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...
Winter sun is so precious, and your cute flamingo reminds me of the approaching(!) summer!
ReplyDeleteSunshine and flamingoes. A warming thought on a 24degree day.
ReplyDeleteHa! You've got a little patch of Florida right there ;)
ReplyDeleteI agree with Fernando, although I wouldn't mind spring happening before summer.
ReplyDeleteOh Phillip - that is adorable! I have a feeling I need to find emergency shelter for a lot of hitherto homeless plants before this weekend. It's going to be bad.... Fernando should thank his lucky stars he is not forgotten outside somewhere. Even if the light is slowly returning, it will be awhile before flamingo-friendly temperatures will follow.
ReplyDeleteHim and all the rest of us! Love him.
ReplyDelete