Thursday, April 2, 2020

Part One of my 2019 visit to the Ruth Bancroft Garden

Last year on this date I boarded an early morning flight to Sacramento, CA, where my friend Gerhard was waiting curbside to pick me up. The next morning we would be leaving his place in Davis, bound for Santa Barbara and the Bromeliad Summit. It's rather surreal how different things are now...

Before the Bromeliad Summit however we spent Thursday afternoon at the Ruth Bancroft Garden. Now seemed like a great time to relive the experience through my photos.

This was my first visit with the new garden entrance, you now enter through the nursery with a fancy visitors center (we'll see more of both of those tomorrow) before stepping out into the garden and seeing the—for me—signature plant of the garden, the Agave franzosinii, I do love the franzosinii...

Of course I love all agaves!

"Ruth's folly" is visible just to the right of this agave pair...

Some of the protective winter plant covers were still in place around the garden, thankfully the large one around the shade structure had been removed. All the better to appreciate the blooming aloes.

There's Gerhard...

I wonder if the solid green Agave attenuata ever feel jealous of the variegated guy's flashy stripes?

I think that's an Agave ovatifolia...

Maybe Agave horrida?

I've no clue if yellow is a healthy color for that cactus or not. It certainly is striking.

So much movement, even when they're perfectly still...

I'm going to dial back my chatter and let you wander the garden in peace...

Agave ovatifolia

(*swoon*)

Agave ovatifolia

Banksia carlinoides

Look at the foliage color on that blooming agave...

Ruth's folly

I believe these are the palms she planted from seed.

Aloe striata (coral aloe) will end today's post, come back for more tomorrow!

Weather Diary, Apr 1: Hi 50, Low 40/ Precip .12

All material © 2009-2020 by Loree Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.

22 comments:

  1. Such an extraordinary garden created by an extraordinary lady. A real treat to visit with Gerhard. The RBG is high on my bucket list but will probably have to wait at least another year.

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    1. Interestingly the RBG is where I met Gerhard in person for the first time. He was unable to attend the 2013 GB Fling in the Bay Area, but came to the RBG to meet a few of us. Fun memories.

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  2. Swoon indeed. The RBG is now closed, like so many other gardens. I can't wait for this public health crisis to pass so we can visit gardens again!

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  3. You have shown many amazing gardens over the years but for some reason this one really knock my socks off. It may be the lush ground covers that windes throughout the beds, or the striking blooms, it's hard to say. The blond cacti would make a fantastic focal point against a dark wall. And that Eucalyptus (?) trunk!!! Waiting for the next part of the tour.

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    1. It is a stunning garden with such a rich history. Hope you can visit someday.

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  4. So fabulous! It looks like you had good conditions for photographing the garden too.

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    1. I suppose I shouldn't complain, but a little bit of cherry sun would have been nice.

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  5. What an amazing garden!

    The skirts on those seed planted palsm are fab.

    Is the stressed Agave that is flowering an Agave montana? I remember seeing photos by Paul Spracklin from one of his trips abroad where he found a load of montanas growing wild. A lot of them were in flower and they had gone that colour. Some of them had fully developed flower spikes and that orange/red colouring had taken over the whole plant!

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    1. It could be (montana), I didn't want to hazard a guess.

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  6. Oh, but we do love your chatter.
    rickii

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  7. I find it interesting how the garden was nearly unknown when I lived in Walnut Creek (grew up there, only moved from the area in 2011), yet now I keep running into blogs and article about visits to it! Maybe it's been expanded or remodeled or made more visitor friendly since its old days. I can never forget the name of the garden though, it shares the name of my horrid late mother-in-law!

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    1. My first visit was in 2012, but I'd known about it for awhile longer. Perhaps the growing interest in this style of gardening has helped push it into the public's consciousness? It has definitely undergone expansion and the staff has worked to make it more publicly known. As for the name...oh my!

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  8. What a fabulous collection - very danger-ous!

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  9. A great visit it looks - I need to look through my old pics from '13. My *top* favorites from your pics are the bluish agaves and a Yucca rostrata with the green live oak...and...all the huge, perfect Opuntia all over the place there.

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    1. It was a great visit. I can't wait to go back!

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  10. Davvero spettacolare, alcuni esemplari sono molto grossi! Grazie per le immagini :)

    Buona giornata!

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