Being able to memorize and correctly pronounce the Latin names for flowers doesn’ t necessarily make a gardener, but it helps when trying to identify flowers, especially when you’ re in the company o f the experts. In May Judy Osburn and I chose a trip through Expo Tours to visit gardens in France and England. A t the last part o f the trip we visited Sissinghurst, a famous castle-like home and garden first created in England by Vita Sackville-West and her husband Sir Harold Nicholson. I was trying to jo t down the name o f a lavender viola-like flower. The tag nearest it read. Phyla nodiflora. I had no idea what a Phyla was, but as I started to write it down, juggling w ith my camera, my purse, two books I had just bought, and my raincoat, the pad and pencil slipped out o f my hand. Not realizing that I was talking to myself, as the rest o f my group had gone ahead, a young voice answered my question o f what the flower was. “ Pardon me, ma’am, those lavender flowers are V io la cornuta, the Phylas bloom later.” He also handed me my pad and pencil. The young voice belonged to a boy about the age o f 11 or 12. When I thanked the boy for helping me, his father standing nearby said, “ I say there, my boy is a proper lad and he knows his Latin.” O ur tour started in France. The itinerary o f the tour included many gardens I had read about and had dreamed o f some day visiting; for one, Monet’s home and garden. You enter this garden through a gated path that leads you to the landscaped area in front o f the house. Our first view was breath-taking, as the garden was in fu ll bloom. There is no lawn; the whole area is flower beds divided by paths and metal archways covered w ith all colors o f roses. There were beds o f pink, white and red peonies, clematis, iris, several varieties o f cransbill (perennial geraniums), Love-in-the-mist (blue Nigella damascena), chartreuse flowered Lady’s Mantle (Alchem illa m ollis), Dames Rocket (lavender and white Hesperis motronalis), Honesty, or sometimes called Money plant (Lunaria annua), Columbine (Aquilegia) in all colors and forms, pale peach Oriental poppies (Papaver orientale). The flow er beds were also thickly planted w ith many other varieties o f flowers. Tw o large beds o f annual red Geranium (Pelargonium) flanked the front door o f the two-story house trimmed w ith green shutters and front staircase. The garden was styled in an informal pattern much like a cottage garden. M onet’s garden was as important to him as his painting. We were privileged to see the interior o f the house. The walls were covered w ith Japanese engravings and those o f other artists. His collection o f artists had been bought and given by artists he held in high esteem: Cezanne, Renoir, Manet, Morrisot, Degas, Delacroix, Rodin bronzes, and many others.The originals are now scattered throughout the world. The ones we saw are reproductions, however it is s till impressive to see so many famous paintings in one house. A ll the furniture is still there: the cheerful all-yellow dining room w ith painted table, chairs and paneled walls; the kitchen, my favorite, the walls covered w ith blue and white delft tiles from ceiling to floor, a wall o f shining copper pots, blue and white checked gingham curtains, red tiled floor, and a pot o f red geraniums dressed the blue table in the middle o f the room. To visit the famous lily pond and Japanese bridge, you walk through an underpass, as the house and garden and the pond area are divided by a railroad track. The Japanese-style garden has a path around the large pond. There are tw o bridges actually; however the famous one that Monet portrayed in his paintings is roofed w ith a trellis covered w ith wisteria. Huge stands o f bamboo are bordered by a stream that fills the pond.To hold the one-and-a-half-foot bank o f d irt and plants from the water, a woven structure made from short lengths o f bamboo laces the sides o f the bank. The pond, whose water comes from the river Epte, is surrounded by weeping willows. The banks are fille d w ith a mass o f plants such as heather, ferns, rhododendrons, azaleas, iris, and roses. In the pond itself grow many varieties o f water lilies. A slight breeze that ripples the surface o f the water mirrors images o f the w illo w trees, grasses and other plants that grow on the edge o f its banks, shifting clouds in the sky, all lend even more interest to the large body o f water. These images and the world o f beauty Monet not only created but continued to capture on canvas now continues to be shared by people from all over the world because o f donations and time given by foundations, societies, and hundreds o f individuals. Every year the Reader’s Digest selects three American artists to come to Giverny to paint and visit the region. The Claude Monet Foundation is open from A pril to October. Other French gardens we visited were more formal: green stylized shrubs, not many flowers, most color is formed by adding colored rocks and gravel that make patterns when viewed from the second stories o f the castles. In Paris we did see beautiful window boxes and potted plants that decorate most o f the buildings. In our hotel, the Normandy Hotel, huge bouquets o f lilies, peonies and iris graced the entrance and the restaurant. On either side o f the entrance in window boxes were simple plantings o f two types o f Pelargonium, red ivy and standard geraniums. Across the street the window boxes were planted with small cone-shaped evergreen trees, ivy, and pink geraniums. The evergreen trees gave these a more formal look. . Saying farewell to Paris, we boarded Eurostar train for a journey which took us underneath the Channel to England. I had not looked forward to traveling under that body o f water, but the train travels so fast that it seemed only minutes before we were in the countryside o f England. Next month: the Chelsea Flower Show. M c BEE M O TEL COTTAG ES Stvniaj. thunilt/ ib>di)iny Senat 1f)41 Modest Rates Phones & Kitchens Fireplaces One Block to Beach o f the, fffo r fh w c s t (photography ‘Workshops Well-Mannered Pets Welcome 5 0 3 .4 3 6 .2 5 6 9 888 S. Hemlock, P.O.B. »4) Cannon Beach, OR 97110 Photograph the Northwest's spectacular rainforests, beaches & mountains at these weekend nature photography workshops! Mount Rainier Wildflowers July 30-August 2 ' ? 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