For years I’ve feared my garden was nothing more than a siren’s song. A place full of beautifully enticing things birds and insects can’t resist. And, in recent years, the place they’ve unwittingly come to die. My neighborhood has about 300 homes. Fire blight ridden Callery pear trees line the parkway and most of the ash trees that populated the other streets 15 years ago have been leveled due to emerald ash bore. It’s not pretty. But wait, it gets worse.
About eight years ago, many of the homeowners jumped on a “good deal” set up by another homeowner that involved the mass annihilation of insects. It’s incredible what fear and lack of knowledge can do. This lethal cocktail fueled a Facebook neighborhood sign-up list for quarterly insecticide application on houses, fences, swing sets. Basically anything that could be sprayed got sprayed. Wasps were the target. But they didn’t know that contact insecticide wasn’t selective. It killed EVERYTHING that landed on it and few seemed to care. As long as the wasps were gone, life was good. My appeals on their Facebook page to reconsider resulted in sarcastic replies (funny how brazen people become when they flex their social media muscles), expressions of fear and the frequent “What if my child gets stung?”
And there it is. The “What if.” It was the fear that a child could get stung and the possibility of serious allergic reaction that fueled the “If you can’t control it, kill it” mentality. Talk about throwing the baby out with the bath water.
Like most gardeners, I’m very much in tune with what’s happening in my garden and I know when things change. Soon after the spraying began, dead bumblebees began turning up, insect activity declined and resulted in fewer birds visiting my garden. The apple orchardist adjacent to our neighborhood lost all his hives. The pussy willows in my backyard that once sung with honeybees on that first warm spring day no longer had visitors. My garden was being silenced and I cried. Then I got angry.
Every time an announcement was made that the company was coming to spray, I followed it with an appeal to reconsider and why it was so important that they do. Many had no idea they were killing far more than wasps. While I don’t know how many have renewed their contracts with the insecticide company, I think awareness is growing and things are changing for the better. These last few years have been tough, but my garden is finding it’s voice again and I hope it gets louder. Most of all, I hope we listen.
In his new book Nature’s Best Hope, author Dr. Douglas Tallamy addresses the mentality common among people completely detached from nature. “”Why do we have to save nature here? Nature belongs in natural areas, not where people are.”” It’s this detachment from nature that prevents us from considering the trickle-down effect of our actions. Nowhere has it been more apparent than in my own backyard. Now imagine it on a much bigger scale. Mind blowing, isn’t it? Even more sobering, it’s happening every. single. day.
According to Tallamy, scientists have discovered a connection, documented in 75 studies, between lawn pesticides and lymphoma. Most at risk are pets and children who spend the most time playing outside. I wonder how the insecticides sprayed on swing sets and slides in my neighborhood affect the little hands that touch them. How does a childhood full of insecticide exposure alter the genetic code? Is the “What if” really worth the very real possibility that your preventative measures now could be the source of your child’s life altering illness later, not to mention the demise of the creatures with whom we share this eco-system?
“We are winning our undeclared war against insects at our own peril,” writes Tallamy. Based on my experience in this little neighborhood in Illinois, I totally agree and I’m determined to help turn things around. One native plant, one life-supporting tree, one less patch of grass at a time. Welcome to my Homegrown National Park, Dr. Tallamy!
I agree with you. We planted 400+ plants to attract bees and butterflies. Good or bad, my neighborhood isn’t built out yet and there lots of unsprayed areas. Besides being stung isn’t as bad as people make it out to be.
Side story, we had a pest service for the house and were continually finding carpet beetles. We cancelled, the spiders came back and the beetles are gone.
Happy Spring soon
I bet your garden is full of life! That’s wonderful! I’m researching a story right now for a magazine on beneficial insects so your experience with the beetles and spiders really hit home.
Thanks for the reminder also, I need to get some lady bugs to control the aphids.
You’re welcome! I had aphids all over some milkweed last year and the soldier beetles put a stop to it fast.
Yes! My swamp milkweed is an aphid heaven. When do you order/ apply the soldier beetles? Before or after you see them?
I’ve never had to add them, the beetles just show up and take care of it!
I never seem to have enough of them. Or they don’t eat aphid fast enough.
I don’t give it much thought as they tend to go for the common milkweed in my garden that’s become more of an invasive beast. Spreads like crazy!
Heather, thank you for your beautiful blog and the important message about saving birds and pollinators. I’m converting my Northern Minnesota yard to a haven for all creatures from bacteria and fungi on up. I plan to post educational material in place of a “little Free Library” and invite people to hang around and hunt for creatures to see what’s there. Hoping it encourages the neighbors to stop spraying the “harmless” lawn herbicide to kill Creeping Charlie.
Hi Marva! That’s a wonderful idea and I hope they listen and visit your garden. Since I started inviting the neighbors in to wander about, they seem much more interested and we’ve. Had a decline in the number of people spraying. Good luck and please let me know how it goes!
Hi Heather, I’ve just discovered your wonderful blog and enjoyed reading your above post. We have nearly three acres, partly untouched woodland, some grass and lots of native pollinator beds. We live in Ontario, Canada. Our house has wooden decks and last year we had our house sprayed, just around the house and decks, for ants that are invasive and the spiders that leave droppings everywhere. I feel incredibly guilt, but it has become a real problem. Is there any way that you know of to deter these insects rather than kill them, or do you think this minimal spraying is acceptable? We have an abundance of wildlife and insects on the rest of the property. Thank you for your time. Anne
Good morning, Anne! Thanks for reading and I have a similar ant problem and have found loads of ants covering the countertop many mornings during the spring and summer. We spray just along the lower perimeter of the foundation, not on the soil, to prevent them from climbing up. It works great and we repeat after a rainfall. I’ve heard that cinnamon sprinkled along the entrances to doors and windows works as well, although I’ve never tried it since we have dogs and it could harm them. We limit our use of it and only spray where it’s absolutely necessary. For us, an ant invasion certainly counts! Happy almost Spring!
Thanks for your quick reply Heather. As we are encouraging loads of insects in the garden I feel badly about spraying ants, but sometimes it is necessary!
I agree!