Back To News | Back To Standard News
Standard News
Cultivating Our Community
November 1, 2009
The Year-Round Gardener
It's a cool fall day, and Belinda Gergel is surrounded by fragrant flowers in her backyard. She reaches down to gently lift a rosebush stem; at its tip sits a dainty pink and yellow bloom. It's called a Mrs. Dudley Cross."This one is my favorite," she says. "It's just so beautiful, and it's one tough rose."
The District III city councilwoman's first priority might be serving the City of Columbia, but her love of gardening is always in the back of her mind. Wrapped around three-quarters of her Pendleton Street home is a jewel box of a garden, where plant life encompasses each and every square foot. Colorful flowers grow in her front yard, among them begonias, hydrangeas and morning glories. Overlooking her front yard is her charming porch, where Gergel says she loves to greet her neighbors or sip a Sunday morning cup of coffee. Out back, greenery including ferns and tea olive trees, rainbow-hued flowers and birdhouses frame a patio and pool. "It's a hodgepodge of lots of different things," she says of her garden. Traditional and low-maintenance, it's a year-round garden that everyone agrees is most stunning in the spring months.
Since her election to City Council, Gergel says she hasn't had much time to work in her garden, but this month she plans to get her hands dirty again and plant the vibrant beauties that bloom in the spring, which include pansies, snapdragons and daffodils.
"I love every second of it," she says. "I love reading about gardens, and about how women have experienced gardens, and about plants in our area. It's something that's intellectual, spiritual and physical."Plant history is one aspect of gardening that intrigues Gergel -- she's currently researching a white rose she purchased in Texas named Jeanne D'Arc, which she believes was actually first cultivated in Columbia in the 1820s under the name Herbemont's Musk Cluster.
"When you read about Columbia's history, we were known as a city of beautiful gardens before and after the Civil War," she says. "I'd like to celebrate the legacy of gardening in Columbia."
Gardening can certainly be enjoyed in times of solitude, but Gergel also believes gardens create strong connections within a community. Some of her favorite garden activities include exchanging flower cuttings with friends and chatting with strangers about plants while in the checkout line at Lowe's; she'll even knock on a fellow gardener's door when she spots a fascinating flower in his or her front yard.
"This is a city that really enjoys gardening," she says. "It crosses all socioeconomic areas. It's something you can do on a shoestring, or plow a lot of money into."
Gergel serves the city with the goal of making it a better place to live, and in her mind, gardening could very well be a part of that. She believes an appreciation for gardening will continue to increase in Columbia, especially community gardening, a growing concept that brings neighbors together to plant and enjoy fresh vegetables.
"It's a blend of nature and science," she says of her beloved hobby. "It's another way of perceiving beauty in this world."
FREE TIMES - Columbia's Free Alternative Weekly
BY NATASHA CHILINGERIAN