Monet's Gardens at 'Giverny'

On a lighter note I thought I would blog about flowers. But anybody can blog about flowers so I have given it a twist and taken Monet’s Garden at Giverny as the subject.

I always like to read a little about anywhere we are about to visit and on this occasion had made a careful study of the information that explains this garden. I'm the chap on the right! My first surprise was to find it is in two parts. The upper gardens around the house and the water garden are on the lower area below the road.

Margaret in front of the house

The first area to look at is the Clos Normand which is also where you can view inside the house.

Monet settled at Giverny in 1883 and planted the hectare of land which had originally been an orchard but he preferred to plant out with varied flowers.

He liked to mix flowers and let them grow in a disorganised manner, but his blending of the varied colours created beautiful flower beds on either side of a central walk

Iris's and long stemmed grow freely with daises and poppies. Roses climb the iron arches and you can wander along the main and sidewalks which divide the flower beds admiring the varied varieties of flowers.

It is certainly not a place to be missed, especially the Water Garden. In 1893 Claude Monet bought the land lower down and using the waters from the small stream- the Ru – there he created a small pond the first attempt of what was to be a much larger pond, this he planted with Water Lilies –Nymphéas.

Eventually the small pond was made much bigger and the Water Lily Garden, which is famed throughout the world as a result of his paintings, was created.

Here also is the famous Japanese bridge with the wisterias growing over it in profusion. There are weeping willows and smaller bridges but the Japanese bridge is a must to view and possible have your photo taken on.

But as a founder of the ‘impressionist’ style of painting, and his wonderful Water Nymphéas paintings he has made the gardens a must to visit.

After Monet’s death in 1926 his step daughter Blanche looked after the garden, but after the Second Worlds War they became neglected. In 1966 the Academie des Beaux-Arts became responsible for them and in 1977 restoration was started. In 1980 thanks mainly to this work which was greatly helped by donations from the USA, the gardens were opened to the public.

The bit that amused me finally was when standing by the Water Gardens a voice behind me was asking a friend if Monet still looked after the gardens himself. I started to explain some of the story behind the gardens pointing to the bridge and the various plants, and explaining the part his family and then how the restoration came about. After a short while I turned to look behind me to see if the two ladies were still listening and found not just two ladies but a small crowd of about twenty had gathered. It seemed I was amongst the few that like to know before I visit what I shall be looking at.