The planned topic for this week’s “Gardening Corner” was supposed to cover how to prevent pesky rabbits from eating everything in the garden, but this morning I read an article from the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (VDACS) that the dreaded spotted lanternfly has been found in Lynchburg and Richmond. Richmond! Yikes! That’s getting too close to home, and is a reason for Middle Peninsula residents to be concerned.
The spotted lanternfly (Lycorma delicatula) is a native of China, where its primary host is the tree-of-heaven (Ailanthus altissima). In Virginia, tree-of-heaven is a nuisance tree that grows along roadsides, forest edges, and on any disturbed land. It seeds prolifically and grows rapidly, regenerating from stumps and root sprouts, which makes it difficult to destroy by cutting alone. Herbicides are usually necessary to kill this invasive tree, which, in addition to unrestrained growth, contains allelopathic chemicals that are toxic to other trees.
I...