It is hard to imagine that in seven weeks, the gardens will be full of flowers again. For the moment, it is icy and snowy at Giverny.

Yesterday morning, I visited the closed and cold Monet garden. It was probably the most beautiful day of the winter. A few inches of snow covered pond and park, and shined in the sunlight. It looked so still and sleepy… But life is not far away, just hiding in every little hole.

Under the Japanese bridge,  a bird has stamped its very regular footsteps, designing new curves to add to those imagined by Claude Monet.

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Best wishes
from Giverny
for a splendid
year 2012
full of light
and beauty!

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This is how Monet’s pond looks on November 1st, minutes before closing for the winter.
Soft or spectacular, according to sunshine.

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The misty days of October are back! On Monet’s pond at Giverny, they create a soft atmosphere enhancing the different textures of the foliages. Among all these greens, the sumac of Virginia flames. Asters fill in the flower beds in big bouquets. The boat awaits the gardener. He will soon arrive to maintain the pond.

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Water lilies are sensitive to cold. When the night is overcast and mild, they are all open in the morning. But if the night is clear, they close and need several hours of sunshine to open again.

They like a warm water not only to open, but also to bloom. On Monet’s pond, water lilies are gorgeous during heat waves, they become scarce during rainy and cool periods.

This is true for a big pond like Giverny. For gardeners who would like to grow water lilies in a wash basin, it is wise to look for a partly shaded spot. In direct sunshine, the water of a small container becomes very warm. If some like it hot, it is not the case of water lilies.

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What is your idea of Giverny? A lady told me that before coming, she imagined Monet’s place isolated in the countryside, standing on its own like a chateau. She was surprised to discover it was part of a village.
But this is no wonder, as Monet chose an existing house for his home. In the Seine valley, farms are not scattered around in the fields, but form villages of a few hundreds inhabitants. The rural dwelling is accompanied by a garden, where the peasant grows his vegetable and fruit.
This is exactly what fascinated Monet. When he discovered Giverny in April 1883, the fruit trees where in blossom, offering lovely views that attracted his painter’s eye.
Giverny hasn’t changed a lot through the decades. The village’s administration pays attention that it keeps its countryside mood, as quiet as possible. Except for the two museums and a few restaurants, you won’t find many tourism oriented places.
This is part of the charm of Giverny, sort of a feeling that things are still the same. A stroll through the main street of the village will lead you to the newly renovated nice little church.

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Claude Monet ‘s pond at Giverny is almost completely frozen today, after a few cold days.

The last leaves of water lilies are petrified in the ice.

The garden looks asleep, while the gardeners are very busy. They maintain the bamboos that were bent by the snow, they remove the dry ones and take them away. It is a big job to carry away these 25 foot long sticks!

The gardeners have also chopped down the sick weeping willow to plant a new one, they cleansen the walkways, put the pansies in the flower beds…

The guardrails of the little curved bridge are missing. They are currently being repainted in the garage.

When I was in Monet’s garden this morning, I had the feeling of visiting a backstage, having a glimpse on a Giverny that nobody will see, the secret Giverny of wintertime.

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On April 1st, when Fondation Claude Monet opens again for a new season, it is early Spring.

On the hills of the Seine valley, the pastures are still grey, waiting for a new grass to grow.

But in Monet’s garden, the first flowers display their colors.

The weeping willows open their buds and swing their freshly born leaves over the pond.

On the river side, the small basket willows stretch their orange twigs.

These traditional trees are useful to prevent the banks from slipping into the river, and they are lovely too.

It is still Winter right now, but we are all looking forward to Spring.

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Monet

Thanks to Google maps, centered on Monet’s bust at Giverny, this is how Monet’s gardens look from a bird’s view. (it may take a while to load)
The pattern of flower beds looks very straight.
The green roof on the left is the greenhouse.
The big dark roof along rue Claude Monet is Monet’s home.
On the right you can see the big roof windows of his third studio.
If you drag the picture to the left you will visit the village of Giverny. The Museum of Impressionism has terrace roofs.
If you drag the picture to the bottom you will see the poplar grove that was chopped down last year.

Have a nice virtual tour of Giverny!

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It snowed for the second time of the season at Giverny last Wednesday, what is rather unusual so early, at the end of Autumn.

But the gardeners are still working in the garden! They plant the bulbs and pansies for next Spring. Thousands of them. And when the weather is really too cold and snowy, they stay inside and maintain the gardening tools.

Do you recognize on the picture the ladies corner, this round shaped little square under the paulownia, where Mrs Monet and her daughters used to sit down in the afternoon? 

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The church of Giverny looks beautiful! The works are almost finished by now, they have lasted three years.

 Everything was scanned, repaired or replaced, from the roaster on the top of the spire to the murals inside of the choir. The result is stunning.

The church of Giverny deserves this attention. The oldest part dates back to the 11th Century.

 Claude Monet and his family celebrated their religious events in this sanctuary.

 Monet is buried in the nearby cemetery.

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The beauty of late season at Giverny relies on the reflections on Monet’s pond.

The surrounding trees turn red, orange, yellow and dip their image into the water.

Their warm colors split in dots of changing shapes form a stunning contrast with the cold blue and perfectly defined leaves of the remaining water lilies.

 This picture was taken one month ago. Now the leaves have been blown away, and Fondation Claude Monet is closed until next 1st April.

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Today was the last day of the season at Giverny.

At 6.00pm, the flags at the entrance gate were taken in for the last time of the year and the last visitor left.

 The shutters of Monet’s home will stay closed tomorrow, while the gardeners will start their rush before frost.

They have to store fragile plants in the greenhouses, and pull out all the flowers to clean the beds and start thinking of next spring. Fall and winter are a busy time for the gardeners!

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Giverny lies west of Paris, 80 km away from the city, in the Seine valley.

The river flows at the bottom of the hill on the background of the picture. It has carved deeply the tender chalk of the plateau, creating steep hills.

 The bottom of the valley is floodable, this is why the village was built at the foot of the hill. It stretches over three kilometers along a single street, now named after Claude Monet.

Only a small portion of Giverny can be seen on the photo. (click to enlarge)

 Right in the middle, you can see the big studio of Monet, recognizable thanks to the window panes on the roof. On its right, the long pink house with a slated roof is Monet’s home. And on the right of the house, the next building was Monet’s second studio (see the windows on the roof there too).

Behind these three buildings one can notice the garden. The trees on the pond side blend into the nature around, hardly noticeable by their more vibrant colors. And behind Monet’s gardens, fields show that there are good alluvial grounds here.

Nesting in its natural surroundings, Giverny is a rural village in the countryside, living on a slower pace than the big city of Paris. Being a nice day out is one of the assets of an excursion to the home of Claude Monet.

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Two curved bridges face one another on both ends of Monet’s pond at Giverny.

The big one is covered with wisterias, whereas the small one doesn’t have any.

But a neighbouring wisteria can give the illusion that it is covering the little bridge too!

 Its golden color brightens all the greens around.

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