Victor Hugo, from Les Chansons des rues et des bois, 1865
THE VICTOR HUGO GARDEN
For six thousand years and more
Humanity has liked making war
While God wastes all his hours
Making the stars and the flowers
‘Nearly as many flowers in the winter as in the summer…’, L’Archipel de la Manche
Two gardens in the sea
‘The Ocean hides the islands in its mysterious mists and envelops them with a warm breath (the gulf-stream); this results – on rocks, in the middle of the sea – in a flora that rivals the most beautiful islands of the Adriatic and the Mediterranean. Agaves and camellias grow outdoors … Jersey. Guernsey! (The sailors say these words with an infinite gentleness); for the curious, two gardens a rock holds suspended over the sea; for the dreamer, two worlds, two microcosms.’ Charles Hugo, Victor Hugo at home, 1864
What's in a name
Hugo’s Journal, July 7 1872: ‘Visit from a plant breeder with a geranium named “Victor Hugo”, which is “selling in the thousands because – or despite – it’s called Victor Hugo”‘