Imagine beds brimful of purple poppies, pink aquilegias, the heady scent of roses, as sensuous and romantic as their names – “Virginie et Perpetue”, ” Louise Odier”, “Madame Alfred Carriere” and the beautiful, thornless “”Zephirine Drouhin”. This is the garden created by Claude Monet at Giverny.

The Impressionist painter began his garden at Giverny in 1883. Today the restored garden is visited each year by 500,000 people, enthralled by lush planting, rich colours, waterlilies and pond reflections made famous in his many paintings.

On entering the garden, the Clos Normand sloping away from the house, one is drawn on by the overwhelming drama of the planting, following along narrow paths to explore further, and so the structure is not immediately obvious. But Monet ruthlessly laid down the bones of his garden first; box-edged beds were demolished, trees felled or pruned and wagonloads of topsoil brought in.

The “spine” is the…