It’s not a gardening job like any other: “I’m the guardian of this very famous plot of land” says James who heads up a team of eight gardeners. Monet himself had up to 7 gardeners working there.
I was taken aback at just how much this garden looks like the Monet paintings I've seen. “It’s deliberate” James tells me. He works from a list of plants Monet liked to grow. Much of the detail comes from a book written by Monet's son about his father's letters which contained information about the plants he loved. And, there have been lots of studies to ascertain varieties from his paintings.
“Those pelargoniums that you see growing in beds in front of the house, they were there in Monet's time” advises James “and we know that he grew roses and daffodils, poppies and irises. But because he had cataracts which made colours turn red and purple to him, it's not always easy to get the exact plant style right”. I tell him that to me the colours seem spot on, you feel as though you are standing in one of those exquisite paintings when you stand in these gardens surrounded by a glorious symphony of colour.
“It wasn’t always like this” says James. “When Monet first lived here, he had an
"Like walking into a painting"