Lake Reflections: Finding Balance at The Lake
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A Gardener’s Tale
Ever since I was a child of 9 or 10, I’ve been drawn to growing things. It all started with a little patch of woods, dubbed “Flower Paradise,” which had barely enough sun in it to keep a fern alive. But I carved out winding pathways, attempted to dig a small pond (that never would stay full, much to my chagrin), and planted every shade-loving thing I could talk my mom into buying for me. I adored this magical fairyland of mine.
As a young teen, my Gram, a member of a local garden club, would take me along to their quarterly meetings. Even though I was a solid 60 years younger than any of the members, they welcomed me with open arms. As an adult, I joined a garden club of my own – one that was very active in the realms of education, floral specimen judging and design, and field tripping to tour gardens all over the state.
Years passed, and I gardened in the country, in the city, in a low-light hollow and in the blazing heat of full sun. And then…I moved to Smith Mountain Lake.
Who knew that a plot of land just a few miles away could house an entirely different ecosystem from anything I’d ever experienced? All the deer/rabbit-resistant tricks I had up my sleeve were for naught. (SML deer are truly next. level.). The stalwart plants I could always depend on were instantly destroyed by Tarnished Plant Bugs. Tarnished Plant Bugs? What are they? I had never even seen one in all my 30-plus years of growing things. It gives me hives to recall the Great Plague of Thrips. And the spider mites? Lord, have mercy. They came by the millions straight from the pit of you-know-where. Talk about feeling like I’d never gardened a day in my life!
First course of action was getting my hands on as many organic gardening books as I could find that talked about restoring balance to an unbalanced ecosystem (which becomes so, by the way, through intense land clearing, building and consequent habitat displacement, broad use of pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers, species being forced into too small a space, etc. – all hallmarks of a growing lake community). I talked at length to extension agents and even had some angelic master gardeners come walk through my beds to offer valuable advice.
Many back-breaking days, bug hotels, bottles of Neem, birdbaths, beneficial nematodes and (to break alliteration) tears later, balance is slowly being restored.
Perhaps this year, I’ll even have enough blooms to share with the world – God willing and the creek don’t rise (and those darned Tarnished Plant Bugs stay on the other side of my seven-foot-high fence where they belong)!
Kristin Dunker
COLUMNIST
Kristin Dunker is editor of The Current, a bi-weekly e-magazine for Smith Mountain Lake and Southwestern Virginia. It highlights our community’s people, businesses, clubs and organizations, and encourages readers to create a life they love.
