Designing the Lush Dry Garden: How To Create a Climate-Resilient, Low-Water Paradise
$34.00 – $40.00
by
Pre-order our new book, coming September 30, 2025.
The Ruth Bancroft Garden, known as one of the finest dry gardens in the world, is a pioneering example of resilient design with a focus on water conservation. Ruth Bancroft (1908-2017) was a self-taught gardener and designer whose eclectic methods encourage richly textured, bold, and colorful layers of regionally climate-appropriate flowers, shrubs, trees, and succulents. These include her favorite aloes, agaves, yuccas, and echeverias that she collected and experimented with for over 60 years, and which the garden has continued to steward. Designing the Lush, Dry Garden is the first guide to lay out Ruth Bancroft’s methods for the home gardener and designer. With gorgeous photographs by Caitlin Atkinson, and detailed portraits of 20 gardens inspired by the Garden, discover how to create a design that suits your vision, including:
- How to choose the right plants for your site, including Ruth’s favorites
- The appropriate methods for adapting your garden to climate change
- Advice on integrating paths and structures in a waterwise design
- Tips for low-water container gardens and designs
We offer a 15% discount for current members. Please choose your price accordingly. A portion of the proceeds from book sales made through the Garden directly support the mission of The Ruth Bancroft Garden. Thank you for your support!
Product Details:
- Publisher : Timber Press (September 30, 2025)
- Language : English
- Hardcover : 304 pages
Editorial Reviews
“Landscape design books are sometimes plagued by being either overly technical and manual-like OR by simply showing beautiful, polished images of “finished” projects with no meaningful explanation of how or why these gardens came to be. Designing the Lush Dry Garden deftly avoids these stereotypes and instead, explores purposeful, generous new territory that defies easy categorization. It is somehow simultaneously both pragmatically useful and philosophically inspiring; it is extremely helpful while also being emphatically supportive of leading garden design towards its next paradigm. I, for one, adore a book that is both transcendent but also easy a mellow Sunday read.” ―David Godshall, Co-Founder and Principal, TERREMOTO
“The Ruth Bancroft Garden has inspired generations of gardeners. Ruth’s visionary collection of plants is ever-more relevant as we adapt to the vulnerability of our beloved coastal ecosystem. As the climate changes and each season brings new calamities, we welcome new sources of inspiration and guidance. Designing the Lush Dry Garden is a beautiful resource for creating gardens that honor the remarkable variety of plants that thrive in our special Mediterranean climate while building ecological resilience in the place that we love.”―Flora Grubb, owner of Flora Grubb Gardens
