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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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Open Gardens: The Hardiman Garden

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I was very excited to see the garden of Lucy and Fred Hardiman. Lucy Hardiman is a garden designer at Perennial Partners. This garden certainly did not disappoint. Full of vibrant rich colors (purples, blues and pinks, a favorite combination of mine) and accented with artistic architectural structures and art pieces, as well as some favorite plants like hydrangeas and lilies. Note the big crape myrtle (Lagerstroemia 'Zuni') in the above photo. They do grow here!

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Just look at these lilies! I was intrigued by the blue flower and she told me that it is a perennial that she herself introduced to Joy Creek Nursery. It is Galega 'Lady Wilson'.

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It was near sunset when I toured the garden and the diminishing light gave it a magical quality.

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Perfectly placed art pieces

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Yarn in the garden? Why not?

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This is the front entryway garden that leads back to the main garden.
A big thank you to the Hardiman's for including their garden on the Hardy Plant Society of Oregon Open Gardens Tour. It was wonderful!

 Text and photos by Phillip Oliver, Dirt Therapy
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Location: Portland, OR, USA

Comments

  1. GRACE PETERSONJuly 23, 2017 at 6:17 PM

    Nice photos. Thank you for sharing. I bet the bees and hummers love this garden too.

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  2. danger gardenJuly 23, 2017 at 9:45 PM

    You caught Lucy's garden in its prime! Not that it's ever lacking for charm, but I've never seen it so floriferous.

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  3. outlawgardenerJuly 23, 2017 at 10:32 PM

    Wow! That's an incredible garden but one would expect no less from the amazing Ms Hardiman! Love the tree with all of the glass spheres!

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  4. Lisa at GreenbowJuly 24, 2017 at 5:33 AM

    Such a rich tapestry.

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  5. AlisonJuly 24, 2017 at 7:20 AM

    I've seen Lucy's garden a bit later in the year, it's looking just beautiful in your photos. It's a very colorful garden. Now I know what those large shrubs are that I saw in D.C. whose flowers reminded me a bit of lilacs. They must have been blooming crape myrtles.

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  6. DeniseJuly 24, 2017 at 9:02 AM

    Beautiful photos show her incredible color discipline which gives such a dramatic effect. This looks like an entirely different garden than the one I saw almost 10 years ago, which I remember as a shared space among neighbors (?) or maybe it's just been completely reworked.

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    Replies
    1. Phillip OliverJuly 24, 2017 at 12:47 PM

      I am not sure but her neighbor's garden next door was also open. It was very small but fantastic. I plan to post photos of it next.

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  7. chavlinessJuly 25, 2017 at 7:07 AM

    An eye candy this garden is. Every picture is perfect and screams Summer.
    You say: Yarn in the garden? Why not? and I say Why Knot :-)

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  8. AaronJuly 25, 2017 at 12:19 PM

    Riffing off of Denise's comment, this garden strikes me as a fantastic mix of whimsy and color discipline. Thanks for sharing it with us virtually!

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  9. klaraau01July 25, 2017 at 1:45 PM

    Thank you for showing this beautiful garden

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  10. Hoover BooJuly 26, 2017 at 3:15 PM

    Oh my that's so lovely. My kind of garden.

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  11. UnknownJuly 30, 2017 at 2:23 PM

    You captured much of what has earned Lucy her big reputation. We (Joy Creek) had Galega 'Lady Wilson' for sale at Hortlandia but because it was not in bloom at the time, it flew under the radar. Right now, everyone is exclaiming "What's That?!" when they see it in the garden.

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