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The Bold Dry Garden: Lessons from the Ruth Bancroft Garden
Celebrate and recreate the beauty of The Ruth Bancroft Garden!
Ruth Bancroft is a dry gardening pioneer. Her lifelong love of plants led to the creation of one of the most acclaimed public gardens, The Ruth Bancroft Garden in Walnut Creek, California. The Bold Dry Garden offers unparalleled access to the garden and the extraordinary woman responsible for it. In its stunningly photographed pages, you’ll discover the history of the garden and the design principles and plant palette that make it unique. Packed with growing and maintenance tips, profiles of signature plants for a dry garden, and innovative design techniques, The Bold Dry Garden has everything you need to create a garden that is lush, waterwise, and welcoming.
Ruth Bancroft is a dry gardening pioneer. Her lifelong love of plants led to the creation of one of the most acclaimed public gardens, The Ruth Bancroft Garden in Walnut Creek, California. The Bold Dry Garden offers unparalleled access to the garden and the extraordinary woman responsible for it. In its stunningly photographed pages, you’ll discover the history of the garden and the design principles and plant palette that make it unique. Packed with growing and maintenance tips, profiles of signature plants for a dry garden, and innovative design techniques, The Bold Dry Garden has everything you need to create a garden that is lush, waterwise, and welcoming.
236 pages, Hardcover
Published October 5, 2016
31 people are currently reading
99 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
August 6, 2017
Bold Dry Garden is a history, a biography, and a photographic journey of an incredible space created by a brilliant woman. Ruth Bancroft's passion comes through on each page, and I was inspired by her story and her 107(!) years. She lovingly created this garden and along with others paved the way for a garden conservancy movement. Next time I am in the Bay Area, this is a must-visit.
May 17, 2021
Ruth Bancroft's 40+ year old dry garden in Walnut Creek, CA is endlessly inspiring. This is a lovely photographic and informational journey through the space. I got so many new ideas for my home garden in CO. Someday I hope to visit Ruth's paradise and see it for my own eyes.
January 25, 2024
Must go back now that I have a better understanding of the passion and thought that went into creating the Ruth Bancroft garden. Besides the backstory, the book has chapters on different families of plants and having them grouped like that (and also apparently in the planting beds) helps sort all the succulents and dry-adapted plants in one's head.
December 12, 2021
This book changed my attitude on dry gardens. Thought I was never a fan because I associate them with gray-green, prickly brown, forlorn looking messes. Not so! The photography is lovely, the stories of the gardener are precious. Ruth started her dry garden when she was in her early sixties and she lived until 109, so she got to see so much growth. A man named Brian started working with her in 1980 and he has also got a chunk of history with that garden. I would love to visit this garden in the near future, but I have so many gardens on my list that I may never get the chance. So happy there was a book about it.
March 19, 2017
If you truly want to know and understand a garden, you need to walk the garden with the owner, the creator, the designer or the head gardener. They can show and tell you small things that you might not notice on your own or explain grand themes and plans which are only subtly visible in the garden but underpin everything.
Books like The Bold Dry Garden are the next best thing to walking the paths with the owners and hearing the stories of how the garden was created, how this plant or the other was acquired, the grand successes and dismal failures. You get a sense for all these in The Bold Dry Garden.
The author and photographer seek to make the garden accessible to anyone no matter where they might be in the world. Even though I only live 5-6 hours drive from the Ruth Bancroft Garden I had not heard of it and, of course, have never visited. This book has changed that th0ugh. Now I am intimately familiar with creator Ruth Bancroft’s history, the evolving garden design and even particular specimen plants included in the garden.
The Bold Dry Garden begins with “Meet Ruth”. This recounts Ruth’s early history from her childhood to the point where, at age 63, after most of the surrounding farmland had been sold off for subdivisions, she started to build the garden. From this start in 1971, the garden grew and changed until it became part of the Garden Conservancy in 1991. This addition helped to preserve and maintain the gardens for generations to come.
The bulk of The Bold Dry Garden is the section entitled “Signature Plants of the Dry Garden.” Here you find detailed accounts and photos of many of the plants in the garden including agaves and aloes, echeveria and sempervivum, euphorbium and crassula. This is a veritable encyclopedia for succulents lovers and an excellent reference book, as well as one to simply read from cover to cover as if you were walking through the garden itself. The descriptions and photographs can give you both interesting ideas and detailed information for seeing how these plants might fit into your own garden.
Now that I have read The Bold Dry Garden, I plan on visiting the next time I am in Northern California. In fact, I will probably go out of my way to visit, even if I am just passing through. A garden like The Ruth Bancroft Garden is always a treat to visit and my appetite has been whet with this amazing, written and photographed, introduction.
