A new garden in the name of Hugo

Friday 22 November 2019

An area of Candie Gardens is going to have the hand of an award winning gardener put to it as part of a redesign in honour of Victor Hugo.

30-time Chelsea Flower Show Gold Medallist, Raymond Evison, is to design the Victor Hugo Garden, which will be located on either side of the stone steps leading down to the Victor Hugo statue.

Work is already set to start to see some of the area of garden cleared to make way for the works, and then the Victor Hugo Garden will be re-planted and subsequently unveiled at a special ceremony to be held in February next year. 

With support from both the Victor Hugo in Guernsey Society and the States Agriculture, Countryside and Land Management Services, the Garden design will reflect both Hugo’s passion for trees and plants and his unshakeable belief in freedom and liberty for all. 

"Members of the Victor Hugo in Guernsey Society have provided detailed research into Hugo’s favourite varieties of plants, along with those reflected in his writing and that echo the people that were dear to him," Mr Evison said.

"We are taking particular care in the selection of plants and shrubs for the Garden, sourcing varieties from both Guernsey and France, to reflect Hugo’s French heritage and his adopted homeland."

Chair of the Victor Hugo in Guernsey Society, Dinah Bott, added: “Victor Hugo had a deep feeling for the unspoiled natural world and loved gardens that were untamed and populated with birds and insects. Elements of the Garden design reflect this love of wildness and nature."

Clearance work will be carried out by members of the VisitGuernsey team, volunteers from the Victor Hugo in Guernsey Society and States Works later on this month.

Pictured top: Victor Hugo's statue in Candie Gardens. (image from Guernsey Museums' website)