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...
Love your space there, Phillip, and honeysuckle, well, I can smell it by just saying the word. Nothing blooming in the PNW as yet, just a few groundcovers.
ReplyDeleteI would love to be sitting on that patio in the sun sipping wine or coffee and enjoying the scent. Love honeysuckle but it sure can take over a spot. Beautiful.
ReplyDeleteMy daffodils are blooming and daylilies are coming up. My star mag aren't blooming yet and I hope they hold off. Cold weather is predicted in a couple of weeks. Mary
ReplyDeleteI wish I could smell it... I'm not sure I've ever run into one of those ??
ReplyDeleteI'm afraid winter is not done with us yet, and all those early blossoms are going to get zapped.
ReplyDeletePhillip..I am enjoying mine also! It is loaded and had honeybees on it! I bet Florence is blooming all over...even further north things are freakishly ahead of schedule by about 3-4 weeks. Thanks for giving me my start of this wonderful shrub!
ReplyDeleteIt is warm enough here to have honeysuckle blooms but there is only one bud on ours. It won't be long if it stays this warm.
ReplyDeleteYou always have such enticing garden rooms, Phillip. And so many of them! Love it.
ReplyDeleteMy winter honeysuckles have never bloomed this long - they started at least a month ago (North Carolina). I was walking thru the bedraggled garden one day and was enveloped in lemony freshness - wondered whose laundry I could possibly be smelling so deep in our back yard, then realized it was the honeysuckle. It's not a beautiful shrub, but the fragrance is worth it.
ReplyDeleteOur crocuses, lenten rose and small daffs are blooming - the large daff flowers are still tightly closed. Tulip foliage is poking out of the ground. Spanish bluebell foliage is up. What a weird winter.
It's a wonderful photo! I have this Honeysuckle and it is a heavenly smell!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful shot! I have been tempted to buy a winter honeysuckle. I love fragrance in the garden. Yours is perfectly sited by the patio!
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