The Ruth Bancroft Garden is a public dry garden established by Ruth Bancroft. It contains more than 2,000 cactus, succulents, trees, and shrubs native to California, Mexico, Chile, South Africa, and Australia. It is located at 1552 Bancroft Road in Walnut Creek, California, USA. 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 (grandfather of Ruth's husband Philip) in the 1880s as an orchard for pears and walnuts. In the 1950s, Bancroft brought home a single succulent, an Aeonium 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, and has been open to the public since 1992. Today the Garden is an outstanding landscape of xerophytes (dry-growing plants). It is open to the public for an admission fee of $810. Collection Garden collections include the following plants: Aeoniums Aloes Agavoideae Brachychiton trees including Brachychiton rupestris Brahea palms including Brahea armata Bromeliaceae-Bromeliads including Dyckias, Hechtias, and Puyas (including Puya chilensis) Butia palms Dasylirions including Dasylirion longissimum and Dasylirion wheeleri Dudleyas Echeverias Echinocacti Furcraeas including Furcraea cabuya Hesperaloes including Hesperaloe parviflora Hesperoyuccas including Hesperoyucca whipplei Jubaea chilenensis palms Nolinas; Xanthorrhoeas including Xanthorrhoea preissii Yuccas including Yucca filamentosa, Yucca gloriosa, and Yucca rostrata References and external links See also List of botanical gardens and arboretums in California List of botanical gardens in the United States External links Official website The Garden Conservancy Botanical gardens in California Gardens in California Walnut Creek, California Protected areas of Contra Costa County, California Landscape design history of the United States