Herman de Vries
The Garden Village Collections

On account of its good commissionship TBV, a large rental housing organization in Tilburg, was officially awarded a sum of money that was to be spent on cultural purposes. TBV decided upon an art project that would benefit all tenants. Herman de Vries - a biological and ethno-pharmacological researcher, philosopher, publisher and artist – was approached and commissioned. He proposed to plant a few collections of shrubs, avenue trees and fruit trees. Each were given a nameplate on the pavement and cataloged in a booklet. The collections were put together in order to expose the tenants to a multitude of trees and shrubs. Each front garden of each of the 102 rentals was furnished with an apple tree, pear tree or plum tree. The public areas were decorated with other bushes including roses as well as with rowan trees and cherry trees. Along the Mechelenstraat a row of trees of 36 different species was planted.