The World According to Elspeth Bobbs
Introducing one of the country's most enchanting -- and disarming -- gardeners.
After a few hours in Elspeth Bobb's company, amidst so many accounts of the joys and bores in her garden ("Wretched catmint." You don't like it? "I'm not a cat!"), I keep coming back to something her husband once said to her who knows how many decades ago.
"If you weren't deaf, you'd be a menace!"
Indeed, this is a woman who likes to take things on and stir them up. And yes, she's pretty darn deaf.
Even if you listened to NPR's Morning Edition story today featuring Mrs. Bobbs, you'd know nothing of her hearing loss. Somehow, it just didn't seem relevant, given her penchant for turning adversity to advantage. But the fact is, she hasn't heard a human sentence for the last 49 years.
"I can hear birds now, and dogs barking, and people talking," she says, one year after having a cochlear implant, "but I can't hear what they say". Instead, she uses her high tech lip-reading skills for conversation, and draws from memory the colors and nuance of sound.
Not unlike the woman herself, there's more in this photo than first meets the eye. Elspeth Bobb's is only one of two faces shown here. Can you find the other, say, George Washington's?
photo credit: Ketzel Levine, NPR
One of Mrs. Bobbs' greatest gifts as a gardener is her perspective: Aim high and enjoy whatever happens. It's a set-up of the cleverest kind; she simply cannot fail.
"Exactly, exactly!" she says. "I don't feel disappointed. For instance, this was all lawn," she says, pointing out a huge area now dominated by art installations, islands of plants and mulch. "After the drought in the 70's, the lawn was an absolute disaster. So we just covered it with plastic and put bark on top. Then I said, well we can't have this, so I thought up something that didn't need water and put in a labyrinth. I like to have a project."
Once the labyrinth was in -- an inviting construction made of wood and lined with fine gravel -- Mrs. Bobbs was persuaded to dabble in the altogether unfamiliar. She now has a vibrant and colorful undulating sculpture created by Santa Fe artist Hillary Riggs, in the shape of a logarithmic spiral.
"It's all done by mathematical principles," says Mrs. Bobbs. "It's all about patterns. I've had a lovely time with it ".
"To be perfectly candid, I simply loathe geometry," says the gardener, "but it is very fascinating." This installation, as well as a labyrinth, have taken the place of lawn.
photo credit: Eloise Colocho
A quick word about Elspeth Bobb's water use: All her planting beds are under drip irrigation, and she draws from her own well. Several xeric experiments are underway at the garden; working with her gardener and her daughter, she's currently evaluating plants that need no water. Hands down winner to date? Sunflowers.
One last anecdote from my time with Elspeth Bobbs...
While I was taking her picture, she wondered if she should put on her favorite button. Something told me she didn't mean a nice old lady decorative broach. Before I left, she brought it out, a small round campaign-like button. It featured a large scissor cutting through the slogan, "If You Cut Off My Reproductive Choice, Can I Cut Off Yours?"
"I'm sorry to say," this 87-year old spitfire says anyway, "I'd prefer less people, and more gardens".
While you're not likely to spot them coast to coast, a few of these bumper stickers are currently riding around the country. Not the most likely cult figure, our Mrs. Bobbs, the politically active xeric gardener.
photo credit: Ketzel Levine, NPR
Check out the slideshow from Mrs. Bobb's garden, La Querencia, courtesy of Scott Varner at the Xeriscape Council of New Mexico.
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09- 3-2007
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A Plantsman's Xeric Picks
Order in the courtroom, here comes 'da judge ... New Mexico nurseryman David Salman of High Country Gardens ... with xeriscape-friendly plant suggestions for every part of the country.
Dave Says: The licorice mint hyssop has superbly fragrant, long blooming wildflower with nice threadlike foliage and spikes of soft orange tubular flowers that are highly attractive to hummingbirds.
photo credit: courtesy of High Country Gardens
Need a little context? So sit back, relax, and give a listen to this story.
Here's the key to what will grow where: NE, Northeast; MW, Midwest; IM, Intermountain; GP, Great Plains; S, South; and WC, West Coast.
#1 Agastache rupestris (Licorice Mint Hyssop) NE, IM, GP,WC
#2 Artemisia 'Powis Castle' (Powis Castle Sage) all regions
Dave Says: 'Powis Castle', with its outstanding fine-textured silver foliage, makes this non-blooming sage a first class foliar accent plant.
photo credit: courtesy of High Country Gardens
#3 Centranthus ruber 'Coccineus' (Red Jupiter's Beard) all regions except S.
"A bright red flowered, long blooming European wildflower that thrives in hot, dry conditions".
#4 Ceratostigma plumbaginoides (Hardy Plumbago) all regions.
"Long-lived, permanent groundcover used for its bright blue fall flowers and showy mahogany red fall foliage".
#5 Diascia integerrima 'Coral Canyon'(Coral Canyon Twinspur) all regions except S
Dave Says: This South African diascia is one of the best perennial introductions in the last several decades that blooms non-stop with coral-pink flowers.
photo credit: courtesy of High Country Gardens
#6 Gaillardia aristata 'Amber Wheels'(Amber Wheels Blanket Flower)
"Long-lived wildflower that blooms in summer with huge, frilled deep yellow flowers".
#7 Gaura lindheimeri 'Whirling Butterflies'(Appleblossom Grass) IM, S, WC
"Heat loving wildflower that covers itself with clouds of white four-petaled flowers all summer."
#8 Lavandula x intermedia 'Grosso'(Grosso French Hybrid Lavender) NE, IM, WC
"The most cold hardy French hybrid lavender, it is highly fragrant and blooms in summer with long stemmed dark blue flower spikes."
#9 Panicum virgatum 'Heavy Metal'(Heavy Metal Switch Grass) all regions except S
"A unique selection of Prairie switchgrass valued for its blue-gray foliage and tight, upright growth habit."
#10 Penstemon pinifolius (Pineleaf Beardtongue) all regions except S
Dave Says: The needle-like evergreen foliage on this SW native penstemmon is topped with a profusion of showy orange tubular flowers that attract hummingbirds in summer.
photo credit: courtesy of High Country Gardens
#11 Salvia 'May Night'(May Night Sage) all regions
"Outstanding long lived European hybrid that blooms with indigo flower spikes and thrives in all soil types including heavy clay."
#12 Salvia 'Raspberry Delight' (Raspberry Delight Hybrid Bush Sage) NE, IM, GP, S, WC
Dave Says: With highly aromatic herbal scented foliage and showy raspberry-red, flowers, this hybrid sage blooms all summer.
photo credit: courtesy of High Country Gardens
#13 Saponaria x lempergii (Hybrid Soapwort) all regions except S
"Blooming in late summer with hundreds of large clear pink flowers, this perennial groundcover is an outstanding garden performer."
#14 Verbena peruviana 'Red'(Red Verbena) all regions
"A heat loving, very low-growing Verbena with small deep green leaves and screaming bright red flowers."
#15 Yucca bacata (Banana Red Yucca) IM, GP, WC
"A native succulent valued for its sculptural sword-like evergreen foliage, huge flowering spikes of ivory flowers and large, bird attracting seed pods."
This bud's for you, Dave Salman -- with special thanks to Kerry Kirkpatrick -- for providing Talking Plants with something you don't see much of here, truly useful advice.
Greenhouses of xeric plants buzz with hummingbirds, and for Dave Salman, owner of High Country Gardens, visitors don't get any better than that.
photo credit: Ketzel Levine, NPR
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09- 3-2007
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