Issue No. 14

"Like walking into a painting"
It’s not a gardening job like any other: “I’m
the guardian of this very famous plot of
land” says James who heads up a team of
eight gardeners. Monet himself had up to 7
gardeners working there.
I was taken aback at just how much this
garden looks like the Monet paintings I've
seen. “It’s deliberate” James tells me. He
works from a list of plants Monet liked to
grow. Much of the detail comes from a book
written by Monet's son about his father's
letters which contained information about
the plants he loved. And, there have been
lots of studies to ascertain varieties from
his paintings.
“Those pelargoniums that you see growing
in beds in front of the house, they were
there in Monet's time” advises James “and
we know that he grew roses and daffodils,
poppies and irises. But because he had
cataracts which made colours turn red and
purple to him, it's not always easy to get the
exact plant style right”. I tell him that to me
the colours seem spot on, you feel as
though you are standing in one of those
exquisite paintings when you stand in these
gardens surrounded by a glorious
symphony of colour.
“It wasn’t always like this” says James.
“When Monet first lived here, he had an