“More than anything, I must have flowers, always, always.”
—CLAUDE MONET
Claude Monet, the 19th-century French impressionist painter, is almost as famous for his garden in Giverny, France, as he is for his artwork. Monet’s world-class landscape reveals that he was a skilled horticulturist and garden designer. Winding paths, ponds, rhododendrons, flowers, and of course his beloved waterlilies, delight the many visitors who flock to his floral haven 35 miles outside of Paris.
It took 20 years for Monet to transform an abandoned cider farm into a garden of his liking. He was its head designer and gardener. Interestingly, he specifically created garden scenes that he could paint. He dug a pond, planted waterlilies, and then painted them to great acclaim. This was far different from the painters of his time who simply painted the landscapes they found.
Taking a cue from Monet’s suggestion in a flower bed—plant brightly colored flowers near the front of plant beds and more muted flowers in the background to create the illusion of depth.
Monet was obsessed by the beauty and color of flowers, and he stayed up to date on new varieties to try. He used flowers as if they were paint and played with color in innovative ways. For example, Monet experimented with blocks of single colors and collected blue-hued plants because this color is rare in Nature.
His unique color experimentation took place in the 38 “paint box” flower beds that he constructed. They served as smaller versions of the long flower beds found in the main garden. In these, Monet tried out new plants and unusual color, texture, and height combinations before committing to them and including them in his garden. He studied how the light through the day changed the colors.
This idea of a paint box flower bed can be modified to any size plot. Why not install a few small experimental beds for your own flower trials? When someone asks why you call it a paint box, explain that it began with Claude Monet, gardener extraordinaire.
One interesting aspect of Monet’s garden in Giverny, France, is that the built features—shutters, benches, steps, porch, wisteria-draped footbridge, and even a rowboat—are painted an intriguing shade of green. Here, at the Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, they re-created Monet’s green “Japanese bridge.” The closest match to his special green is Benjamin Moore’s Juniper. This was determined by the New York Botanical Garden using photo matching and consulting the experts at the Monet home.