Visionary plant woman Ruth Irving, who sadly passed away in August, touched the lives of thousands of South Australians through her storybook garden and wedding venue, Al Ru Farm. Just weeks prior to her passing on August 11, Ruth sat down with writer Ben Kelly as she reflected on her life in the garden.

It’s a brisk and damp winter’s day at Al Ru Farm and yet the garden is putting on a show of colour that seems to defy the season’s icy grasp.

Fluorescent orange spires of red-hot pokers reach for the sky, yellow daffodils glow in the spotlight of the winter sun, and lipstick-red bougainvillea petals flow from a verandah.

The garden’s owner Ruth Irving, 71, would normally have greeted us in her garden. Sadly, today, she is indoors receiving palliative care for an aggressive cancer that w

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