40 years to grow a succulent forest, 109-year-old grandma becomes a global internet sensation

This succulent garden covers more than 10,000 sq m and is planted with more than 2,000 kinds of succulent plants, such as cacti of various shapes, succulents, palm trees and more.

The owner of this spectacular succulent garden is 109-year-old Mrs. Ruth Bancroft (who passed away in November 2017). To create this oasis in the desert, she spent 40 years.

Ruth loved flowers and plants since she was a child, but her bond with succulents began in the 1950s. At that time, she bought the first pot of succulents in her life, and from then on she became obsessed with succulents, unable to stop.

At first, the succulents she bought were placed in the greenhouse and bathroom around the house. Later, she bought more and more succulents, and there was no room for them at home. In 1971, her husband gave her three acres of the family's land to grow succulents.

Looking at the empty land, Ruth, nearly 70 years old, had the idea of building a desert succulent garden. She wanted to try to create a green miracle on this barren land.

From early morning to sunset, she spent nearly 10 hours every day in this yard. Planning, designing, planting and watering were almost all done by her alone.

But things did not always go smoothly. In the second year of construction, Ruth's garden encountered its biggest difficulty. That winter was unusually cold, and some of the delicate succulents in the garden were almost all frozen to death.

But she did not give up, and instead started over in the spring. To prevent the succulents from freezing to death again, she had custom frost-proof wooden boxes made, and later built a dedicated greenhouse.

Because she did not understand the habits of all succulents, before planting each new variety, she had to consult many books. After planting, she would also take notes every day to record the growth of the succulents.

Ruth studied architecture in college, and in the process of building the succulent garden, the knowledge she had learned also played a considerable role.

In order to break up the flat landscape in the garden and give it more layers, she added some undulating mounds of soil in the garden.

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

She just did not expect that this pond would later become a habitat for birds.

She also had her own ideas about succulent planting combinations. Some brightly colored, smaller succulents were laid on both sides of the gravel path, while larger succulents were planted on higher slopes, arranged in a well-balanced way.

Later, Ruth's garden attracted the attention of relevant American organizations. Because its desert garden concept was highly instructive, in 1989 Ruth's garden became the first private garden in the United States protected by a garden organization.

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

Ruth herself had not expected that a small idea at the beginning would have such a great social impact.

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

Mrs. Ruth gave the second half of her life entirely to this succulent garden. In the last few years of her life, she could not stay in the garden every day, but whenever she had the chance, she would go around the garden.