Summer 2024

alchemy, he hybridized N. Alba with yellow
N. Mexicana to create the very first hardy
waterlily that wasn’t white.
In 1875, he re-founded the nursery, specifically
dedicated to aquatic plants - waterlilies and
lotuses. Working his magic on tropical and
semi-tropical specimens from North America,
Joseph would go on to create hardy waterlilies
in every shade from pale yellow and pink, to
ruby red and copper.
In 1889, he sent 17 of his most beautiful
specimens to Paris to compete in the
Exposition Universelle. One case was lost on
the train and had to be replaced. When it was
discovered over a month later and sent back
to the nursery, Joseph expected to find all
the plants had died - instead they were still
thriving. Waterlilies may look delicate, but
they are as tough as weeds.
The World’s Fair that
changed Paris and art
history
It has been noted that only two major things
have survived from the 1889 Paris Exposition
Universelle: the Eiffel Tower and Latour-
Marliac’s waterlilies. Displayed in water
gardens outside the Trocadèro, they took first
prize in the flower competition.
It was pure serendipity that Claude Monet
was exhibiting in the Pavillon des Artistes
next door to the Trocadèro. He was totally
beguiled by the waterlilies. A year later he
bought the house he’d been renting for seven
years in Normandy (after spotting it from
a train that ran along the bottom of the
garden). In 1893 he bought land on the other
side of the tracks to create a water garden.
“I love water, but I also love flowers. That’s
why, once the pond was filled, I thought about
adorning it with plants. I got a catalogue and
simply chose at random.”
Monet ordered as many lotuses as waterlilies,
but sadly they failed to thrive. Otherwise his
Claude Monet - Water Lilies - Toledo
Museum of Art - Google Art Project
sublime Nymphéas – jewel of the Orangerie
in Paris – might look very different, along with
more than 250 other waterlily paintings that
now feature in museums around the world.
The small museum at Latour-Marliac
displays some of Monet’s handwritten
orders. Other clients included the king of
Bulgaria, the Vatican and writer Leo Tolstoy,
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who ordered waterlilies for the ponds at his
home, Yasnaya Polyana in Russia. Much of
the nursery’s business came from Britain, led
by the influential garden designer Gertrude
Jekyll (whose name was borrowed by her
friend Robert Louis Stevenson in his story
about Mr Hyde).
Latour-Marliac today
After Joseph’s death, family members ran
the nursery until 1991, when Ray and Barbara
Davies of Stapeley Water Gardens in England
took over and restored the gardens. Both
have lilies named after them. Their efforts
were rewarded in 2004 when Latour-Marliac
was designated a Jardin Remarquable. Since
2007, the owner has been American Robert
Sheldon.
The gardens are open from 15 April through
15 October, but are at their most fragrant, full
blooming finest, in summer. Highlights include
Joseph’s elliptical pools, today containing the
42 | The Good Life France
The Good Life France | 43