The Gardens of Mien Ruys

“Some gardens you merely visit, but Mien Ruys Gardens is more like a pilgrimage to the revolutionary birthplace of modern landscape design. It’s remarkable to think that much of what we commonly accept about western gardens today dates back to the design experiments conducted here by Mien Ruys over her long lifetime. This is where I discovered the full creative possibilities of her maxim Wild planting in a strong design, an idea that deeply inspired the original Dutch Wave and continues to be piercingly relevant today.” –Tony Spencer, The New Perennialist

Conny den Hollander is the head of the Mien Ruys Gardens and has worked there since 2010. She has an intimate knowledge of the gardens and how they have developed over time. She also writes for the magazine Onze Eigen Tuin (Our Own Garden), a magazine founded by Mien Ruys and her husband, publisher Theo Moussault.