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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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Transplanting False Indigo (Baptisia)




I have found that transplanting is easy here in the Pacific Northwest and I would say that 95% of the plants I've moved have made the transition successfully. And some of that was accomplished in the middle of summer! That said, I was extremely wary of moving Baptisia 'Purple Smoke'. I knew this was a perennial with tap roots and that is usually not an easy thing to disrupt.
 
 
Planted right off the deck, it got too much shade to produce a lot of blooms although at the time, there wasn't much shade there. The seedling Japanese maples planted on each side of the deck steps have grown. The above photo was taken last year. This year, there were even less blooms. I love the foliage though as much as the flowers and pondered leaving it in its spot for that sole reason. However, I decided to move it on July 4th weekend. I know, I am crazy but decided if it didn't make it, I could always buy another one.
 
I wanted to move it to the front border. The first thing I did was dig the hole for its new home. I added a bit of alfafa meal and compost for good measure -
Next, I cut back that beautiful foliage -

This particular plant was planted four years ago (April 12, 2016 to be exact) so you would think that there would be a massive root system on such a plant. However, this is what the root system looked like when I dug it out -


Honestly, I didn't have much hope for it and felt terrible for removing it. Still, I moved it to the new hole and watered well -


And watered and watered. Every day until then, we have watered faithfully. I noticed a few blackened areas around the upper stems where the cuts had been made and figured it was dying.

However, about three weeks later, I began to notice leaves developing. This photo was taken on July 28th (about 3 weeks later) -
 
 Today, August 9 marks a little over one month and here it is -
 
 

Text and photos by Phillip Oliver, Dirt Therapy
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  1. Lisa at GreenbowAugust 9, 2020 at 9:50 AM

    It looks like it is going to make it. I am surprised that you cut it back so severely right before transplanting it. It is giving an indication that it forgives you for the lopping and will live. Best of luck. I have one that is 20+ years old. I would love to move a piece of it to another area. After seeing this maybe I will try it.

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  2. Hoover BooAugust 11, 2020 at 4:35 PM

    You did it! Move a plant in summer! Great! May it bloom like crazy in its new spot and be gorgeous for you for many years to come. It looks good.

    I did the same sort of thing--the baby oak tree added 15' in I swear only two years, shading out a South African Erica. I moved the Erica a few weeks ago and it is now flowering. Whew!

    Sometimes you have to just go for it.

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