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The Gardens of Mien Ruys - a book review

I don't know how I missed her, but I was totally unfamiliar with Mien Ruys. A beautiful new book The Gardens of Mien Ruys details her life and work. Born in the Netherlands in 1904, she was the daughter of Bonne Ruys, who founded Moerheim Nursery in 1888. She grew up in a liberal atmosphere and encouraged to learn and study. She found great comfort in the natural world around her and learned all the plants in her father's nursery at a young age. After leaving school at the age of 19, she knew that she wanted to work in the garden center. The Moerheim Nursery, in addition to selling plants, had an on-site design studio where they published a detailed catalog and sold landscape design plans to customers. It was in the design studio where Ruys first began to work and she was soon encouraged to venture beyond her country and study abroad. Her father's connections helped her secure a traineeship with Wallace & Sons Nursery in Tunbridge Wells in England. There, she met Gertr...
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Visiting Rosedale Gardens

Daylily "Long Stocking"

Mary at Rosedale Gardens blog opened her garden today for visitors to come see her extensive collection of over 400 varieties of daylilies as well as a large collection of Japanese iris and Oriental lilies. Mary visited our garden a few weeks ago. She lives in Tuscumbia, which is just about 10 or 15 minutes away. She is delightful, welcoming and generous (delicious blueberry cake and daffodil bulbs!), and obviously caring (she rescued 3 border collies who you can see and read about on her blog).

After breakfast, Michael and I headed over her way. After a perfect day yesterday with a pleasant cool bite in the air and temperatures around 70, reality set in today as temperatures climbed toward 90. We are in for a hot week ahead with 90s all week. The heat didn't stop me from gawking at Mary's beautiful daylilies and iris. I did not take notes so I don't know the names of the daylilies but here are just a few from her huge collection.


You can see that Mary is an Auburn fan! She has an Auburn garden (orange and blue), a UNA section (gold and purple) and other color coordinated gardens. The daylilies are "Long Stocking"
"Ruffles and Son"

Iris 'Ruffled Dimitry' (Iris ensata)


Daylily "Sticky Fingers"

Daylily "Earl of Warwick"

Daylily "Chin Whiskers"

Daylily "Cameroon Night"

Japanese Iris "Crystal Halo"

Daylily "Chicago Picotee Memories"

Daylily "Quiet Whisper"

Daylily "Chicago Scintillation"

Daylily "Kindly Light"
And not just daylilies and iris. This is a beautiful dogwood called "First Lady". Isn't it gorgeous? I want one!






Text and photos by Phillip Oliver, Dirt Therapy
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  1. KelseyMay 28, 2011 at 9:53 PM

    Beautiful daylilly photos! I love the idea of color gardens for your favorite teams! Cute! Glad you survivied the heat!

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  2. Lisa at GreenbowMay 29, 2011 at 10:11 AM

    I just love this time of year. Not only do our own gardens look good but it is great fun going to see other gardens. Thanks for taking us along.

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  3. AnonymousMay 29, 2011 at 12:58 PM

    Phillip I just wanted to thank you for the very nice post. Maybe next year Michael and you will skip breakfast and have brunch with the rest of the group. I had a few who were strangers when they came, but were friends when they left. Hopefully next year I won’t have any accidents and land up on crutches. I’m still hoping to avoid knee surgery which will have to wait until the winter if needed.
    The pictures are Long Stocking a spider daylily in first 2, Ruffles and Sun, Ruffled dimity Japanese iris, Sticky Fingers, Earl of Warwick, Chin Whiskers, Cameroon Night, Crystal Halo Japanese iris, Chicago Picotee Memories, Quiet Whisper. Chicago Scintillation, and Kindly Light. As you can probably guess, I’m into the spider forms a lot. I put a real nice orange daylily called Alabama Jubilee by the mailbox close to my Auburn sign after everyone left. It should be blooming in a day or so. Next maybe I can work on my Deshler High School and ebony & ivory sections. Did you notice the small variegated dogwood down by the large hackberry called Cherokee Daybreak? I think it will be a nice dogwood when it gets older.
    Again thanks for your visit and ignoring all of the weedy beds I had. Mary

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  4. ShoalandaMay 29, 2011 at 10:10 PM

    Ah, Auburn and UNA, it just doesn't get any better than that. Next time publish some pics of the hooligans (Mary's two and one-half border collies).

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  5. AnonymousMay 30, 2011 at 5:50 AM

    Hello:

    Really beautiful photos of daylilies -- and so much more. I'm on Long Island, so our season is just beginning. Still waiting for daylily and hydrangea color.

    Nice blog!

    Best,
    Kevin

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  6. TerriMay 30, 2011 at 5:55 PM

    Gorgeous flowers! Stupendous photography! I do not have a green thumb but greatly appreciate those who do. Had no idea there were so many varieties of day lilies! We had orange ones that were devoured by the abundant deer in our area north of NYC. Thanks for a glimpse of heaven-Terri in Chappaqua, NY

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  7. scottweberpdxMay 31, 2011 at 10:18 AM

    What an impressive collection! I'm especially fond of the one with the very thing patals, 'Kindly Light', I think you said...very elegant.

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  8. aquablueroseJune 2, 2011 at 1:03 AM

    I am an avid doll collector but I Love roses and enjoy books, shows, and exhibitons about flowers.

    Michael led me to your Blog and Website where I have already bookmarked several links including one to David Austin Roses!

    Both your Blog and Website are beautiful, informative and a pleasure to read. Love your photography!

    I plan to check in often and thank you again, Phillip.

    gerri
    aquabluerose

    ReplyDelete
  9. sweetbayJune 2, 2011 at 12:21 PM

    Oh wow, she has a lot of beautiful daylilies!

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