- See more at: http://welchwrite.com/agn/2017/03/18/...
Books like The Bold Dry Garden are the next best thing to walking the paths with the owners and hearing the stories of how the garden was created, how this plant or the other was acquired, the grand successes and dismal failures. You get a sense for all these in The Bold Dry Garden.
The author and photographer seek to make the garden accessible to anyone no matter where they might be in the world. Even though I only live 5-6 hours drive from the Ruth Bancroft Garden I had not heard of it and, of course, have never visited. This book has changed that th0ugh. Now I am intimately familiar with creator Ruth Bancroft’s history, the evolving garden design and even particular specimen plants included in the garden.
The Bold Dry Garden begins with “Meet Ruth”. This recounts Ruth’s early history from her childhood to the point where, at age 63, after most of the surrounding farmland had been sold off for subdivisions, she started to build the garden. From this start in 1971, the garden grew and changed until it became part of the Garden Conservancy in 1991. This addition helped to preserve and maintain the gardens for generations to come.
The bulk of The Bold Dry Garden is the section entitled “Signature Plants of the Dry Garden.” Here you find detailed accounts and photos of many of the plants in the garden including agaves and aloes, echeveria and sempervivum, euphorbium and crassula. This is a veritable encyclopedia for succulents lovers and an excellent reference book, as well as one to simply read from cover to cover as if you were walking through the garden itself. The descriptions and photographs can give you both interesting ideas and detailed information for seeing how these plants might fit into your own garden.
Now that I have read The Bold Dry Garden, I plan on visiting the next time I am in Northern California. In fact, I will probably go out of my way to visit, even if I am just passing through. A garden like The Ruth Bancroft Garden is always a treat to visit and my appetite has been whet with this amazing, written and photographed, introduction.
- See more at: http://welchwrite.com/agn/2017/03/18/...
February 2, 2020
I was excited to read this book because I love succulents, have a self-designed garden in Northern California, and visited Ruth Bancroft's garden in March 2017. While reading this book in early 2020 I felt like I was visiting the garden again, though it was bittersweet since the book was written in 2016, and I knew she had died in late 2017 at 109 years old!! The book starts out as a biography of Ruth and how she became interested in succulents as well as how her garden began in 1970 - from the land, to the plants, the weather, and her experimental gardening. To me this was fascinating and it really doesn't matter whether you have visited or not, you will feel like you are right there due to the large color photos of sculptural images with descriptive captions on every page. We learn how Ruth discovered through trial and error which plants to grow where (sun/shade/more or less water) and she was incredibly careful to document everything in minute detail - which actually makes for an engaging story including the results of an unusual freeze one winter.
The last quarter of the book finds the concept changing from biographical to informational. The author uses Ruth's garden to tell the reader what type of plants to purchase, how and why they will grow successfully in certain areas, and offers Ruth's tips, techniques, and favorite plants with the goal to help you create a beautiful low-water garden.
It doesn't matter whether you ever visit the Bancroft Garden, one of America's most acclaimed public gardens, whether you have your own garden, pots of succulents on your window sill, or just a Pinterest board of your plant wish list, this book will entertain you for hours as you read and enjoy the incredible photos.
The last quarter of the book finds the concept changing from biographical to informational. The author uses Ruth's garden to tell the reader what type of plants to purchase, how and why they will grow successfully in certain areas, and offers Ruth's tips, techniques, and favorite plants with the goal to help you create a beautiful low-water garden.
It doesn't matter whether you ever visit the Bancroft Garden, one of America's most acclaimed public gardens, whether you have your own garden, pots of succulents on your window sill, or just a Pinterest board of your plant wish list, this book will entertain you for hours as you read and enjoy the incredible photos.
February 9, 2020
I am moving to AZ and am reading books to help me get into the desert mindset. This garden is in CA but is a wonderful example of climate adapted gardening. The pictures are lovely & Ruth was an amazing gardener. I am looking forward to utilizing much of what I learned from this book in my new place.
December 11, 2018
An excellent resource book with lovely photos of what is possible when gardening in extremely dry conditions. It brought back happy memories of Walnut Creek where Ruth's garden is, and has inspired me to get moving in my new gardening environment which is more difficult than that of California!
April 1, 2023
The story of one garden and its creator, Ruth Bancroft. Her sense of design was amazing: she layered color, form, etc. to make a gorgeous garden. The last part of the book is devoted to a list of the plants and how to use them in the garden.
February 20, 2018
Wonderful book, Ruth was so inspiring, 109 years in the garden!
March 14, 2019
Beautiful and amazing garden - truly a vision, however impossibly out of reach on my budget and in my climate.
January 26, 2020
More of a biography about Ruth Bancroft than a how-to book, by far. Great photography.
