Ruth Bancroft

Ruth Bancroft ( Petersson; September 2, 1908 – November 26, 2017) was the creator of the Ruth Bancroft Garden in Walnut Creek, California.

A resident of the Bay Area from childhood, Bancroft began the xeric garden in the 1950s on land originally purchased by Hubert Howe Bancroft, the grandfather of Ruth's husband, Philip Bancroft. The garden became the first in the United States to be preserved by The Garden Conservancy and has been open to the public since 1992. Her mother was a schoolteacher, and her father was a Latin professor. The oldest of three children, Petersson had a younger sister and a younger brother, both born in California. This career path offered greater job opportunities during a time when male architecture students struggled to find jobs and female architects were rare. The trees, sick with a fungal disease called blackline, were cut down, and the soil was dry and bare.

As the garden grew, word spread among local designers and horticulturalists, who visited the garden to see which plants could survive the Walnut Creek climate. The garden became a field trip destination for plant identification for Diablo Valley College classes.

Personal life Bancroft had three children: Peter Bancroft, Nina Dickerson, and Kathy Hidalgo; and four grandchildren. She lived in the main home on the Bancroft property, next door to her daughter.