Spring is one of the seasons I look forward to because of the burst of colors it brings in the flower beds, gardens, and parks. In Paris, this spring season has been somewhat cold, with more cloudy days than sunny days. And what that means is a delay in the blooming season of flowers and the spring-to-life activities of other plants and trees.
I have been going around checking Parc Monceau and Jardin de Luxembourg, and to my delight, the rhododendrons and the bulb plants have started to bloom. With that lead, I thought that perhaps it might be a good time to visit Giverny in the spring. For comparison, here is the link of my previous post on the fall foliage at Monet's garden.
The garden - year after year, is tended to maintain the ambiance it had during the time of Monet. There is a plant calendar that is followed, so then, there is a constancy in how the garden is to look like from season to season, from year to year.
This was the welcome sight at the visitors' parking lot...
deep pink cherry blossoms.
My only particular interest was to visit the garden, this time. The entrance fee remains the same, whether you visit the house or not.
On the garden path...apple blossoms on trained branches...in the fall, you will see the fruits.
The flower beds are planted with bulb-plant varieties. The predominant tulips, at this time of the year, are providing most of the colors in this flower exhibition.
Each plot or garden section has a color theme. The trellises are still bare, but soon climbing roses, climatises will take their places with their weaving branches, filled with leaves and flowers.
These double or multi-layered, petaled tulips are big and beautiful - they look like peonies. The actual peony plants are just beginning to bud.
A flower bed of pansies, daffodils, and pointy-petaled tulips
Orange tulips - "Ballerina"
Yellow tulips - "West Point"
Orange tulips - "Ballerina"
Yellow tulips - "West Point"
The pointed-petal tulip variety is known as lily-flowered tulips. The name comes from the shape of the petals, which resemble the original species of tulips that came from Turkey. The pointy petals open outward, like a six-point star.
This reminded me of the Keukenhof Gardens in Holland where I was able to see so many varieties of tulips, hyacinths, daffodils, grass and other ground-cover flower plants.
"Crown Imperial" (Fritillaria specie) - is a most unique, spring-flowering bulb that blooms with the flowers facing the ground. To take this picture, I turned my camera facing the sky.
Aquatic plants are beginning to grow back. The border - flowering plants along the water are varigated varieties of purple-colored pansies and blue forget-me-nots, with some grass-like lily varieties.
Ornamental cherry blossoms
The lily pond, referred to as the Bassin - where the Japanese bridge and the lilies are. The lily plants are sparse and waiting for more sunshine to grow fully. This area in the garden is his subject in the murals on display at the Museé l'Orangerie.
The rododendrons are in full bloom in white, pink, and purple.
The Japanese maple tree is almost camouflaged by the red-flowering azalea bushes.
The wisteria woody branches are now full of buds. When this is in full bloom, it is quite a sight.
Purple Hyacinth - so fragrant!
Purple, white, and yellow pansies and blue forget-me-nots create a colorful background for this orange tulip blossoms - when fully opened, they become too heavy for their stems and they gracefully bend down. Placement of certain flower varieties are an important consideration. For the voluminous type, the wind direction is studied so as to be avoided.
Variegated, hybrids, double hybrid tulips - "Royal Acres" tulips, on the foreground
In front of Monet's house
Identifying the tulip varieties is not easy for me. There are hundreds of them. The differences are not always obvious to the untrained eye. But they sure create beautiful patches in the garden or in a vase arrangement.
Not too faraway is the Museé des Impressionnisme. In just ten minutes on foot, there are more flowers to behold in the surrounding property.
Bright colored pansies with face-like designs on the petals and tulips on a patch of dirt along rue Claude Monet
At the street entrance - on exhibit are the works of Paul Signac "The Colors of Water"
Apple and pear trees are in bloom...this is an open space where people sit, rest, sleep, suntan, or picnic on a nice day, and the children run around and play.
Museum entrance
Some asparagus stalks are growing here.
This looks like an ornamental rhubarb plant.
The hedge plant used to define the sections for the different plots are still recovering from the cold days of winter.
"Rembrandt's Favourite" tulips
White-color theme around the goldfish pond
Can you imagine the kind of work the gardeners do to maintain these places? Even when there are visitors going around, they continue to work. If you are inspired to brighten up a section in your garden, go for it. It will be a bit of work but the results will be worth it.
I hope to be back in the summer and look forward to seeing dahlias, sunflowers, the climbing roses in bloom, salvia, clematis, marigolds, carnations, delphiniums, cannas and lots more. If you plan to visit Giverny at this time, then, do bring and use a hat as the sun can get quite hot. For more information, please click here.
