Ruth Bancroft, American landscape and garden designer
Ruth Petersson Bancroft (September 2, 1908 – November 26, 2017) was the creator of the Ruth Bancroft Garden in Walnut Creek, California.

A native of the Bay Area, 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.