Owen Ballance
Topic: Monet’s Garden at Giverny
Owen Ballance is a horticulturalist, an experienced gardener, who has worked within both the public and private gardening sectors in Canada, France and England. He began professionally gardening with the City of New Westminster in 2016; however, was brought up by a pair of keen vegetable gardeners and began gardening at a young age.
His educational background originates from the University of Victoria, studying physical geography, as well as the University of British Columbia attending the Horticultural Training Program. He approaches gardening with a holistic view and an understanding of the importance of gardens, with the roles they play in the greater ecosystem.
Owen works at UBC Botanical Garden but spent 8 months at Giverny as well as working at Sissinghurst in England. He opened his talk by giving a brief history of the garden which is in the Seine valley about 90 km NW of Paris. After the death of Monet the garden fell into disrepair but in 1980 an American foundation stepped in to fund the restoration.
Gilbert Bahe was appointed head gardener at that time and his vision was the foundation of the work that was done. He worked at the garden for 38 years. The climate in the garden is different from BC as there is rain all year and the amounts each month are fairly constant. The restoration was done using historical photographs and the images in Monet’s paintings. It is impossible to be totally true to the original vision partly because the garden is heavily visited with 7- 800 thousand visitors between April 1st and November 1st.
The garden is large with areas of lawn, fruit trees and colourful borders. For most visitors the highlight of their visit is seeing the waterlily ponds. Owen told us about some of the extensive pond maintenance. The waterlilies are grown in double pots to prevent the long roots growing into earth at the bottom of the pond. They have to be controlled so that there is clear water for reflections. Dead leaves are also removed. The work is done by boat or by workers wearing large waders.
The Wisteria on the Japanese bridge by the pond is a fragrant Japanese variety, grows clockwise and is heavily pruned so that it flowers twice a year.
Succession plantings help the garden look good for many months. There are 14 full time staff and many live on site. Each year new soil is added and every 3 years the beds are double dug. There is very little use of perennials although there are many roses.
Owen’s talk was very inspirational and members were left with a feeling that they would like to visit the garden.
Submitted by Lois Woolley