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The
Monet Garden in my yard has a story. In planting a Southern Monet
Garden, one must first one must understand Monet’s theories of
gardening from an artist’s perspective and then one must choose those
plants from Monet’s design which will prosper in a Southern garden. I
used Vivian Russell’s Monet’s Garden, Charles Prost’s The Garden of Monet, and Derek Fell’s Monet’s Garden as resource materials.
I began to understand the garden as a palette upon which Monet
practiced his color theories, combining red-green-silver,
blue-pink-white, yellow-violet, and orange-blue. He preferred single
flowers (flowers with a single row of petals) because of their
translucence when backlit and their reflective properties when front
lit. The play of light upon the garden determined where a plant was
planted. Cool colors appeared where the sun rose and hot colors
appeared in the sunset borders.
According
to Derek Fell, "The most common wayside plants in his garden were white
oxeye daisies, crimson corn poppies, yellow flat iris, and wispy oat
grasses. He called these plants, ‘the soul of the garden.’ The Oxeye
daisies and oat grasses added to the shimmer, and the appearance of
diminutive corn poppies and wavy yellow flat irises were like
fluttering butterflies."Poppies and Bachelor’s Buttons Suddenly my
garden took on an aesthetic dimension far beyond my original
understanding of gardening. I had always responded to Impressionist
art, but yet had failed to recognize the potential sensory
opportunities in garden design. Monet teased the senses visually
lifting the garden from the earth with arches of roses along a main
pathway. Color, movement, sound, and smell all became elements to
optimize the enjoyment of the little piece of the world with which God
had given me to nurture.
The design
plan expanded. Christie, my friend, fellow Master Gardener and mentor,
sighed. She knew the immensity of our endeavor. |
Nasturtiums |
 
The
Southern Monet Garden began on September 20, 1999, with bed
preparation. Chris and Bryan arrived with energy, tools and
a vision to begin the process of creating our Southern Monet
Garden. We realized that with my sandy soil, the foundation would
be critical to success. Weeding and watering would be crucial to
success and enjoyment. We decided to implement the
fallowing method suggested by Ed Givhan, Montgomery, Alabama physician,
in his book, Conversations with a Southern Gardener. Givhan recommends
preparing the bed, leaving it to lie fallow for several weeks to see
which weeds will pop up. Those weeds are then zapped with
Round-up. Only then are we ready to follow through on planting our
seeds. Then we just sat back and wait for those weed seed to show
themselves. September 21, 1999, was the day we tilled the soil after
the beds had been cut in the sod.
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Luaria |
Apply
PREEN for weed control before the weeds germinate. Use a light
coat, EXCEPT IN THE SEED BEDS! (We want the weeds to germinate in the
seed bed so we can zap them with Round Up.) Use this once a month
ALL YEAR.
Use Round Up to zap the weeds
in the seed bed. Then spot spray WEEKLY. Hand weeding will
still be necessary, but will be much better if taken care of with
diligence.
FERTILIZE with Florikan 15-4-9 w/ Nutricote
Apply every 3-4 months (all year)
ON ALL FLOWERS AND SHRUBS
Mulch
with Pine Straw. It is actually easier to place the pine straw in
the bed before planting little annuals like Pansies. But not in
the seed garden. Seedlings need light to germinate.
WATER, WATER, WATER, preferably in the morning |
"The sin of pride was upon me." Celestine Sibley
This
is what makes gardening worthwhile. Here you see poppies, bachelor’s
buttons, Queen Anne's Lace, and violas. Our lunaria continues to
bloom. Unfortunately, we have had some very hard rains that have beaten
down some of our beautiful flowers. We should have thinned our
poppies more drastically so that air could circulate a bit more near
the roots. Some that were sown in another bed actually got the
dreaded "root rot" and had to be pulled up. This picture reminds
one that "a thing of beauty is a joy forever." Some of these
exquisite blooms resemble peonies, while others have a single row of
translucent petals. Those were Monet's favorites. Monet loved
to capture the light reflecting through the petal of a bloom.
The
Southern Monet garden has been gorgeous with outstanding
poppies. By April 22 they were turning to seed. The garden was
then in transition from Spring to Fall. I pulled out many of the
poppies and replaced them with cleome, touch-me-nots, and
cosmos. Sunflowers will soon be planted as well. One patch of
poppies, sown late, was just coming into bloom. This was a good
lesson in staggered planning.
Gathering
seeds is one of gardening’s greatest pleasures, especially with
poppies. I spread my seed upon newspapers on an old screen in the
rafters of my greenhouse so that they will dry. I then collect the
seeds in paper bags and look forward to repeating the planting process
--and sharing my seeds!
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September 22, 1999 Mushroom Compost was added to the new beds to enrich the soil 
Step 4 Then
came the fun art…planting already established plants. Bryan at Dothan
Nurseries designed the background for the Southern Monet Garden.
With his artist's eye he strategically placed plants using color, size
and shape as visual elements while pleasing the other senses with
plants with smells that enhance the garden environment
