Claude Monet's garden at Giverny in September.

How quickly Wednesdays seem to come around nowadays, one appointment I always like to keep is with Suzanne @ Southern Daydreamer and her Outdoor Wednesday gathering. Do go over and visit with Suzanne and enjoy the other outdoor glories she has gathered today.

I recently wrote "A final farewell to my summer garden"mentioning a couple of influences from the French Impressionist Claude Monet’s garden at Giverny
Today I'd like to take you on a September tour of that beautiful garden which I so love to visit.
It never seems to matter what time of year I am there, the grounds are always a delight and another tour of the house is de rigeur.

Bequeathed to France's Académie des Beaux-Arts by the artist's son Michel in 1966, Claude Monet's property at Giverny has since undergone major restoration.


With its pink render on the outside, the house where the leader of the Impressionist school lived from 1883 until 1926 has now regained the colourful interior and intimate charm of those bygone days.

Several of its rooms are now devoted to the artist's precious collection of Japanese prints, hung in accordance with the instructions of the Master of Giverny.

Just a few steps from the house the restored Water lily Studio, is now home to the Monet Foundation shop.

Also restored to their original state, the gardens now offer the visitor that "painting made from Nature itself" that Monet's contemporaries regarded as one of his masterpieces.

The house and studios look out on to the geometrically designed Clos Normand, whose stunning flowerbeds are surrounded by arbours of climbing plants.
From spring through to autumn the Clos is the setting for the changing palette of a painter-gardener who was "simply mad about flowers".

Further down, a man-made, willow-shaded branch of the river Epte feeds the Water Garden with its celebrated Japanese Bridge and its wisteria, azaleas and pond.
Once again this spot has become that meeting of sky and water out of which emerged the pictorial world of the water lilies.


I hope that you have enjoyed your virtual tour with me today and perhaps one day, if you plan a visit to France and visit Normandy, we can go there together, once again.

à bien tôt
Maggie