The Boca Grande Garden Club to dig in the dirt with Barbara Robinson
By Cathy Ballman, Boca Grande Garden Club
Barbara Paul Robinson’s life includes a lot of “firsts.” She was the first woman to make partner at the legendary Debevoise & Plimpton law firm, she was the first woman president of the NYC Bar Association. Indeed, she was unsurprisingly an early second-wave feminist, launching Debevoise’s flextime program for child-rearing attorneys in 1967, another NYC first.
But what perks up a gardener’s ears are the names Rosemary Vevrey, OBE, VMH and Penelope Hobhouse, MBE, gardening royalty who have gardened for royalty, including, in the case of Rosemary Vevrey, rock and roll royalty, Sir Elton John. Oh, and real royalty, too, Prince Charles being chums with Ms. Vevrey.
On sabbatical from her law practice in 1991, Ms. Robinson took herself off to England as a gardener along side both women. Before she started her month at Barnsley House in Gloucestershire, Ms. Verey thought to inquire if she “ . . was prepared to be treated as staff?” She was.
From there she moved to National Trust Garden, Tintinhull in Somerset with Ms. Hobhouse. Ms. Robinson will be discussing these experiences and her life in the garden during her presentation to the Boca Grande Garden Club on Wednesday, Feb. 2.
Coming back from sabbatical, these months enriched her own garden in Litchfield, CT, Brush Hill. In fact, she has very widely said her experiences working with these women who have reshaped much of the garden worldview were life-changing and definitely garden-changing.
She and her husband, the noted marine artist Charles Raskob Robinson, have worked their CT gardens since 1971. She laughingly admits that the early years were a lot about pulling weeds and cleaning up. But in these 50 years, they have created colorful, bountiful and practical series of gardens. The Moon Garden is planted in yellows and purples, the Rose Walk, the Peony and Wheelbarrow borders, the Serpentine Garden with its garden folly, and up through the Arch into the Woodland Walk with its series of cascading pools and rills can transfix a visitor. But there is the highly sensible side of the garden, too, that contributes to its beauty. For instance, the Wheelbarrow Border is built wide enough to allow wheelbarrows to move freely. And, there isn’t a garden alive that doesn’t need compost bins, nicely highlighted on a map of the entire garden at brushhillgardens.com.
The toil paid off. Brush Hill is included in the Smithsonian’s Archives of American Gardens, an honor and recognition availed to very few gardens.
As for the frogs dotted around the garden, they are a tribute to a baby boy who when he was born looked a great deal like a frog. According to his mother, he has morphed into a handsome man with a sense of humor. To wit, he named the property next to his parents’ Brush Hill, “Frog Hill.”
But those months did something else, they served as impetus for books far from the arcana of Trusts and Estates law. These books, “Rosemary Verey: The Life and Lessons of a Legendary Gardener,” and “Heroes of Horticulture: Americans Who Transformed the Landscape,” do three important things.
First, these two volumes look at the identities of specific landscapes and gardening traditions. Secondly, they showcase the drive and passion that can propel gardeners. In the case of Heroes of Horticulture, Ms. Robinson examines the lives of 18 gardeners, institution builders, plant explorers and garden creators who have all had a major impact on the American landscape and our institutions. Some of the profiles are about the three people who created the indispensable Garden Conservancy. “Public Parks, Public Spaces” takes a look at the modern offspring of Frederick Law Olmstead. “Plantsmen,: Plant Finders and Nurserymen” connects the dots from Indiana Jones to the daring and pluck of garden folk traipsing the globe for new and often disappearing species for gardens.
Third, Ms. Robinson firmly places gardening within the tradition of fine arts. “Gardening is all about color, texture, composition and structure,” she observes. Putting it securely on a plane with painting, sculpture, architecture, music, poetry, theatre and dance, she adds, “Gardening is the most ephemeral of the performing arts!”
The meeting is scheduled for 2 until 3:30 p.m. at the Boca Grande Community Center Auditorium. Because of the pandemic, there will be no tea. Also, attendees are strongly encouraged to wear masks.
