Entries from June 2024

Poppies are popping at Giverny

June 9, 2024

Early June, masses of poppies flower in Monet’s gardens, under the majestic arches covered with roses. Large pink, purple or mauve papaver somniferum are combined with wild looking scarlet poppies. Claude Monet loved and painted both.

It’s a long awaited show. Poppy seeds are scattered in the flower beds and grow on site among spring flowers. Late May, the first buds open at last, offering their transluscent petals to the morning sunbeams. One or two weeks later, an overwhelming wave of poppies invades the gardens. They are striking as a whole, and adorable seen close up, with their little heads surrounded by crumpled petals.

At poppies time, bees are in heaven, and so are we.