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There are literally thousands of flowers in these gardens including masses of tulips, irises, oriental poppies and peonies - plants with wonderful colours providing an inspiration to Monet's paintings. The water garden may be the most famous part of Monet's garden and will be particularly interesting to fans of Monet's wonderful water lily paintings but for me it was the flower borders in front of the house that completely bowled me over.
I visited in late spring. Having mostly seen photos of the garden taken in early spring with the fabulous blaze of colour provided by tulips, daffodils, pansies and cherry blossom amongst others I was worried that the gardens may be a bit bare immediately after the tulip season.
However the gardens were absolutely bursting with colour and completely gorgeous. Many of my favourite plants were in bloom - alliums, peonies, irisis, wallflowers and some early roses.
These were in the blue borders and there were also large yellow borders also bursting with colour. The planting was colourful but obviously selected with a painters eye and every step of the huge walled garden is a visual treat.
Obviously Monet was pleased with it too as it features in some of his paintings. The garden is laid out in straight lines with lots of long beds with walkways between them and then some large areas of grass and trees. The voluptuousness of the planting disguised the simplicity of the garden design.
Careful management of the gardens allowing visitors to walk up some alleys but not others means that despite the huge numbers of people visiting it was always possible to see much of the garden without people blocking views and making taking photographs impossible.
The water gardens have a Japanese theme and there is a replica of the Japanese bridge which featured in Monet's famous paintings. After ten years of living in Giverny, Monet bought some land from his neighbours and dug a small pond. Apparently neighbours objected as they were worried his 'strange plants' would poison the water.
Undeterred Monet continued expanding his ponds until we have the large ponds we can visit today. Monet was inspired for this garden by Japanese gardens and a collection of Japanes prints that can be seen in his house. The ponds are filled with his famous water lilies and of course you can see and walk on the bridge which features in his famous water lily paintings. The edges of the ponds are also beautifully planted with weeping willows, cherry trees, rhododendrums and azaleas, ferns, irises and much much more.
The central alley is covered over by iron arches on which climbing roses grow. Other rose trees cover the balustrade along the house. At the end of the summer nasturtiums invade the soil in the central alley. Claude Monet did not like organized nor constrained gardens. He married flowers according to their colours and left them to grow rather freely.
With the passing years he developed a passion for botany, exchanging plants with his friends Clemenceau and Caillebotte. Always on the look-out for rare varieties, he bought young plants at great expense. But also: "I am in raptures. In , ten years after his arrival at Giverny, Monet bought the piece of land neighbouring his property on the other side of the railway. It was crossed by a small brook, the Ru, which is a diversion of the Epte, a tributary of the Seine River.
With the support of the prefecture, Monet had the first small pond dug ; even though his peasant neighbours were opposed. They were afraid that his strange plants would poison the water.
Later on the pond would be enlarged to its present day size. The water garden is full of asymmetries and curves. It is inspired by the Japanese gardens that Monet knew from the prints he collected avidly. In this water garden you will find the famous Japanese bridge covered with wisterias, other smaller bridges, weeping willows, a bamboo wood and above all the famous nympheas which bloom all summer long.
The pond and the surrounding vegetation form an enclosure separated from the surrounding countryside. Never before had a painter so shaped his subjects in nature before painting them.
And so he created his works twice. Monet would find his inspiration in this water garden for more than twenty years. After the Japanese bridge series, he would devote himself to the giant decorations of the Orangerie. Always looking for mist and transparencies, Monet would dedicate himself less to flowers than to reflections in water, a kind of inverted world transfigured by the liquid element.
Monet had it built by a local craftsman. By the time the garden was restored the bridge was too damaged to be saved.
It had to be rebuilt by a firm from Vernon. It is made of beech wood. To prevent people from treading on the plants, and thus retain the garden's beauty, the inner alleys are closed to the public. Visitors walk on the side alleys and can walk all around the garden to admire all its perspectives.
To get to the water garden you go through an underground passage at the time of Monet it was necessary to cross the railway and the road. You will step on the Japanese bridge and explore all the hidden recesses of the water garden.
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