I first stumbled upon Betty Lobel's incredible horticulture at Weed's, a wonderful little shop I'm addicted to. I found her velvet Victorian antique hats filled with amaryllis and paper-whites peeking over the brim ingenious, whimsical, and much too much to resist. She can take just about any old object lying around collecting dust, and turn it into a living sculpture. I've seen tool boxes, glass holders, kitchen utensils, purses, hats and even a doctor's bag. I had to meet this woman. I dusted off some old hats and invited her for tea, to find out how and why, she does what she does.
Gabrielle Shannon: Having always had a blue thumb myself, I'm always impressed with people with green thumbs. How did you get started in horticulture?
Betty Lobel: I always wanted to be a farmer and live off my own land in a knowledgeable way. In college, I took a course called Green House Structure which let students build the greenhouses for future classes. I never benefited from the course work that came out of this, but I did learn to build a mean greenhouse. To get to school, I had to drive 25 miles a day over a mountain (when my car would run). I ate the vegetables from our own garden and fished for dinner. I applied most of my learning to very basic everyday needs. When I moved to the city in the late 70's, corporate interior design and maintenance was very big. I became a water girl, maintaining all plants and designs in offices and private homes.
GS: What do you mean by "designs?"
BL: Over the years I've learned to mix the urban with the rural. I create pieces that are more of a design than a planter. A chair doesn't always have to be a chair, it can be a living sculpture.
GS: Yes, your pieces are very sculptural. Like living breathing pieces of art that have to be watered and maintained. Tell me what inspires you.
BL: Rather than a particular artist or piece of art that influenced me, it was more the art and style of a particular period. I try to incorporate a feeling of time and place in my work, be it a mood or sense of style. A victorian dress might inspire me to create a model whose framework might be the dress, but whose body will be made of horticultural materials. In rereading "The Narnia Chronicles" to my son at bed-time I was very inspired. All the pieces I worked on after that were cropped versions of forests and miniature worlds. Kids love them. From literature to architecture, a lot of what I create depends on my mood at the time.
GS: Gardening in New York must be tough with such a short warm weather season. How do you deal?
BL: In a way it's the long cold season that has inspired me to be more resourceful. The most problematic issue for me during the long winter months is finding flowering materials and growing them. Living in the city and not having a greenhouse, my son and I have come to know that flowering bulbs will be coming from our refrigerator through the winter. I also use Styrofoam coolers on my terrace to force my flowering bulbs to be ready in January rather than Spring. You can find a tulip in Spring everywhere, but how often can you enjoy spring in the dead of winter inside the warmth of your own home when you really need a pick-me-up.
GS: Sometimes I feel starved for nature in my everyday life. Living in a big city can do that to you. Do a lot of your clients feel this way ? What do you for them?
BL: The city has inspired me to create and bring indoors, the feeling of nature. I am sometimes asked by a client to create an environment they may be missing. For example a client who has a beach house and yearns for a beach feeling in winter, may want me to create a piece that brings the beach to them. An old carpenter's tool box might be converted into a beach scene. The slivered wood of the tool box is like the silvered driftwood we find on the beach. The container can be filled with various grasses, plants, flowers, sand, shells and stone animals that are indigenous to the local beaches. It becomes an entire environment rather than a simple arrangement. In New York City , from the garment district to the antique stores to the various shops with anything from cookware to children's toys, I am able to find objects to incorporate into my pieces.
GS: So have you given up your dream of living on a farm?
BL: At this point in my life, I don't want to live on a farm to enjoy nature. I can enjoy the pleasures of my urban world, combining my love of nature with the arts, literature, architecture and fine dining of the big city. It can be done. If not on a large scale like Battery Park City, then on a smaller one, in my own living room, sitting on the edge of my coffee table.
