A city girl at heart, Eleonore de Koning had no idea that a move to the countryside would result in success as a nurserywoman and plant breeder.

She trained as a secretary, and worked at board level in her home town of Rotterdam (The Netherlands), before moving to the quieter realms of Zeeland, in the south-west of the country, with her husband Cees.

However, in common with other PlantSpotters breeders, Eleonore had plants in her blood as her father was a keen gardener, and as a did holiday work at a rose nursery in Rotterdam.

The best discussions in The Netherlands always take place over coffee and cakes. Eleonore and Cees tell Miriam Young the history of the nursery.

Eleonore de Koning's story begins with a visit to a public garden in Zeeland in the 1980s. She wanted to buy plants like those she'd seen in the garden, but was surprised to find that they were not available for sale there.

With the garden receiving 3,000 visitors in the first week of July, Eleonore spotted this as an obvious gap in the market, so she offered to produce some of the plants she'd seen on display and work together with the owners to sell them to these visitors.

This simple idea was a very good one, and soon Eleonore found herself in business looking after gardens for local residents while at the same time building up stocks of plants.

Word eventually got around, and Dutch gardening magazines started to take an interest in her activities.

This attracted the attention of an eminent Dutch plantsman, van Beusekom, who invited her to join a project he was organising to produce a garden for the 1992 Floriade.

Eleonore accepted, and found herself working together with the likes of Coen Jansen, Piet Oudolf, Hans Kramer, van Beusekom and Ploeger de Bilt, who was one of the first commercial growers to sell direct to consumers.

Being in such eminent company taught Eleonore the value of looking for natural mutations in plants as a means to producing new varieties. Till then, she had been discarding all plants that didn't grow true to type. It was a big turning point!

Meanwhile, probably on the heels of Eleonore's successful plant selling operation, a number of retail garden centres moved into her local area. Unable to compete with their bulk-buying power, she needed to create a niche for herself, and so decided to specialise with developing genera that she particularly liked.

Eleonore de Koning loves the energy of the city, but is equally at home among her Papavers.

These turned out to be Oriental Poppies (Papaver orientale), Achillea, Hemerocallis and Astrantia.

Eleonore fondly refers to the Papavers as her 'leading ladies', due to their flamboyant elegance and the fact they are among the earlier blooming perennials. She says that her soul is also with Achilleas as they make such good company for other plants.

And the future? Eleonore misses the buzz and vibrance of the city, and says she'd like to return to Rotterdam someday. For the sake of Poppy fans everywhere, let’s hope that’s not too soon!

For more about Eleonore de Koning's work, go to her home page