One of France’s less-known historic sites has had a huge impact on the world of art—the nursery in southwest France where water lilies were first hybridized to produce a range of colors, and the source of the plants with which Monet stocked his water garden at Giverny.
The Latour-Marliac nursery at Le Temple-sur-Lot, is still the supplier for Giverny and many important gardens, and its lotus basins, dating to the 1870s, are just now getting their first major restoration, getting masonry work to reinforce their structures and restore watertightness.
Joseph Bory Latour-Marliac introduced his collection of hybrid lilies at the 1889 Exposition Universelle in Paris and won a first prize—and thousands of customers, including Monet. The nursery is now run by French-American landscaper Robert Sheldon and includes a small museum, as well as a bridge based on Monet’s famous Japanese bridge at Giverny.
The nursery and museum are open to visitors from May to October.
