THE STRAIGHT ANSWER
Saturated with colour, scent and warmth, the French country garden dream is a perennial favourite – and not just with garden lovers. It’s the good living that goes with it, of course; the lunch table under the trees, the food, the wine, the escape. But th
WHETHER gloriously grand like Versailles or rustic, like Giverny, the French love straight lines in their gardens, which immediately makes things simpler. In the country garden another national characteristic comes into play: unpretentious practicality.
When Claude Monet came to Giverny, he found an apple orchard. And it was essentially along the lines of the orchard, among the blossom and fruit, that he laid out his garden. Some believe he was also inspired by the tulip fields of Holland and their blocks of colour when planting his paintbox beds.
Others argue that he was simply following the lines of the surrounding farms and allotments, planting flowers instead of vegetables. Probably both, and as such, based on tradition, convenience and practicality. And personal whim.
This is where the liberation really comes in. Think of your flower garden as a vegetable garden and you have a simple, practical framework that allows the plants to shine. It means you can grow whatever you feel like growing and experiment with colour and plant combinations without worrying too much about the overall picture, which will look after itself.
This makes garden planning much simpler and more relaxed. You can garden intensively, like Monet, or minimally – with lowmaintenance texture and colour. The key is the orchard element (even if you have space for only two or three trees), the light and shade it brings and the sense of immersion created by narrow paths through tall plants and overhead leafiness.
Most gardens need an open centre and Monet retained another tradition, a central grassy area, flanked by treelined paths.
Giverny is slightly different in that the centre of the garden is the nasturtium-lined Grand Allée, which was the original main path to the front door.
The open grass is to one side, its central axis aligned with Monet’s bedroom window. In his day the garden would have looked out on to a patchwork of fields, as many rural gardens still do, their simple patterns in harmony with the lines of olive groves, wheat fields or vineyards beyond.