Giverny Photo Gallery

April 21, 2012

giverny-monet-pondI have eventually gathered my favorite pictures of Giverny into a photo gallery.
Season after season, Monet’s water garden and flower garden change a lot.
I like early morning atmospheres as well as rainy days, bright sunshine or sunset. I like the snow white garden. I like roses and nympheas. I like the colors of autumn, the stunning reflections on the pond.
I hope you will like them too.

Pink Tulip Beds

April 8, 2012

giverny-houseIn April, the pink facade of Monet’s house in Giverny responds to huge beds of pink tulips in front of the main entrance.

To create a shimmering effect, several varieties of pink tulips are planted, some redder, pinker or even orange, to resemble Monet’s brushstrokes on the canvas.

The pink tulips are underplanted by blue forget-me-not.

Just Before Opening

February 5, 2012

march-giverny March at Giverny is time for the last tasks before the gates open to visitors on April 1st. The last pruning, clipping, mowing, raking… before D-Day. 

While the gardeners take advantage of the empty garden to put their ladders and wheel barrows in the middle of the alleys, the earliest flowers bloom for their own sake. Big bouquets of daffodils shine in the middle of the fresh green lawns.

The first flowers of Spring are mostly yellow. They are paired with blue pansies to obtain this color combination that Monet liked so much, and that looks very attractive.

Monet’s Color Garden

November 25, 2011

monet-color-gardenIn front of his second studio, a pink house he built in 1899 on the corner of his estate, Monet designed a colorful area of parallel flower beds.
In October, the tall flowers of late season mix their pinks, blues, yellows, oranges and reds and their different textures ans shapes, creating a living painting that moves in the breeze.
Sages, dahlias, asters, cosmos, roses, black eyed Susan, tithonias are all enchanting September and October.

Standard Roses

June 13, 2011

giverny089 Standard roses are one of the beauties of Giverny.

As tall as trees, they measure over 2 meters and they offer their pink blossom like enormous bouquets.

Rose trees are generally not strong enough to resist wind, so they are grown on metallic structures that look like umbrellas or mushrooms, according to your imagination. Some people call them weeping roses, that’s really too sad.

In Monet’s flower garden, they tower over big bunches of peonies and large flower beds of pink and red poppies.

A Taste of Heaven

June 3, 2010

giverny-iris.jpg Monet’s garden at Giverny is so beautiful at the turn of May and June that it has a taste of Paradise.

 In this season, spectacular flowers like irises, paeonies, wallflowers and roses bloom all at the same time.

The small walks of the garden disappear, leaving the illusion of a divine meadow adornated by the most exquisite flowers.

Not to speak about the delicate scent floating in the air…

Lavender Dream

July 19, 2009

lavender-dream.jpg

A purple bush rose frames the big window of Monet’s first studio at Giverny.

Purple roses are not very common, nor look very natural, but they provide a strong impact. This one has a sweet name: lavender dream. It is lovely in springtime when it flowers in numerous small simple roses.

It is too late now for roses, but it is the right time to see -and smell- lavender in bloom at Giverny, as a slight reminiscence to Provence. It perfumes the air, together with phlox and lilies.