as hesper palms and are endemic to Mexico and Central America.Govaerts, R. & Dransfield, J. (2005). World Checklist of Palms: 1-223. The Board of Trustees of th ...

palms including ''

Brahea armata ''Brahea armata'', commonly known as Mexican blue palm or blue hesper palm, is a large evergreen tree of the palm family Arecaceae, Endemism, endemic to Baja California, Mexico. It is widely planted as an Ornamental plant, ornamental. Descripti ...

'' * Bromeliaceae-Bromeliads including

Dyckia ''Dyckia'' is a genus of plants in the family Bromeliaceae, subfamily Pitcairnioideae. The genus is named after the Prussian botanist, botanical artist and horticulturist The Prince and Earl of Salm Reifferscheid-Dyck (1773–1861). Dyckias, wi ...

Hechtia ''Hechtia'' is a genus of plants in the family Bromeliaceae, and is the sole genus of the subfamily Hechtioideae, containing 75 species. Its species are native to Mexico, Central America, and the United States (Texas). The genus is named for Ju ...

s, and

Puya The Puyas are archaic Manipuri manuscripts. They encompass a wide spectrum of themes including genealogy, literature, history, royalties, administration, creation and cosmology, philosophy, poetry, religious beliefs, etc. Saroj Parratt noted ...

s ''(including

Puya chilensis ''Puya chilensis'' is a species of terrestrial bromeliad. It is endemic to central Chile. Description An evergreen perennial, it forms large, dense rosettes of grey-green, strap-like leaves edged with hooked spines. The green or yellow flowers a ...

)'' *

Butia ''Butia'' is a genus of palms in the family Arecaceae, native to the South American countries of Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay and Argentina. Many species produce edible fruits, which are sometimes used to make alcoholic beverages and other foods. ...

palms *

Dasylirion ''Dasylirion'' is a genus of succulent, rosette-forming plants in the Asparagaceae family (where it is included in the Nolinoideae subfamily). Most species are native to mountainous arid regions of Mexico, with some species also native to the Sou ...

s ''including

Dasylirion longissimum ''Dasylirion longissimum'', the Mexican Grass Tree, is a species of flowering plant native to the Chihuahuan Desert and other xeric habitats in Northeastern Mexico. Description Evergreen trunk-forming shrub, slow and moderate growing to tall a ...

and

Dasylirion wheeleri ''Dasylirion wheeleri'' (desert spoon, spoon flower, sotol, or common sotol) is a species of flowering plant in the asparagus family (Asparagaceae), native to arid environments of northern Mexico and the southwestern United States. Description ...

'' *

Dudleya ''Dudleya'', commonly known as liveforevers, is a genus of rosette-forming succulent plants in the stonecrop family, Crassulaceae, consisting of about 68 taxa in southwestern North America and Guadalupe Island. The species come in many forms, so ...

s *

Echeveria ''Echeveria'' is a large genus of flowering plants in the family (biology), family Crassulaceae, native plant, native to semi-desert areas of Central America, Mexico and northwestern South America. Description Echeveria plants are evergreen. Flo ...

s * Echinocacti *

Furcraea ''Furcraea'' is a genus of succulent plants belonging to the family (biology), family Asparagaceae, native to tropical regions of Mexico, the Caribbean, Central America and northern South America. Some species are also naturalized in parts of Af ...

s ''including Furcraea cabuya'' *

Hesperaloe ''Hesperaloe'' (false yucca) is a genus of flowering plants in the family Asparagaceae, subfamily Agavoideae. It contains perennial yucca-like plants with long, narrow leaves produced in a basal rosette and flowers borne on long panicles or rac ...

s ''including

Hesperaloe parviflora ''Hesperaloe parviflora'', also known as red yucca, hummingbird yucca, redflower false yucca and ''samandoque'', is a succulent plant in the Asparagaceae family (subfamily Agavoideae) that is native to the Chihuahuan and Coahuilan deserts of ...

'' *

Hesperoyucca ''Hesperoyucca'' is a small genus of two recognized species of flowering plants closely related to, and recently split from, ''Yucca'', which is in the century plant subfamily within the asparagus family. Description ''Hesperoyucca'' is distin ...

s ''including

Hesperoyucca whipplei ''Hesperoyucca whipplei'' ( syn. ''Yucca whipplei''), the chaparral yucca, our Lord's candle, Spanish bayonet, Quixote yucca or foothill yucca, is a species of flowering plant closely related to, and formerly usually included in, the genus ''Yucc ...

'' * Jubaea chilenensis palms *

Nolina ''Nolina'' is a genus of tropical xerophytic flowering plants belonging to the family Asparagaceae. The native distribution of the genus includes most of Mexico and the southern regions of the United States.Hochstätter, F. (2010). The genus ''N ...

Xanthorrhoea ''Xanthorrhoea'' () is a genus of about 30 species of Succulent plant, succulent flowering plants in the family Asphodelaceae. They are Endemism, endemic to Australia. Common names for the plants include grasstree, grass gum-tree (for resin-yie ...

s ''including

Xanthorrhoea preissii ''Xanthorrhoea preissii'', known as balga, is a widespread species of perennial monocot in Southwest Australia. Description The form of the plant resembles a tree, with very long and bunched, grass-like, leaves that emerge from a central base. ...

'' *

Yucca ''Yucca'' ( , YUCK-uh) is both the scientific name and common name for a genus native to North America from Panama to southern Canada. It contains 50 accepted species. In addition to yucca, they are also known as Adam's needle or Spanish-bayon ...

s ''including

Yucca filamentosa ''Yucca filamentosa'', Adam's needle and thread, is a species of flowering plant in the family Asparagaceae native to the southeastern United States. Growing to tall, it is an evergreen shrub valued in horticulture. Description Usually trunkle ...

, Yucca gloriosa, and

Yucca rostrata ''Yucca rostrata'' also called beaked yucca, is a tree-like plant belonging to the genus '' Yucca''. The species is native to Texas, and the Chihuahua and Coahuila regions of Mexico. This species of ''Yucca'' occurs in areas that are arid with ...

Gallery

Bancroft Garden 03.jpg, Bancroft Garden 07.jpg, Bancroft Garden 59.jpg, Bancroft Garden 30.jpg, Widow Skimmer Dragonfly (27087230853).jpg,

History

Collection

Gallery

References

See also