Giverny and Versailles

 

I promised to show more of my French stitching stash.

Two kits, and three charts...

.

and a book called "A Weekend in the Country", and three pairs of scissors.

 

Today I was able to feed one of my other passions - gardening.

Mom and I joined a tour to Monet's garden at Giverny.

 

After having seen several of Monet's paintings of his garden in the Musee d'Orsay, it was rather surreal to view some of the same scenes he'd so famously executed on canvas.

 

The waterlily pond was much larger than I'd anticipated.  The guide said that Monet received permission from French Prime Minister Clemenceau to divert water from the nearby river to create his pond.

 

The pond had lots of happy French pool frogs (Rana ridibunda).  Have you ever heard a French frog?  Seriously - they croak with an accent!  They sound nothing like my American frogs do. If you are interested click over to listen to this YouTube video.

 

This part of the garden is closest to Monet's house.  The arched trellises will be covered in roses later in the summer.

 

In early June the garden exploded with lupin, allium, columbine, bachelor buttons, pansies, clematis, wisteria, and iris.

 

Then marching along for several rows on each side of the trellises, were long narrow beds - some with iris... 

 

...some with a jumble of different plants.

 

This is the view from the upper story of Monet's house.

 

The garden successfully used both cool and hot colors.  Perennials and annuals.  I would say it was more about bloom than foliage.

 

As we left Giverny there was a small meadow of red poppies.  With my degree in history red poppies remind me of World War I.

"In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row". John McCrae

 

/We spent the afternoon at Versailles.  A totally different kind of abode and garden.  Both were built on a scale that is overwhelming.

I preferred the intimacy of Giverny.