Monet’s front door is in there someplace. This dense display of climbers makes the house look like a Patrick Blanc vertical garden. This is, I guess, really, the back of the house. It faces his yard, which you can see more of here. Technically, the front of the house is probably the opposite side, which faces the street and the town of Giverny. But that’s a huge, life-sucking, blank wall that gives no clues as to the spectacular gardens on the other side shown in the photo above.

My house is clapboard siding, so I could never get away with something like this without damaging paint, siding or exterior walls. I am contemplating some lattice-type structure that can be moved, enough to get out of the way, in the event the house has to be painted. There’s only a couple spots that have both a blank exterior wall and earth under it. Much of the base of my house is covered in driveway concrete or deck/porch. Just about any garden can use vertical elements. We small-space urban gardeners are always looking up.

How about you? What’s your entranceway look like? What do you show the street? Would Monet approve?