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...
Lovely! I tried a burgundy smoke tree here, because it's supposed to be deer resistant. Nope. They loved it!
ReplyDeleteYour Golden Spirit is gorgeous.
A handsome shrub. I bet it shines in the morning light.
ReplyDeleteAwwwwwwwww it makes me miss my purple one. :0(
ReplyDeleteThere's no other tree I love that the Cotinus smoke tree! The red colored ones are gorgeous. We've tried growing them and we have such drought conditions they do not do very well here.
ReplyDeleteThe smoke trees are native to Tennessee yet we can not seem to get the seeds to germinate and come up. If anyone has any tips or ideas on hoe to cold, heat or wet stratify these in zone 7 Id sure be interested.