Monday's Musings: Bon Anniversaire to you Claude Monet! Joyeux Anniversaire to You!

Today's blog post is in honor of Claude Monet, the founder of French Impressionist painting, who was born one hundred and seventy one years ago today, in 1840, on November the 14th. 

Monet is known to have said, "I perhaps owe becoming a painter to flowers." 

As you undoubtedly know, dear reader, one of the many flowers that Monet painted was the flower of the Tropaelum majus AKA Nasturtium Plant.

One of those paintings is, Nasturtiums In A Blue Vase, shown in an image credited with the following link, in the top lefthand corner of this blog entry.

I touched on Monet's appreciation for the Tropaelum majus, in a blog entry that I made on TLLG this past June, after I had just planted my Nasturtium Plants in my urban (New York City) terrace garden, and, I am so happy to say that the Tropaelum majus's flowers are still thriving today — nearly six months later — as evidenced by the photographs posted below, which were taken this afternoon in my garden.

It's almost as if they were hanging around to honor Claude Monet's memory and to wish him a "Bon Anniversaire" or "Joyeux Anniversaire", because it is no mean feat for my Tropaelum majus to survive beyond their prime season on my terrace. For one thing, I grow them in a container, and, since they are an annual, they usually do not survive the mood swings of the type of weather New York City is subjected to.

The initial post that I made about my Tropaelum majus this past June, is titled, Giverny in New York, and you may refer to it by clicking here. Furthurmore, I subsequently have referred to this awesome plant in other blog entries which you may find by going to the labels menu on this blog (located at the left hand side) and clicking on Tropaelum majus (Nasturtium Plant).

I have featured the Tropaelum majus on nybg's (New York Botanical Gardens) tumblr, and if you'd like to read those posts, please click here, where you will find posts with informative text and striking images that are related to Tropaelum majus, as well as many of the things I grow.

The Tropaelum majus's flowers (as well as many of my other flowers) in my garden have been a constant reminder of Monet's aforementioned quote, "I perhaps owe becoming a painter to flowers", because I, perhaps, owe my return to taking photographs, to the things which I grow in my terrace garden. For I have almost no vision in my left eye, and very little vision in my right eye, and this coupled with limited side vision and depth perception, along with a "long eyeball", makes it difficult for me to garden, shoot photographs, create, as well as produce garden themed movies, and work on a computer to write about my endeavors. But I love the things which I grow so much that it is worth every effort.