The Ruth Bancroft Garden

Walnut Creek, CA

In days gone by, stories always began, “Once upon a time...” If ever a tale deserved that opening, it would be that of the Ruth Bancroft Garden and the role it played in the formation of the Garden Conservancy. There was no Garden Conservancy when Frank Cabot paid his first visit to Ruth Bancroft in Walnut Creek, CA, in 1988. Until he visited, he hadn’t met Ruth or her magnum opus. And we have it on good authority that he was no fan of “spiny and spiky” things.

Frank Cabot was an inveterate garden visitor. “I see visiting a garden as basically an emotional and sensual experience, as well as something that is filled with surprise.” Emotional? Sensual? This was likely the most dangerous garden he’d ever visited. Spikes and spines and glochids, oh my! He was certainly surprised.

Penelope Hobhouse, world-famous doyenne of the British gardening world who has designed gardens in many countries and for many luminaries, had passed along a recommendation about this woman and this garden, calling it “one of the finest gardens in North America.” That would surely have been enough to excite interest, even for a “dry” garden. She undoubtedly mentioned the plants that comprised it. Nonetheless, it does not sound as if he was prepared for what he saw:

“I shall never get over the excitement and the sense of wonder that I experienced when I first visited your garden. It was something that does not happen very often in a garden visitor’s lifetime,” Garden Conservancy founder Frank Cabot wrote in a letter to Ruth Bancroft nearly ten years after his first visit.

He immediately acknowledged the greatness of both the garden and the gardener. Cacti, agave, and other succulents were not only mature and beautifully grown; they were displayed in a garden whose plot continued to unfold as it was walked. Ruth began creating her garden in the 1970s, and after some early design assistance from Lester Hawkins, founder of Western Hills Rare Plant Nursery in Occidental, CA, she single-handedly turned a personal passion into a nationally recognized horticultural wonder filled with remarkable specimens. For example, at 50+ years of age, and measuring more than three feet high, the garden’s rare Lobivia formosa is thought to be the largest specimen in northern California, while the imposing but whimsical Yucca filifera looks humanoid. A pioneer of drought-tolerant gardening, Ruth continued to be a guiding force in the garden’s development until she passed away at the age of 109 in 2017.

On the way home, and equally struck by the Bancroft garden, Anne, Frank’s wife, casually brainstormed the creation of some sort of organization to focus on preserving amazing gardens like the one they’d just seen—so outstanding, so unique, so American.

The rest, as is often said, is history. The Garden Conservancy was formed and its first preservation project was the transition of Ruth’s garden into a public resource that will inspire and educate visitors for generations to come. The Conservancy also pioneered the first use of a conservation easement to protect a garden at the Ruth Bancroft Garden in 1993. Critical to the success of the Ruth Bancroft Garden (which now welcomes tens of thousands of visitors each year) were committed volunteers from the local and regional community. While the garden now boasts a highly skilled professional staff, volunteers continue to form the backbone of the garden’s management.

The story of the Garden Conservancy is, now and forever, inextricably tied to that of the Ruth Bancroft Garden. It’s not just that Ruth’s garden is now mature, packed with a collection of collections, a beautifully designed showcase for plants many people only, if ever, see in stunted form in pots on windowsills. It’s that it tells its own story, a mystical, magical, and transcendent story about a passion, a vision and persistence; a story and a feeling that Cabot identifies in his letter to Ruth—one that is only experienced in the very finest gardens.

Gardens of Alcatraz San Francisco, CA

The island of Alcatraz has a long and unique history since the mid-nineteenth century, first as a military base, to housing imprisoned conscientious objectors during World War I, to African American inmates protesting segregationist policies, to the American Indian Occupation of 1969-1971 demanding civil rights and dignity. For ten years starting in 2003, the Garden Conservancy led an effort to rehabilitate the Gardens of Alcatraz in partnership with the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy and the National Park Service. For more information on the Gardens of Alcatraz, see profile on page 37.

