A 109-year-old grandma spent 40 years building a succulent forest and became a global internet celeb

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In California, the United States, the weather is hot and dry all year round, and the sun is so harsh that you can't even open your eyes. There are deserts all over here, and it is almost impossible to see a trace of green. But in the small town of Walnut Creek, there is an "oasis" hidden, where tall cacti and colorful succulents are everywhere. This oasis is the Ruth Bancroft Garden. In a world full of yellow sand, such a green succulent forest suddenly appears, making people mistakenly think that they have entered a fairyland.

This succulent garden covers an area of more than 10,000 square meters and is filled with more than 2,000 kinds of succulent plants, such as cacti, succulents, palm trees, etc. of various shapes.

The owner of this spectacular succulent garden is the 109-year-old Mrs. Ruth Bancroft (died in November 2017) spent 40 years creating this oasis in the desert.

Ruth has been fond of flowers and plants since she was a child, but became attached to succulents. It was in the 1950s. At that time, she bought the first pot of succulents in her life, and she became obsessed with succulents and couldn't control it.

Initially, the purchased succulents were placed in greenhouses and toilets around the house. Later, I bought more and more meat, and I couldn’t keep it at home. In 1971, her husband gave her three acres of the family's land to grow succulents.

Looking at the empty land, Ruth, who is nearly 70 years old The idea of building a desert succulent garden came up. She wanted to try to create a green miracle in this barren land.

From early morning to sunset, she spends nearly 10 hours a day in this yard, planning, designing, planting and watering, almost all by herself.

But things are not always smooth sailing. In the second year, Ruth's garden encountered its greatest difficulties. The winter that year was extremely cold, and almost all the delicate succulents in the garden were frozen to death.

But she did not give up, but started again in the spring. In order to prevent the succulents from freezing to death again, she asked someone to customize a frost-proof wooden box, and later built a special greenhouse.

Because I don’t understand the habits of all succulents, I plant new ones every time. Before choosing a variety, she had to read many books. After planting, she would take notes every day to record the growth of the succulents.

Ruth studied architecture in college, and the knowledge she learned played a big role in building the succulent garden.

In order to break the flat landscape in the courtyard and make the garden more layered Feeling, she added some undulating mounds to the garden.

Planting only succulents would make the garden look monotonous, so she built a central pond in the garden.

I just didn’t expect that this pond would later become a bird 's habitat.

She also has her own ideas about succulent planting combinations. Some brightly colored, smaller succulents are laid on both sides of the gravel path, while larger succulents are scattered on the higher slopes.

Later, Ruth Garden attracted the attention of relevant organizations in the United States. , because the idea of a desert garden was so inspiring that in 1989, the Ruth Garden became the first private garden in the United States to be protected by a gardening organization.

In 2011, it was evaluated as "the most significant private garden on the West Coast of the United States" by Pacific Gardening Magazine.

Ruth herself did not expect that a small idea would have such a big social impact.

In addition to being a place for tourists to visit, it has also become a wedding mecca. More and more young couples choose to come here to take wedding photos. The succulent garden is full of romance~

Mrs. Ruth devoted the rest of her life to this succulent garden. In the last few years of her life, she could not stay in the garden every day, but Whenever she has a chance, she will go to the garden.

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