- Author: Lanie Keystone
So we've cut back our roses and grasses, the trees are barren and our gardens are happily “put to bed” until the spring buds and blooms awaken. The skies are cloudy and the much wished for rains are falling. While we're all thrilled to see this wonderful, wet weather—we gardeners watch for our mail and welcome our flower and veggie catalogs as special rays of sunshine and hope. But, when these harbingers of spring don't give us our “fix” for flowers and all things green, we look to horticultural books to brighten our days. “Monet's Garden: Through the Seasons at Giverny” is just the book to give our winter days the glow we need!
Written by noted author and gifted photographer, Vivian Russell, “Monet's Garden” beckons us into the Claude Monet's extraordinary world of art and the most visited and famous garden in the world. Russell leads us down those famous paths that inspired over 500 paintings by Monet, telling us how the artist conceived of the garden and how it has been restored and maintained over the years. In the narrative, she connects Monet the artist to Monet the gardener inspiring us to learn more about both aspects of the man.
Four chapters sumptuously illustrate all four seasons and are appropriately titled: “As If in Mourning”; “Spring Lights Up the Garden”; “Summer Splendors”; and “Autumnal Glory”. These chapters are temptingly bracketed by, “Monet—Poet of Nature”; and “Visiting the Garden”. Perhaps the most wonderful chapter is “Garden Plans”, showing elegant and exact full-color planting plans of each section of the garden. This early chapter reveals how the multitude of effects are created, and best of all, how we can duplicate them in our own gardens.
While Russell's text is wonderful, it is her photographs that recreate the magic of this enchanted place and illustrate how exquisite this “living canvas” truly is. Yes, “Monet's Garden” is the perfect book to read and treasure on a gloomy winters day—and every day.