Garland Farm Bar Harbor, ME

Garland Farm was the last home and garden of pioneering landscape architect Beatrix Farrand (1872 – 1959). In 2003, the Garden Conservancy supported efforts by a newly formed nonprofit organization, the Beatrix Farrand Society, to acquire the property for public use and education. In 2013, the Beatrix Farrand Society and the Garden Conservancy co-sponsored a seminar in Bar Harbor on “Restoring Beatrix Farrand Gardens.”

Green Gables Woodside, CA

The 74-acre Green Gables, an extraordinary example of a Country Place Era estate, was designed by architect Charles Greene (1868 – 1957) in the early 1900s and is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. Since 2003, the Garden Conservancy has held a conservation easement on the property to protect its architectural, historical, horticultural, ecological, and cultural values, all important legacies of the site.

Greenwood Gardens Short Hills, NJ

Twenty-eight acres of designed and naturalistic landscapes, Greenwood Gardens is an elegant and unique example of the Arts & Crafts aesthetic applied to traditional, formal garden design. Beginning in the early 2000s, the Garden Conservancy partnered with the owners of Greenwood Gardens to study the feasibility of making a transition from private to public garden. For eighteen months, the Conservancy also directly managed the gardens, and has continued to provide technical support and guidance. Greenwood Gardens obtained its nonprofit status in 2005 and began an ambitious multi-year garden renovation plan in 2006, completing the second major phase in 2020.

Greystone Mansion & Gardens Beverly Hills, CA

The Greystone Mansion, also known as the Doheny Mansion, is a Tudor Revival building on a landscaped estate with distinctive formal English gardens completed in 1928 for oil baron Edward

Donehy. It is now owned by the City of Beverly Hills and managed as a public park. In 2010, the Friends of Greystone contacted the Garden Conservancy for a letter in support of their restoration of the formal garden and greenhouse.

Hakone Gardens Saratoga, CA

An eighteen-acre traditional Japanese garden, Hakone Gardens is recognized as one of the oldest Japanese-style residential gardens in the Western Hemisphere. In the early 2000s, the Garden Conservancy provided Hakone Gardens with technical assistance, including a garden assessment and recommendations for preservation planning and site management.

Hannah Carter Japanese Garden Los Angeles, CA

Designed in 1959 by noted Japanese garden designer Nagao Sakurai, this garden was deeded to the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) by Edward Carter, who named the garden in honor of his wife, Hannah. After announcing plans to sell the garden in 2011, UCLA was sued by the Carter family for breach of donor intent. The Garden Conservancy organized a coalition to save the Hannah Carter Japanese Garden, a group that included both concerned individuals and cultural organizations, and led the coalition’s advocacy campaign for eighteen months. In 2016, UCLA sold the garden under the condition that the garden be preserved. In 2017, the Garden Conservancy wrote a letter supporting the coalition’s nomination of the garden as a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument.

Harkness Gardens Waterford, CT

The Harkness Gardens, which were designed by landscape architects Beatrix Farrand (1872 – 1959) and Marian Cruger Coffin (1876 – 1957), are located in Harkness Memorial State Park, the 200-acre former estate of Edward Stephen Harkness and his wife Mary Stillman Harkness. In the mid-1990s, the Garden Conservancy provided technical and fundraising assistance and conducted strategic planning meetings.

The Hermitage Ho-Ho-Kus, NJ

The Hermitage, a fourteen-room Gothic Revival house museum built in 1847 – 1848, is a National Historic Landmark. In the early 1990s, at the request of the Garden Conservancy, the Olmsted Center for Landscape Preservation assisted in the preparation of planting plans for the grounds, based on an 1890s photograph of the site. The Conservancy sponsored a symposium to assist the Friends of the Hermitage in establishing a landscape preservation plan and assisted with fundraising efforts to maintain and restore the period landscape.

Hills & Dales Estate’s Ferrell Gardens LaGrange, GA

One of the oldest surviving parterre gardens in the South, the Ferrell Gardens at Hills & Dales Estate were created in 1832 by Nancy Ferrell and expanded by her daughter Sara Coleman Ferrell in 1841. In the mid-1990s, as the family prepared for the future public operation of the estate, the Garden Conservancy made recommendations on preservation planning. In 1998, the property was bequeathed to the Fuller E. Callaway Foundation and it opened to the public in 2004.

