Victor Lemoine

Who was Victor Lemoine?

Victor Lemoine was a celebrated and prolific French flower breeder who, among other accomplishments, created many of today's lilac varieties. As a result of his accomplishments, the term French lilac has come to mean all cultivars of the common lilac that have double flowers, regardless of their origin.

Lemoine was born at Delme, Lorraine, France, and descended from a long line of gardeners and nurserymen. After completing college, he devoted several years to traveling and working in the leading horticultural establishments of his time, notably at that of Louis Van Houtte in Ghent, Belgium.

In 1850 Lemoine established himself as a florist and gardener at Nancy, France, and by 1852 the Revue Horticole mentioned Lemoine's double flowered portulaca. In 1854 Lemoine produced the first double potentilla, and the first streptocarpus hybrids. It was about the same period that Lemoine turned his hand to fuchsias and introduced many varieties, including the double flowered hybrid Solferino. By 1862 he had introduced a white Spiraea callosa, in 1866 his Hydrangea paniculata grandiflora and the first genuine double-flowered zonal Pelargonium geraniums, and in 1868 the first of his hybrid weigelas.