When you think about it, it makes sense that a European country about half the size of Ireland but with a population of some 17 million should have more than its fair share of excellent small gardens. Especially when you consider that the country in question – the Netherlands – has a long and distinguished tradition of horticulture and is home to some of the very best plant nurseries in the world.
Unsurprisingly, it also has a tradition of producing garden designers and landscape architects with a special talent for creating exceptionally fine small gardens.
Of these, probably the best-known is the late great Mien Ruys, who transformed the world of modern garden design through her innovative, experimental use of plants as well as her pioneering choice of contemporary building materials.
Ruys was especially adept in the ways of designing small, outdoor spaces so that they sing. For example, creating the illusion of space by the use of diagonal lines – a technique every modern garden designer now uses at some stage – was one of her specialities. So was the use of functional, modern building materials such as railway sleepers, concrete and decking, and her fondness for clean, strong lines and formal, geometric shapes.
Sharply-clipped hedges and other shrubs used to create year-round structure, screen ugly views, define spaces, create shelter and add a sense of mystery was another favourite design device – one that Ruys managed to successfully combine with a naturalistic, nature-friendly style of planting. In fact, long before cult modern garden designers such as Piet Oudolf (who acknowledges her as a key influence), she was popularising the mass planting of ornamental grasses and herbaceous perennials.
Hugely creative
Ruys died in 1999, but it’s still possible to visit the display gardens she created in her father’s nursery, Moerheim, over the course of her lifetime and which exemplify her work as an innovative, hugely creative designer.
Situated in Dedemsvaart, Tuinen Mien Ruys (or Mien Ruys’s Gardens) opened to the public in 1976. Covering just two acres, it contains 30 experimental gardens. Three of these were declared national monuments in 2004, including the Water Garden, which Ruys created in 1954. The latter, by the way, was one of the designer’s first experimental small gardens created in the post-war era.
Recognising the desire for small, affordable gardens that combined good looks with low maintenance, Ruys made a radical design decision, which was to do away with the lawn. More than 60 years later, it’s an idea that’s as controversial as ever.
