LUSH LESSONS FOR THE DRY GARDEN
Drawing on the wisdom of the late Ruth Bancroft, this book shows how to adapt her renowned dry garden principles to modern landscapes.
The American Gardener
It’s interesting to know that Ruth started her garden for the fun and enjoyment of it, never holding the idea that she needed to impress anyone.
Ruth also never anticipated that people would take such an interest in her garden, that she would provide inspiration to so many people. But she did.
“Drawing on the wisdom of the late Ruth Bancroft, this book shows how to adapt her renowned dry garden principles to modern landscapes. It demonstrates how these ideas can transform real-life spaces into thriving, beautiful sanctuaries.” ―The American Garden
The Ruth Bancroft Garden, known as one of the finest dry gardens in the world, is a pioneering example of resilient design with a focus on water conservation. Ruth Bancroft (1908-2017) was a self-taught gardener and designer whose eclectic methods encourage richly textured, bold, and colorful layers of regionally climate-appropriate flowers, shrubs, trees, and succulents. These include her favorite aloes, agaves, yuccas, and echeverias that she collected and experimented with for over 60 years, and which the garden has continued to steward.
Designing the Lush Dry Garden is the first guide to lay out Ruth Bancroft’s methods for the home gardener and designer. With gorgeous photographs by Caitlin Atkinson, and detailed portraits of 20 gardens inspired by the Garden, discover how to create a design that suits your vision, including:
- How to choose the right plants for your site, including Ruth’s favorites
- The appropriate methods for adapting your garden to climate change
- Advice on integrating paths and structures in a waterwise design
- Tips for low-water container gardens and designs
In 1972, a particularly cold winter destroyed Ruth Bancroft’s garden. Ruth’s husband had gifted her the three acres to accommodate her growing passion for plants, but only on the condition that what she planted use little water.
A self-taught gardener and designer, Ruth started over with a focus on flora more suitable to the region and became an accidental pioneer of xeriscaping.
Her richly textured, bold, and colorfully layered style proved both popular and influential, and in 1989, the Ruth Bancroft Garden was the first to be preserved by the Garden Conservancy.
For those of you—and your numbers are growing—gardening in drought-stricken parts of the country, The Bold Dry Garden will quench your thirst for inspiration.
The New York Times Book Review
A Publishers Weekly Best Book of 2016
With climate change on the horizon, we are faced with the opportunity to channel the Ruth in all of us. Without knowing how it will all turn out, can we challenge ourselves to be adventurous in our plant choices, attentive to climatic cues, undaunted by failure, and contented by our gardens?
Just imagine what might be possible from the procurement of one innocent-looking rosette.
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.
