Larry Shobe lives, breaths and sleeps gardening.

“I’m a gardener from the word go,” Shobe said, who has been the grounds gardener at Eastern for nearly 20 years.

Shobe is responsible for all the flowerbeds and some of the shrubbery around campus.

But gardening does not stop with work for Shobe.

When Shobe came to Charleston 18 years ago, he bought two lots and then proceeded to spade his entire lawn.

By the next summer, the lawn was covered with flowers, shrubs and trees. Today all that is left of his previous lawn are a few paths the width of his lawn mower.

“I just look at it as a collection of plants, really,” Shobe said. “It’s not intended for a typical lawn.”

In the year 2000, Shobe bought another lot to extend his garden.

The lot had a house that he had removed last year to increase his garden space.

Shobe said he always figured that once in a small town on a small acreage he would probably get rid of his lawn mower. Although he does not use it much, he still has his lawn mower today but just to mow the few paths of grass that are left.

Shobe is proud of his unique yard, a collection displayed to botany students showing off his various plants.

Nancy Coutant, a botany instructor, usually takes her practicum botany class.

Coutant said Shobe’s yard is a wonderful resource.

“He’s always thrilled to have students come over,” Coutant said.

Shobe is also a good friend of Coutant’s.

“He’s just a plant-loving, energetic, caring person who loves his job,” Coutant said.

She is also a faculty sponsor of the botany club, where Shobe has been a member and long-time supporter.

Coutant will usually take the club on a tour of all the unusual things he’s planted for their first meeting.

On the weekends, Shobe also puts in a lot of extra time watering on campus.

“He wouldn’t have to, but because of his dedication, he does,” Coutant said.

Shobe begins every day at 7 a.m. and ends at 3 p.m., but his duties throughout the day depend on the season.

In the winter, he begins to grow plants from seed for the annual beds.

Sometimes he grows perennials but most of the flowers are annuals because they make for more colorful beds throughout the campus.

During the winter, when seasonal help is low, Shobe also helps with other aspects of grounds crew.

He helps pick up trash for a few hours in the mornings.

Besides planting and picking up trash, Shobe also prunes shrubberies in the winter and early spring before his workload increases.

In early May, the annual beds are planted, with help from other grounds employees and some students.

“Then those beds in the summer, after they’re planted, are my responsibility to cultivate and then weed,” Shobe said.

He also waters the beds when needed all summer.

The watering keeps Shobe busy, getting especially difficult during drought periods.

“When it’s dry like it’s been this year, it’s been very difficult to keep up with all the watering,” Shobe said.

In recent years however, Shobe has had student help.

Amy Crowe, a senior elementary education major, briefly worked with Shobe over the summer, helping Shobe weed and water the gardens.

“He’s very knowledgeable about plants and gardens,” Crowe said.

She said, in little conversations she had with him, he would always offer bulbs and roots for her to start out her own garden.

Shobe’s father farmed and his mother had a vegetable garden, but it was his great-grandmother who truly inspired his passion for gardening.

“My great-grandmother taught me how to propagate plants when I was 5 to 7 years old,” Shobe said.

He has been gardening ever since.

“I was always intrigued the way trees grew,” Shobe said. “I was always interested in experimenting with them and digging them up in the woods and bringing them to the lawn.”

Since coming to work at Eastern, Shobe has taken a few courses related to gardening; however, the Eastern alumnus originally got his degree in history and social science.

“Today I’m the grounds gardener, so you never know,” Shobe said.

What started, as a childhood passion has become a lifestyle for Shobe.

“I can’t imagine not doing it,” Shobe said. “It’s just life to me.”

Larry Shobe, the ground gardener at Eastern, checks a cut which developed on his 3-story tall ball cyprus shortly after he planted it 18 years ago when he came to Charleston.

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