The only garden I’ve ever had was a 250 square foot terrace atop a 10 story high building, situated at the northernmost tip of Manhattan island. Gardening was all done in pots and planters. I took a great class in “Terrace Gardening” at the New York Botanical Society – a highly specific course, and, I imagine, not offered in very many places, to help me to understand the special conditions presented by this type of location, and to lovingly “grow my garden”.
Please don’t misunderstand, it’s not as if I grew up in an “asphalt jungle” – I grew up in suburbia, and we had a yard with a willow tree, lilacs, a few rose bushes and pansies, but it was my mother’s. I am eternally grateful to her for instilling a love of beauty and nature in me, since it gives me endless joy and happiness.
As the artist, David Hockney, said when asked about his inspiration for art and beauty, “Nature NEVER lets you down.”.
So, when I was unknowingly volunteered to write a gardening diary, I thought, hmmm… I’ll do one on terrace gardening (for a fairly limited audience), but after reading Sybil’s wonderful diary last week, I became inspired to do a diary on probably the most magnificent garden I have ever seen.
For any of you who have been fortunate enough to have visited Monet’s garden at Giverny, you will know what I mean when I say, that while it’s beauty is magnificent and uplifting, it’s also so mind-boggling it can practically move one to tears. The arbors, flooded with flowers, and the ponds filled with water lilies, and those both detailed and mysterious reflections of weeping willow trees, all just take your breath away – over and over again.
Who doesn’t love the famous “water lily paintings” – now major icons of art. But there have been others of Monet’s work that I had previously thought a bit garish and overdone, after visiting Giverny, I’ve had to eat my words.
Monet became obsessed with his garden – and thank goodness he did. On this Saturday morning I hope you enjoy some humble snapshots and a sprinkling of his painted images accompanying them. Imagine waking
up to this garden every Saturday, Sunday, Monday ……
Welcome to Giverny
Monet’s home
my picture of the Japanese Bridge
Monet’s painting – spring/summer in the autumn
magnificent willows and the famous lily pond
lots of pansies in the garden!
At noon, we open a bottle of wine, some cheese some bread . . . . what a fabulous afternoon!
