The Rural Voice, 1995-09, Page 54Gardening
Visiting Europe's -inspiring gardens
By Rhea Hamilton -Seeger
Once in a while I daydream about
taking a tour of European gardens
and this year I got a sample of what
the tour would be like. We had the
good fortune to visit with family in
Germany and France this summer
and I had the pleasure of touring
through both the most formal gardens
imaginable and the most casual.
Villages throughout the Black Forest
are brightened with cascading
geraniums spilling from flower boxes
on every window. Yards are often
small but tightly managed as
productive gardens or visual delights
full of annuals and perennials.
I can't let the experience go
without telling you about the
cemeteries we saw. While we were
paying our respects to departed
relatives we lingered to admire the
grounds. Cemeteries are works of art
in Germany. Each plot is a miniature
garden. Both perennials, annuals and
shrubs are laid out in both formal and
informal patterns. The whole area of
the plot is covered with garden which
is maintained by family or friends. In
the cool of the summer evening
neighbours gather to water and trim
the dead flowers and yellowed
foliage from their loved one's plots.
It becomes a social gathering as well
as a time of communion.
One cemetery we visited was right
in the forest. The plots were laid out
between the huge trees. Ferns,
woodland flowers and even some
varieties of moss were growing in
natural profusion in this dark garden.
There were no pastoral lawns to
maintain. A lovely chapel at the foot
of the hill and the occasional cross
were the only obvious reminders of
the cemetery. Many of the stones
were rough hewn with only a small
spot made smooth to receive the
names of the deceased.
The real highlight of the trip for
me was a visit to Giverny, a small
village outside of Paris, France. The
impressionist painter Claude Monet
once lived here in a rather large
house where he plotted, planned and
painted in an even larger garden.
50 THE RURAL VOICE
Monet had lived here as a tenant
before he finally bought this home in
1890. He was 50 years old, had eight
children in the household and his
work/passion became his painting
and his garden. Monet built a
greenhouse to start plants in and was
forever seeking out new plants to
bring home to his garden. Doesn't
that sound familiar?
The garden at Giverny was laid
out with the artist's eye for colour.
The pinks and mauves of spring and
the hot yellows and reds of summer
all have their place here. Gardens
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i
change when taken over by a
different gardener or in this case a
group or trust. There is a certain
amount of planning and work to
perennials that is not often
maintained after the owner is gone.
A case in point, the Buchart Gardens
of British Columbia were once
known for their perennials and are
now more formally laid out with
annuals to provide the tourist with a
constant palate of colour instead of
the softly changing effect of
perennials. The garden at Givemy
has the happy mix of both perennials
and annuals. There were six
gardeners working when we toured
Monet's garden. Some plants, like
California poppies, were allowed to
go to seed for next year's colour,
while others, like the delphiniums,
were trimmed to promote a second
blooming. The gardens were packed.
There was very little room if any for
scuffling of the soil. When you
looked out over the garden from the
vantage point of the house you were
assailed by a mass of colour.
The house is a soft sun -bleached
pink with dark green shutters. The
arbour across the south face of the
house supports mounds of climbing
roses. The beds flanking the stairs to
the house are a profusion of soft
pinks, mauves and purple flowers.
Across the back of the garden along
the wall separating it from the water
lily pond was a riot of hot summer
colours, orange and yellow rubeckia,
coreopsis, and scarlet dahlias.
Occasionally a clump of white
obedient plant in the back of the
garden draws your eye giving it a rest
from all the colour. The garden is
much like it was during the artist's
time. After his death in 1929 the
garden fell into neglect. It was
purchased by an American artist
some years later to provide
inspiration to others.
Thankfully Monet had friends that
were enamoured with the newest
contraption, the camera, and there
were a variety of pictures of his
garden to refer to when his gardens
were re-established several years ago.
His home was made into a museum
and now thousands of people travel
here to see the gardens and take
delight in the reproductions of his
paintings. (The authentic ones are in
major Paris museums or private
collections.)
While Monet worked daily in his
garden it was his water lily pond that
captured his heart and his eye. Water
diverted from the River Epte flowed
into the dug pond. A Japanese-style
bridge, flowering wisteria and of
course water lilies captured the mind
and brush of the painter. The pond is
still there edged with summer lilies,
buddlea and other flowering shrubs.
When we returned home our
garden was a mass of colour too but
part of the colour was compliments of
the fast-growing weeds. Looking at
the other gardens inspires me to dig
up more ground and move some
plants around. I call it being creative
but my family calls it work.0
Rhea Hamilton -Seeger raises two
children, and is a skilled cook and
gardener.