Hirshhorn Museum Sculpture Garden Washington, DC

Part of the Smithsonian Institution and located at the National Mall, the Hirshhorn Museum’s Sculpture Garden was designed by landscape architect Lester Collins (1914 – 1993) in the late 1970s. It showcases his signature fusion of minimalism and Asian design philosophy, and reinforces the identity of the garden as a welcoming urban park. In 2020, the Garden Conservancy joined other cultural and preservation organizations in expressing concern about the proposed redesign of the sunken sculpture garden, which threatens to destroy key features of the master work by Lester Collins. As of this writing, the museum is moving ahead with its redesign.

Hollister House Garden Washington, CT

A classic garden in the English manner with a loosely formal structure, Hollister House Garden was created by George Schoellkopf in the Litchfield hills of northwestern Connecticut. Starting in 2004, the Garden Conservancy advised on the property’s transition to become a public garden. The Conservancy was also instrumental in launching Hollister House Garden Study Weekend and continues as a cosponsor of the event.

Hortulus Farm Garden and Nursery Wrightstown, PA

A hundred-acre, eighteenth-century farmstead in Wrightstown, PA, Hortulus Farm was created by the garden and event designer Renny Reynolds and the late garden writer Jack Staub, who participated in Garden Conservancy Open Days for many years. In December 2020, Reynolds presented their latest book, Chasing Eden: Design Inspiration from the Gardens at Hortulus Farm, as part of the Conservancy’s Fall 2020 Literary Series.

Hortense Miller Garden Laguna Beach, CA

The Hortense Miller Home and Garden covers 2.5 acres of ocean view property in Laguna Beach and highlights both native and exotic species in a spectacular setting of coastal sage scrub. In 2005, the Garden Conservancy made recommendations on fundraising strategies and preservation planning for the garden.

Innisfree Garden Millbrook, NY

Now a public garden, Innisfree Garden was established between 1930 and 1960 as the private garden of Walter and Marion Beck, inspired by scroll paintings of the eighth-century Chinese poet and painter Wang Wei. With the help of landscape architect Lester Collins (1914 – 1993), individual garden scenes inspired by the Chinese paintings were connected to an overall landscape around a glacial lake, in keeping with the ecological surroundings. In 2019, the Conservancy wrote a letter to support Innisfree’s application for designation in the National Register of Historic Places. Innisfree has also been a frequent cosponsor of Garden Conservancy educational events.

James Rose Center Ridgewood, NJ

The James Rose Center, a nonprofit research and study foundation, is headquartered at the former home of avant-garde modernist landscape architect James Rose (1913 – 1991). In the 1990s, the Garden Conservancy assisted in saving James Rose’s garden and home and transforming them into the James Rose Center. In 1994, the Garden Conservancy helped form an advisory council to develop programming and support and later assisted in the formation of the James Rose Conservancy.

The John Fairey Garden Hempstead, TX

The John Fairey Garden, formerly known as the Peckerwood Garden, was begun in 1971 by John Fairey (1930 – 2020), architecture professor, plant explorer, and founder of Yucca Do Nursery. The garden brings together rare, drought-tolerant plants native to the southern United States and the remote mountains of Mexico and Asia. Since 1997, the Garden Conservancy has been working with the garden’s nonprofit foundation, now called the John Fairey Garden Conservation Foundation, to transition the garden into a public garden and educational resource. The Conservancy holds and monitors a conservation easement, established in 2016, which protects the property in perpetuity. For more information on the garden, see profile on page 61.

The John P. Humes Japanese Stroll Garden Mill Neck, NY

A fine example of a Japanese stroll garden in the northeastern United States, this garden seamlessly integrates Japanese landscape techniques with the woodland terrain of Long Island’s North Shore. The Garden Conservancy was instrumental in saving the garden from closing in 1993 and managed the garden on behalf of the Humes Japanese Garden Foundation for twenty years before it was purchased by the North Shore Land Alliance, a nonprofit land trust, in 2017. For more information on the garden, see profile on page 53.