We arrived at Monet’s garden in Giverny at 10:45 on a sunny Sunday in June, apparently the first sunny weekend in a very long time, as the place was packed!

It took awhile to get into the garden but it was well worth the wait. An exuberant collection of early June flowers filled a garden so huge that actually it managed to swallow the crowds.
Roses, poppies, foxglove and fox tail… I read that Monet employed six gardeners to keep up his garden.
A panorama of the garden.
The garden should be definitely seen on a sunny day.The famous waterlily pond is around a corner in a completely different area of the garden.
The waterlilies, especially imported from Japan, featured in even more of Monet’s paintings.
The water even looks impressionistic…A constant stream of people swarmed over the bridge on the ticket below, making it impossible to get a peaceful shot of it.My version of Monet’s ‘Study in Green‘.
Another shot of the pond.These picturesque boats feature in many of Monet’s paintings. A purple smoke tree cascades over the pond.
The bonus was that the entrance fee to the Monet’s house was waived on the Sunday we were there!
Different months bring different flowers — I would love to visit the garden when the sunflowers are out!

More on our 2015 trip to Northwest France.