———–
———–
One of the pleasures of living in the Bay Area is the seemingly endless number of hidden treasures which await discovery. Although I’ve lived here some thirty years, only yesterday did I get around to visiting the eye-opening Ruth Bancroft Garden in Walnut Creek. What makes this garden so relevant is not solely its beauty, but that it displays only drought-tolerant plants, largely succulents. What exactly is a succulent is apparently open to disagreement, but generally, succulents are plants which are able to store moisture in their leaves, stems or roots (all cacti are succulents, for example, but not all succulents are cacti), thus making them great candidates for our gardens of the future when water is likely to be both more scarce and expensive.
All this matters to me because I’m trying to figure out what to do with my yard. Both front and back consist mostly of lawn, something I hope soon to alter. I have no interest in maintaining the fantasy of a green lawn during our long, dry Mediterranean summers. And so, I went to the Bancroft Garden seeking inspiration for my own garden. And inspiration there was aplenty. I plan to go again in a couple of months when many of the plants will be in bloom and all the protective coverings which are in place to ward off frost will be gone. The three-acre garden, which is open daily 10 a.m.-4 p.m., was begun in 1972 by Ruth Petersson Bancroft, and a docent told us that the 104-year old founder still lives on the grounds. The garden sponsors lectures and demonstrations and offers plants for sale. More photos after the jump…
———–
A few succulents are edible, these nopales figure prominently in Mexican cuisine.
the MacroChef 