October 12, 2020
Loved this book. It was delightful to learn about Ruth. I would have loved to meet her. The pictures were stunning and it was fun to learn a few things about gardening along the way.
June 24, 2022
A stupendously gorgeous coffee table book that will inspire many re-reads.
June 7, 2023
I love the incredible story of Ruth, her amazing garden, and then learning about all the rare cacti and succulents. I was taken away and must go to the garden!!
January 13, 2017
This is a gardening book suited to anyone wanting to plant out a drought tolerant and waterwise garden.
Ruth Bancroft (who is now 107 years old!) is a dry gardening pioneer and her love of plants led to the creation of one of the most acclaimed public gardens in America the Ruth Bancroft Garden in Walnut Creek, California. This garden spans over 3 acres and is filled with drought tolerant and waterwise plants.
This book offers lessons from the garden and also gives a bit of history on the garden and the woman who maintains it.
The book includes lots of advice and lessons learnt for growing and maintaining a dry garden with plants such as succulents, cacti and other drought tolerant species.
I recommend this book to plant lovers who want to plant a dry and waterwise garden.
Reviewing for Netgalley who provided an e-book in exchange for my honest review. A hardcopy of this book is a must to appreciate the photographs and layout.
Ruth Bancroft (who is now 107 years old!) is a dry gardening pioneer and her love of plants led to the creation of one of the most acclaimed public gardens in America the Ruth Bancroft Garden in Walnut Creek, California. This garden spans over 3 acres and is filled with drought tolerant and waterwise plants.
This book offers lessons from the garden and also gives a bit of history on the garden and the woman who maintains it.
The book includes lots of advice and lessons learnt for growing and maintaining a dry garden with plants such as succulents, cacti and other drought tolerant species.
I recommend this book to plant lovers who want to plant a dry and waterwise garden.
Reviewing for Netgalley who provided an e-book in exchange for my honest review. A hardcopy of this book is a must to appreciate the photographs and layout.
March 13, 2017
How inspiring! A woman follows her passion and develops an incredible garden later in life. Her theory: "It is time to act as stewards rather than conquerors, and to understand that our yard and gardens are part of the natural environment, not distinct from it."
October 3, 2016
As soon as you open the pages of the book you feel as if you've stepped into a desert oasis. I immediately recognized the California palm trees and felt nostalgic. I lived in California for over 20 years and this book captures the beauty of dry gardens in that Mediterranean climate. I thought it was awesome to finally learn the name of the iceplant that used to grow by my Grandma's house too. A visually stunning book with wonderful backstory about Ruth and tips on how we can cultivate our own dry garden. There were some photos that I wanted to frame and put on my wall. I loved this book!
I received this book as an ARC from the publisher, but all opinions are my own.
I received this book as an ARC from the publisher, but all opinions are my own.
September 8, 2016
Northern California centenarian Ruth Bancroft has been growing beautiful plants with low water requirements. The photographs in this book are stunning, and attest to the diversity of plants available to be grown in a Mediterranean climate. The author mentions that so many in California try to fight the natural climate with high water usage plants, and shows that working with the environment has tremendous advantages.
September 14, 2016
Thanks to NetGalley and Timber Press for the arc of The Bold Dry Garden by Johanna Silver! This book is a story of one woman's beautiful gardens and her impressive talent with plants. Ruth Bancroft's story is told from when she was a young girl up to the age of over 100. The book breaks down the plants into different species and types and contains gorgeous photographs of Ruth's gardens and different plant examples.
July 18, 2017
A nice oversize picture book of the Garden, a newish public garden planted by Ruth Bancroft starting in 1972, in Walnut Creek, CA. It opened to the public in the early 1990s. Lots of useful info for those planning or planting a dry garden. Color photo reproduction is good but not great.
Need to visit!! http://www.ruthbancroftgarden.org/
Need to visit!! http://www.ruthbancroftgarden.org/
November 11, 2016
Nice history of the Ruth Bancroft garden with great pictures.
It wasn't particularly useful to *me* as I continue my xeriscape journey, hence my 2 stars (it's OK). Other gardeners probably would get more out of it.
It wasn't particularly useful to *me* as I continue my xeriscape journey, hence my 2 stars (it's OK). Other gardeners probably would get more out of it.
November 30, 2016
Inspirational photos and story of a garden begun when the gardener was 61. At 107 years old she has lived to see it mature and become famous.
January 5, 2017
Skimmed for the pictures & captions. I liked the large scale pictures of the garden, less so the close-ups.
June 29, 2021
Wonderful pictures, descriptions, and ideas for dryland gardening. Too bad that this is in San Francisco, though -- most things would freeze in our climate.
April 16, 2018
Amazing garden!! So many succulents and cactus -
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews