Ruth Bancroft Garden

 For those of you who are familiar with Ruth Bancroft Garden out in Walnut Creek, I don't need to convince you of its considerable charms. It has one of the preeminent collections of dry garden plants in all of north America. A friend and I revisited the Garden last week and I took a few photos so I could share them. One of the odd things about this first rate botanical garden is that there is very little signage to indicate the genus and species of any particular plant. For plant geeks like my friend and myself, this is kind of maddening. But it was Ruth Bancroft's wish that the plants not be 'spoiled' by any signage and the current staff is continuing to honor her wishes. It means sadly that I don't have botanical identification for a few of these photos so please pardon that omission. Okay, here are the photos.

This is one of the mysteries but I love how it creates a dense spilling mound of finely textures slender branches. Clearly a drought tolerant plant.

Other than the obvious - this is a cactus of some sort - I don't have an ID for this stately denizen.

Ephedra species. Yes, the same Ephedra that is used in herbal supplements and has been used in traditional Chinese medicines.

We're both at a loss to identify this lovely shrub with feathery foliage. It was one of my favorites that day.

The Garden has many Agaves and neither of us knew which one this was.

Ferocactus pottsii. These are the little yellow fruits that follow blooming on this charming cactus.

Dyckia species. Dyckias are famously thorny and this specimen is no exception. Lovely - at a distance.

Euphorbia echinus. As many of you know, the Euphorbia genus has many succulent species. Here's one of them. It's formed a nice low colony and looks very healthy.

Mangave species. This cross between a Manfreda and an Agave has in recent times become popular in the nursery trade. They notably feature heavily speckled leaves. Here are two fine looking specimens.

Here's another Euphorbia, though we're not sure of the species.

The Garden has a number of wonderful caudiciforms. Here's one - Cyphostemma. Not sure of the species but you can see the well-developed caudex at the base of the plant.

Yet another Euphorbia, with my friend guessing it's E. horrida. That would be perfect. Look at how spiny it is!

Grevillea 'King's Fire.' The docent who showed me this Protea family member said it blooms nearly year round. It's one of three so far in the King's series. I have another one in my garden - King's Celebration.

Brunsvigia species, most likely B. josephinae or J. orientalis. This South African bulb makes a striking flower before the leaves appear, looking for all the world like an exploding star!

Lastly we have a variegated Dasylirion. It isn't obvious here but one of the distinctive features of this genus are the very fine hairs that offset the thick branches.