Boston Flora

Tag: Monet’s Garden

  • Wednesday, November 1, 2:00 pm – 3:30 pm Eastern – Head Gardeners at Historic Sites: Frances Tophill at Sharpham, Online

    The Gardens Trust Wednesday webinar series this Autumn will focus on head gardeners working at historic sites. This is the first lecture of the second set of five talks, exploring how individual head gardeners are balancing the heritage of their site, the wishes of its owner(s) and their own interests and experience. We’ll hear about the role from both seasoned head gardeners and those more recently appointed. Learn about the challenges they face, including climate change, as well as the joys of horticulture and heritage. you may purchase a ticket for the entire course of 5 sessions at a cost of £20 via the link here. Attendees will be sent a Zoom link 2 days prior to the start of the talk, and again a few hours before the talk. A link to the recorded session (available for 1 week) will be sent shortly afterwards.

    On November 1, meet Frances Tophill at Sharpham. On the banks of the river Dart in Devon, Sharpham has been a dwelling since the 14th century. The present Palladian mansion, designed by Sir Robert Taylor, was built in the 1760s. The gardens have been through many changes over the years and are set in a Grade II registered landscape attributed to Capability Brown. There are 19th century pleasure gardens around the house, formal terraced gardens designed by Percy Cane in the 1960s (recently replanted as a tea garden), a walled kitchen garden, woodland garden and two orchards planted since 2000.

    The house and gardens have been vested in the Sharpham Trust since 1982, an educational charity which aims to connect people with nature and foster mindfulness and well-being through a program of retreats, courses, events and the arts.

    Frances Tophill is currently Head Gardener and Grower at Sharpham Trust and she has also worked at Monet’s Garden and the Andromeda Botanical Garden in Barbados. On screen she is known for her work with Gardeners’ World and Love Your Garden. Her love affair with plants started with an NVQ and apprenticeship at The Salutation Garden in Kent, followed by a degree in Horticulture with Plantsmanship at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. Passionate about conservation and sustainability, Frances has been involved in native tree planting and, in 2022, won ‘best show garden’ for a sustainable garden design and build at Gardeners’ World Live.

  • Sunday, March 20, 1:00 pm – 2:30 pm – Monet’s Garden in Giverny with Marie Dessaillen, Online

    Join Context Learning and Marie Dessaillen online on March 20 to discover one of the most fascinating and original gardens of France, created by Claude Monet and the inspiration for his last series of paintings, the Water Lilies.

    Claude Monet is one, if not the most famous of the impressionist painters. But he was also a fantastic gardener, who could not move into a new house without spending hours with his shovel planting colorful flowers. His last house happened to be in a little village of Normandy called Giverny, an hour away from Paris. There, he spent the last 43 years of his life, surrounded by his family, trying to keep his fans at bay, working on his two gardens and his series of paintings. This is where the Haystacks and the Poplars were painted. But the series that fascinated him the longest was the Water Lily paintings.

    Monet was passionate about Japanese engravings, which he started collecting in his thirties. The Japanese gardens, as he saw them in those images, spoke of poetry that touched him. He wanted to paint his own take on them but could not find in France a similar landscape. But Monet always painted “en plein air”, to recreate perfectly the changing of light and colors. When he finally reached commercial success, he bought some land on the other side of the train tracks at the end of his flower garden, and slowly turned it into what he imagined a Japanese garden must look like. A large pond, a little bridge, some weeping willows, and water lilies. It was his private space. And he spent the rest of his life painting it.

    Led by art historian Marie Dessaillen, this interactive discussion will show how this constant immersion in his garden led Monet to his most modern paintings. We will focus on the evolution of the series, the influence of Japan in the perspective as well as the subject, and how Monet donated his last work to the French State for a new museum dedicated to his Water Lilies, to ensure that the visitors would appreciate all the optical effects of his paintings. $36.50. Register at www.contextlearning.com

  • Thursday, September 13, 8:00 am – 6:00 pm – New York Botanical Garden: Monet’s Garden

    On Thursday, September 13, join staff from the Berkshire Botanical Garden for a trip to the New York Botanical Garden at the height of the late summer bloom and to view the acclaimed show Monet’s Garden. Garden staff from BBG will lead a tour of the gardens, including the Ladies Border, the Herb Garden, the Jane Watson Irwin Perennial Garden and the spectacular Seasonal Walk, designed by superstar designers Piet Oudolf and Jaqueline Van de Kloet. For those interested in trees we will explore the Benson Ornamental Conifer Garden and the many small ornamental specimen trees on the grounds. Garden staff will answer questions and share horticultural insights throughout the day. Included in the cost of the trip is a ticket to view the special event Monet’s Garden in the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory, which has been transformed into a floral masterpiece of Monet’s idyllic garden in Giverny, France. Monet’s most famous subjects, water lilies, including many of them the varieties he grew, are featured in the Conservatory Courtyard Pools. This is a fantastic opportunity to view the exhibition at it’s peak. Two paintings by Monet—one which has never been publicly exhibited in the United States—will be on display. There will be unstructured time to visit areas of specific interest in the afternoon.

    Participants will travel by coach. Snacks and afternoon beverage will be provided. Bring sturdy walking shoes, warm waterproof outerwear and an umbrella. The bus will depart from Berkshire Botanical Garden promptly at 8am and return promptly at 6pm.  $99 for BBG members, $120 for non members.  Register on line at www.berkshirebotanical.org, or email info@berkshirebotanical.org for more information.