Skip to main content

Featured

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...
4 comments
Read more
Labels

Meredith Nelson's Garden


Another garden on the East Vancouver Mini-Tour a few weeks ago was Meredith Nelson's five-acre garden in Battleground. This is a cottage garden filled with perennials and clematis. It is also filled with wonderful iron-work decorative objects made by her husband Jeff. Check out the gate below!







I don't know how many clematis Meredith has but it a large number. I saw many varieties that I had never heard of. 


I thought this was Sweet Autumn Clematis (Clematis terniflora) at first but knew that it was too early for it to bloom. It is in fact a clematis but a different one and I have forgotten the name. 


A very creative fence around the vegetable garden made of wheels (not sure what they are exactly) -



This is such a peaceful setting and so quiet. It makes me long for the country. Thank you, Meredith, for opening your garden. It is fun and very inspiring.










Text and photos by Phillip Oliver, Dirt Therapy
Email Post
Labels:

Comments

  1. Kris PetersonJuly 4, 2024 at 9:19 PM

    You have so many wonderful gardens in the PNW! I love the flower-filled metal buckets.

    ReplyDelete
  2. tz_gardenJuly 6, 2024 at 7:40 AM

    The iron gate is wonderful, and the wheels making a fence. Along with the beautiful flowers, of course!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment