designer garden

The mother of
modernism
Mien Ruys spent 70 years creating her extraordinary gardens in the
Netherlands – and influenced several generations of designers along
the way. Words Isabelle Van Groeningen, photographs Claire Takacs.

IN BRIEF
• WHAT: show gardens created
between 1924 and 1999 by
influential designer Mien Ruys.
• WHERE: Dedemsvaart,
the Netherlands.
• SIZE: 2.5 hectares (6.2 acres).
• SOIL: acidic, free-draining loam.
• CLIMATE: mild and often wet.
Mature trees shelter the site.
Mien Ruys described her garden as
• POINTS OF INTEREST: ‘wild planting in a strong design’, a style
innovative materials, naturalistic perfectly exemplified in the bulrushes
planting, water features. and bold decking of the Marsh Garden.

45
designer garden
Shade-loving plants such as Rodgersia
podophylla (in the foreground) thrive
beneath a bird cherry, Prunus padus
‘Colorata’, in the Wild Garden.
T
he gardens of Mien Ruys are
an extraordinary legacy from
one of Europe’s greatest land-
scape designers. Even now, when
many of her ideas have become main-
stream, the 28 show gardens she made
at her home in the Netherlands are
full of inspiration.
Mien’s show gardens were created
over 70 years, and reflect the changing
attitudes and tastes in the world of
garden design. But if the gardens
often changed, this also reflected
Mien’s restless creativity. ‘Looking at
my gardens,’ she once wrote, ‘I often
think, can they be done differently?
How can they be improved?’
Many of Mien’s innovations are
now part of garden orthodoxy. For
example, she lead the way with the use
of materials such as decking, concrete
and railway sleepers. Her planting was
loose and naturalistic. Above all,
though, she bequeathed a modernist
emphasis on simple, bold forms.
A family business
Mien’s father was Bonne Ruys, who
set up the Royal Moerheim Nurseries
in the village of Dedemsvaart in
1888. The nursery earned a sound
international reputation, and Bonne
became a friend of influential
German nurseryman Karl Foerster.
46
Mien was brought up watching
herbaceous perennials being grown in
the field, lifted and sold on before
reaching maturity. As a young adult, A a young adult, the desire grew
As
the desire grew to watch plants to watch plants develop in a proper
develop in a garden habitat. She
begged her parents for a patch of land garden habitat. She begged her parents
on which to create her first garden.
So in 1923, 19-year-old Mien
for a small patch of the garden
cleared the old orchard and laid a
straight path from the house to the
RIGHT: ABOVE: The Old Experimental Border at the
boundary fence. Off the main path, Kirengeshoma garden’s entrance is a classic English-style
Mien laid a path to a seat, using a palmata flowers in planting scheme that includes blue Salvia
small square water feature as a pivotal the Wild Garden nemorosa, tall yellow Helianthus ‘Lemon
from early to Queen’ and magenta Fuchsia magellanica.
point (pictured above). This area, now
mid-autumn. LEFT: The Yellow Garden is planted with
known as the Wild Garden, has BELOW: interesting perennials including Phlomis
become a cool woodland space, where A simple planting russeliana, whose attractive, spent flower
shade-loving structural plants such as of daisies (Erigeron heads are pictured in the foreground.
hostas, Kirengeshoma palmata and karvinskianus) and
Miscanthus sinensis
American spikenard (Maianthemum ‘Morning Light’ lines
racemosum) look perfectly at home the pool in the
among native ground-cover such as Clipped Garden.
woodruff (Asperula).
Next she made a sunny
herbaceous border and, facing it,
a large shrub border. In order to
allow for over-spilling perennials, she
edged the herbaceous border with a
double row of concrete paving slabs.
A few grasses, such as Miscanthus, are
growing in clumps on the lawn, along
with perennials such as Bergenia and
sedums. This breaks up the formality
and linearity of border and paving.
47

ABOVE: Sedum spectabile ‘Brilliant’ is typical of
the tough and easygoing autumn-flowering
plants that Mien grew in her gardens.
RIGHT: A weathered steel sculpture by
Henk Rusman, surrounded by the tussock
grass Deschampsia cespitosa ‘Goldtau’, is the
centrepiece of the New Perennial Collection.
BELOW RIGHT: Pots of sempervivums line
the ramp leading to the Roof Garden.
What’s now called the Old
Experimental Border reflects two
key influences in Mien’s work. Her
original colour scheme was typical
of the great plantswoman Gertrude
Jekyll (1843-1932), starting off with
soft, pastel colours, gradually moving
along the border through pale pinks,
lilacs and soft yellows to hot yellow,
orange and red, interspersed with
blues and purples. From here the
colours cool down again. This did not
please Mien, though, who preferred
not to see the hot colours through the
soft pinks and lilacs. Her solution was
to remove the hot section of the
borders and the soft, cool section at
the far end. Instead shades of yellow
zigzag through the border and are
interspersed with orange, such as
Alstroemeria, red-brown Helenium
‘Moerheim Beauty’, one of her father’s
most notable introductions, and
shades of blue and purple from Salvia
nemorosa, monkshood, delphiniums
and veronicas (see picture on previous
page). She would have been familiar
with this use of colours from the time
she spent working for a landscape
contractors’ firm based in Tunbridge
Wells, Kent, during the 1920s.
Her experience in Germany
taught her about grasses. Karl Foerster,
the German nurseryman who
48
introduced gardeners to the value of
ornamental grasses, was a close friend
of her father and a regular visitor.
After the Second World War,
elaborate herbaceous borders became
less popular as people looked for
alternatives that were easier to
maintain. Mien was still keen to
experiment, though; at around this
time she created her Water Garden
beyond the shady natural garden and
boundary ditch. This is a formal space,
dominated by a rectilinear pond and
low retaining walls to hold back the
soil. It provides habitats for water-
loving plants such as Lysichiton
americanum, Petasites and reeds as
well as drought-tolerant ones used
to break up the formality with
soapwort, sedums and thyme.
An arch in a large cypress hedge
leads into the herb garden, a sunny,
geometric space with large clipped
box shapes and a reflective ‘crystal’
ball as the focal point.
Restless creativity
As part of the postwar movement to
manufacture easy-to-assemble items,
Mien Ruys developed a series of plant
mixtures for specific positions and
requirements, using easy-to maintain,
healthy plants, calling them her
Confection Borders (and now
designer garden
Mien Ruys (1904-1999)
Mien Ruys made her first
gardens in the grounds of
the family business, the Royal
Moerheim Nursery, in the
Netherlands, at the age of 19.
After spells working for an
English nursery (1928) and
studying landscape architecture in Berlin (1929),
she was appointed head of the landscape office at Inventive paving, concrete planters,
low plantings of herbaceous plants
the Royal Moerheim. Her education continued, and clumps of clipped box define
though, with studies in architecture at Delft in the this garden next to the barn.
1930s. Before the Second World War most of her
designs were for private gardens, typically with large FAR LEFT: The
herbaceous borders. She often worked with notable tall, straight stems
architects such as Gerrit Rietveld. After 1945 she of Calamagrostis
designed many large public spaces, including housing
x acutiflora ‘Karl
developments. She continued making private
Foerster’ adorn
the Grass Garden
gardens, though, such as that of architect Abe until early spring.
Bonnema in 1961. Mien had a reputation as a LEFT: Much of the
workaholic. ‘I can only make two things,’ she once
paving and furniture
in Mien’s gardens
said, ‘gardens and tea.’ She was married to editor was made of
Theo Moussault, with whom she published Onze concrete, including
Eigen Tuin, a quarterly gardening magazine. these stools in the
Marsh Garden.
49
designer garden

gardenguide Your guide to the 28 show gardens at the

Mien Ruys Gardens in Dedemsvaart

THE GARDENS
1 Millstone Garden 1984/1994
2 Old Experimental Garden 1927
3 Herb Garden 1957/1996
4 Wild Garden 1924/2001
5 Water Garden 1954/2002
6 Bench and Waterball 1970
7 Gardener’s Garden 1981/1998
ABOVE: Mien pioneered the use of railway 8 Woodland Garden 1987
sleepers in the 1960s. Here, in the Sunken 9 Shady Borders 1960
17
Garden, they form a retaining wall topped 10 Autumn Garden 2002
16
with a shallow concrete bowl and sheltered 11 Parterre Garden 1974/1997 YELLOW GARDEN
12 Flower Terrace 1982 19
by a hedge of the hinoki cypress cultivar, 18
Bold posts screen a circular lawn
13 Grass Garden 1993 15 edged with flowers in all colours
Chamaecyparis obtusa ‘Nana Gracilis’. OFFICE
RIGHT: Dark blocks of clipped yew lead 14 New Border 2000 from cream to orange.
15 Clipped Garden 1999 14 20
from the sunlit lawn to the more intimate
space of the Clipped Garden beyond. 16 Corner Garden 1999 13 21
17 Mixed Border 1974
18 Yellow Garden 1982 12 22
19 Marsh Garden 1990 28
23
11
20 Roof Garden 1999
21 Picture Garden 2006 27
26
22 Weekend Garden 1950 10
24 BARN
23 New Perennial Collection 1999 25
known as the Standard Perennial materials such as bricks, or plants. 24 Standard Perennial Borders 1960 9
Borders – see plan, opposite). These The presence of concrete tends to 25 Sunken Garden 1960/1995
lead on to another series of garden date some of these gardens. A small 26 City Garden 1960
27 Sun Borders 1960
rooms, designed during the past five concrete slab terrace, lined with 28 Reed Pond 1960 CLIPPED GARDEN
decades. These gardens reflect her square planters in concrete and 8
A minimalist space in which neat
desire to try out different hard backed by a concrete bench, is a very blocks of berberis and yew are laid
out around a rectangular pool.
landscape materials, as well as plants. well designed space, but the choice
of materials firmly places it in the
Innovative materials third quarter of the 20th century.
Few building materials occur Since Mien died in 1999, her ENTRANCE/
naturally in the Netherlands, so Mien design office has maintained aesthetic TEAHOUSE
was forever trying to find sensible supervision of the garden. In the spirit 1 3
solutions, experimenting with of its founder’s experimental 5 GARDENER’S
alternative ways of enclosing garden approach, the garden continues to 2
HOUSE
spaces. Stone walls were expensive. evolve and develop, with earlier 6

Instead she would often use reed
screens, replacing them when possible
with longer-lasting alternatives. The
herbaceous border was thus backed
with creosote-dipped poles,
hammered into the ground in a row.
Although long-lasting, plants dislike
creosote, so she went on to use
alternative wood preservatives,
because she generally favoured timber
used vertically for her fences.
Mien was one of the first to make
extensive use of timber railway
sleepers to create small differences in
level, something she felt most
important in the otherwise flat
landscape. She also used concrete
regularly, for walls and paving,
sometimes mixing it with other
gardens being occasionally redesigned
7
and replanted to reflect new trends in 4
FAN PAVING
design, plant and material use.
Mien was always looking for
Partly thanks to this refreshing creative effects with paving.This
approach, Mien’s design philosophy path gradually blends in to the lawn.
remains absolutely valid, as does the
planting throughout the show gardens.
Brimming with ideas, this garden
ABOVE: Neat
remains one of the most inspirational purple Berberis
and influential the Netherlands has to thunbergii
offer, and is well worth a visit. ■ f. atropurpurea
ILLUSTRATED BY SCOTT WOTHERSPOON
contrasts with
the loose green
clumps of Geranium
Further information macrorrhizum in the
Mien Ruys Gardens, Moerheimstraat 84, Clipped Garden.
Dedemsvaart, the Netherlands.Tel LEFT: Miscanthus OLD EXPERIMENTAL GARDEN HERB GARDEN BENCH AND ‘WATERBALL’ WOODLAND GARDEN
sinensis ‘Ferner This 30m-long bed of brightly Beds of culinary and medicinal This spherical sculpture, by local This circular space was created in
+31 (0)523 614774, www.mienruys.nl
Osten’ bears deep coloured flowers is one of the first herbs are edged in box, with artist Auk Fock van Coppenaal, is 1987 and planted with wood
• Open 1 April to 31 October, Tuesday red flower heads in things visitors see when they arrive. topiary and ‘crystal ball’ sculpture. surrounded by shade-loving plants. sorrel (Oxalis acetosella).
to Saturday 10-5, Sunday 12-5. mid to late summer.

50 51