In early May in Monet’s Garden the dutch iris are blooming. The bearded iris are in full bud, given a week of warmer weather they will be opening. The scent of wisteria is mixed with the scent of lilacs in the air. There are beds of pink tulips and lavender lobelia just outside the door of the famous pink house with the green shutters.
The roses are leafing out over the green arches. Everywhere you look when you frame the view there is a masterpiece. Even the snails in Monet’s garden are colorful.
There was a cold winter here, and a late spring storm, the tulips show signs of hail damage, the ficus hedges have not yet recovered from the freeze. In this famous garden there are aphids on the rosebuds. Gardeners are busy raking and dead heading. It is a living landscape art. Mix in the many visitors that arrive each day and there is even more color.
You go through a tunnel and under the street to reach the water garden. The ponds are filled from canals that borrow the water from the river. Perhaps the water is just another “paint” in Monet’s work. The reflection in the water from the trees, flowering azaleas, japanese maples, and annuals in blue and orange doubles the color in the scene. A sunny day with big clouds in the sky added even more charm to the water canvas.
Many people know Monet’s garden, have viewed his impressionist paintings, written about him, his art and his garden. I wanted to see this place for many years, more because of the garden and the potential of the beauty of the flowers than for seeing the paintings in the garden. Now I have been here, captured it for a moment in my photos. I sat and enjoyed the views, the changing light, the imaginative plant combinations. My life is truly richer for the experience. I know no one who could own an original Monet. The gift shop was full of affordable copies of his paintings and people were buying them.
Perhaps what is truly wonderful about this painter and his passion for creating a garden of such beauty is that still to this day noticing the beauty is possible. We are drawn to the beauty of nature and I think this is so good. There is much hard and rough in this world. When we see the beauty of flowers and buds of hope in nature and we are pulled closer to the beauty and away from the harsh, this is good for our soul.
