Monet’s garden at Giverny, about an hour from Paris, is a mecca for garden lovers. This garden’s most recognised feature is a painted wooden Japanese-style bridge, which is draped with wisteria (a white Japanese wisteria called Wisteria floribunda ‘Shiro Noda’) and crosses the famous waterlily pond.
Monet, the French artist whose work ‘Impression of Sunrise’ gave rise to the term Impressionism, was a keen gardener. He worked within the existing formal rectangular layout of what was a farm house garden, filling flower beds with a symphony of colour but using fairly simple plants. He spent 40 years creating the garden and, as his reputation as both an artist and a gardener spread, he acquired some rather special plants for his garden such as Japanese peonies.
Considered bohemians, Monet and his rather large and unorthodox household, were not popular in the village and indeed were actively opposed by the villagers. It is said that when Monet selected an element for his paintings such as the haystacks or poplars, the villagers threatened to destroy his subject. Frustrated Monet turned to his own garden as a subject to paint, particularly focussing on his waterlilies. He also enjoyed painting the garden near the house, the ‘Clos Normande’, from his studio.
Monet said of his garden and water lily pond: “It took me time to understand my waterlilies…I had planted them for my pleasure; I cultivated them without ever thinking of painting them…A landscape doesn’t permeate ones being in one day. And then suddenly the magical world of my pond was revealed to me. I took up my palette. Since that time I have scarcely had another model.”
By the 1890s when Monet’s art began to earn him a reliable income he could afford to employ full-time gardeners to work in the garden. One gardener was employed just to care for the lily pond.
Monet died at his home in Giverny in 1926 at 86 years of age. His house and garden, which remained in family ownership for many years, but fell into disrepair, has now been restored and is open to the public. It is 80km north west of Paris.
Australian examples
Don explained that it is not easy to create a garden in this style. Formal gardens with axes and grids can be laid out with string lines, but it is particularly difficult to create a Monet-style garden, with its rambling nature and stunning interaction of colours. However, there are some wonderful examples in Australia.
Foxglove Spires, Tilba Tilba, NSW
In the dairying village of Tilba Tilba in New South Wales, about a five hour drive from Sydney, Sue and Peter Southam have transformed three acres of paddocks (around 1.3 hectares) into a woodland garden with walks, archways, hedges and masses of flowers. The garden has what Don described as a ‘feminine’ style because nature has been given a free reign with plants encouraged to ramble and self seed, creating an atmosphere of ‘romantic abandonment’.
Features of the garden include a crabapple walkway, a citrus walk of oranges and lemons, a walk edged with ‘Thomas Bouche’ espaliered apples, stands of oaks, washes of bluebells and daffodils (best in early spring) and a vegetable garden. More than 2500 foxgloves raise their spires in the garden in late October. A natural low spot which tended to fill with water after heavy rain has been transformed into a permanent water feature. Although not very deep, the pond is home to ducks and is surrounded by shade trees, lilies and iris.
Woodgreen, Burradoo, NSW
Ann and Tony Emmett’s beautiful garden at Woodgreen, in the Southern Highlands of NSW, has a very French feel. Garden elements include a summerhouse, a wide path covered by a series of broad, rounded arches (in the style of Monet’s garden at Giverny), formal and informal beds with a tapestry of hedges, fruit and vegetable gardens and stone steps surrounded by varieties of thyme. A timber deck has been built overhanging the edge of a large pond. A blue Monet-inspired bridge spans the water, which has been tinted blue with vegetable dye. Louisiana and Japanese iris are planted in this area, as well as Japanese maples (Acer palmatum), tupelo (Nyssa sylvatica) and giant ornamental rhubarb (Gunnera manicata). Tony and Ann have also created a parterre garden using dwarf nandina (Nandina domestica ‘Nana’). Tony is a sculptor, and several beautiful examples of his work are displayed throughout the garden.
Further information
For information on garden styles from all around the world, visit the extensive archives section of the Burke’s Backyard website.
For information on open gardens in your area, consult the Australia’s Open Garden Scheme Guidebook 2003/2004, or ring the AOGS Information Line on 1902 261 026.
Foxglove Spires is at Corkhill Drive, Tilba Tilba, NSW 2546. Phone: (02) 4473 7375. The garden is open every day of the week. Entry fees: adults $6, concession $5, and children under 12 free.