It was Jean-Claude-Nicolas Forestier, conservator of the parks and gardens of the city of Paris -and designer of the Champs-de-Mars and other gardens- who had wanted to establish collections of plants in open ground and perennial and climbing plants at Bagatelle. This friend of Monet's was inspired by the Impressionists and their way of showing flowers by species and emphasizing the effects of mass planting. The rose garden remains his major work. There you can see 10,000 roses of 1,200 varieties. The park has other fine collections of plants: from March onwards, spring bulbs; in May, peonies, clematis, irises, then in June, roses and water lilies; in autumn dalhias and trees with colored foliage; in winter, winter-flowering trees and shrubs and snowdrops.