He emigrated to Canada in 1952 and first worked on a farm in Donegal, Ontario and then as a gardener at Manitoba’s Morden Research and Development Centre.
He crisscrossed the country to follow opportunities, becoming a nurseryman in Ocean Park, British Columbia, a gardener at the Dominion Arboretum in Ottawa, Ontario, and a landscape foreman for a paper mill in Quebec.
Vrugtman completed a Bachelor of Science and Arts (BSA) degree at University of British Columbia in 1963 with a major in ornamental horticulture and plant taxonomy.
He was also a part-time lecturer for landscape architecture courses at the University of Toronto and undertook research and advised other institutions in Germany, China, and the Philippines.
Vrugtman also undertook a major revision of John Fiala's classic book Lilacs: A Gardener’s Encyclopedia, published in 2008 by Timber Press.