A water lily pond eaten away by silt, flowers that once flourished under brambles: Monet's gardens at Giverny were abandoned before major refurbishment work, financed mainly by Americans, was undertaken in 1976 to restore them. "It took four years to restore everything. The garden began to look very beautiful in 1985, almost 10 years later," says Gilbert Vahé, the gardener who has been involved in the gardens' renaissance for over 40 years. IMAGES AND SOUNDBITES