Return to the Ruth Bancroft Garden (Part 1)

I had not visited the Ruth Bancroft Garden since 2019, that's six long years! 

That wrong was righted when Gerhard and I visited the garden during my trip to Davis/Sacramento and the Bay Area area in March.

As I edited my 300+ photos I was initially trying to get them down to a single post size. Afterall people seem to be turned off by two photo-heavy posts back to back on the same subject. Then I realized what I was doing and stopped. Who cares!? I love this garden and if I want to share that many photos then so be it. Enjoy them or don't. But really... why wouldn't you enjoy them?

This garden is fabulous and inspiring! 

All the photos thus far are of the street-side entry garden.

Now we're in nursery area just in front of the garden proper. The tile mosaic walls "were created by artists Donna Billick and Amanda Larson. 200 community members designed the tiles that make up the walls as part of a tile-making workshop led by Donna and Amanda. Each wall is 20' long and 4' tall and depicts a variety of succulents, cacti, and other low-water plants."

I know that info because Gerhard's blog came up in a search (here).

There were a lot of fabulous plants on offer in the nursery, most of which I had absolutely no hope of getting home with me.

Well okay, these cute little Oxalis palmifrons ($20) could have fit in my bag, but lucky me, Gerhard gave me a few dormant bulbs he had kicking around his place, so I didn't need to buy them.

Agave titanota 'Black and Blue' ($80)

 

The cactus were $250, I'm not sure what the Euphorbia ammak was going for.

Agave bovicornuta 'Holstein' ($85). I included prices only because I continue to be shocked at the price of plants these days! 

Meanwhile, there were also Dustin Gimbel sculptures looking very much like agave bloom spikes...

And mechanical cactus (?). I have no idea what these art pieces were selling for.

Inside the garden now...

There are 41 photos in this post, so I'm only going to occasionally comment. Just scroll and enjoy...

What an odd fountain! I like it...

But I wasn't entirely sure what the idea was. Were the log and bromeliads an afterthought?

Wow! That's a sizeable Kumara plicatilis, aka Aloe plicatilis, the fan-aloe.

I think these are Ferraria crispa?

Striking eucalyptus...

Agave franzosinii and A. ovatifolia.

About the A. franzosinii: "A very large and attractive century plant that can grow to 8 feet tall by 10 feet wide. It is usually seen as a single large open rosette with broad powdery bluish-gray large leaves that undulate and bend gracefully. The underside of the lower portion of the leaf is often patterned with dark green where the glaucus covering was rubbed off from contact with older leaves which gives this part of the plant an almost dark variegation." (source)

The shade structure on the right, which also creates a framework for winter protection.

Leucadendron 'Ebony'

I was thrilled to see the bird-planted cactus (pooped seeds) were still growing in that palm tree...

Variegated Agave ovatifolia I believe?

And another...

Agave macroacantha is where we end Part 1 of this visit. There will be more drool-worthy plants up on Wednesday!

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