Lilies (no idea which one) were growing in the garden when we moved in 1978. They didn't get the beetles for some years and then they came. We are vigilant but not nearly enough. The lilies have never increased in numbers in all those years not like other bulbs.
Yesterday afternoon in the strong sun, I went lily beetle hunting. And ... guess what? I couldn't find my Regale lilies. More 2022-23 winter victims.
No beetles on my fritillaries. Yet.
When I last visited Vann Gardens, I chatted with the late Mary Caröe about lily beetles. She was an avid lily beetle squasher on lilies, and was interested in my soap spray approach. But she had never seen them on her fritillaries.
I once visited the famous North Meadows at Cricklade, after the fritillary flowering season, especially to see how they were coping with lily beetle. None to be seen. Perhaps a regime of annual flooding is the trick. Perhaps they have a local predator.
When the beetles have attacked my fritillaries, they have eaten through the maturing flower stem; I got the flowers but not the seed.
location: Surrey Hills, England, ex-woodland acidic sand. "Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
In Wales we always had masses of Lily beetles on the snake head Fritillaries. It was a daily job to hunt them down. But this is the first time I have spotted them in Perth...seen at Branklyn gardens.NTS
I passed a garden today and there was one on a rhodo leaf I didn't feel I could encroach into someone's garden though... We've certainly had them here for a while, but it seems to be hit and miss. I'm sure they're more abundant when it's been mild over winter and they survive more easily. I hold one hand underneath, and catch them when I see them. Then it's a case of checking all the foliage on lilies as they grow - most days really.
I've had holes on the fritillaries @GardenerSuze and @Silver surfer , which I only put in a couple of years ago, and I'm wondering if that's the cause rather than slugs. There's damage on daffs too, but they do get slug damage on emerging buds, as well as on flowers, so the jury's out on those. Funnily enough - it's only on the darker/yellower daffs which are beginning to bud up or open. The paler ones that have been out for a little while have damage on the petal edges, and that's definitely slug damage, but perhaps the lily beetles are getting those later buds because they weren't around to get the pale ones...
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
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No beetles on my fritillaries. Yet.
When I last visited Vann Gardens, I chatted with the late Mary Caröe about lily beetles. She was an avid lily beetle squasher on lilies, and was interested in my soap spray approach. But she had never seen them on her fritillaries.
I once visited the famous North Meadows at Cricklade, after the fritillary flowering season, especially to see how they were coping with lily beetle. None to be seen. Perhaps a regime of annual flooding is the trick. Perhaps they have a local predator.
When the beetles have attacked my fritillaries, they have eaten through the maturing flower stem; I got the flowers but not the seed.
"Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
It was a daily job to hunt them down.
But this is the first time I have spotted them in Perth...seen at Branklyn gardens.NTS
Last year I asked the gardeners at Inverewe whether they had them, but at that time they didn't.
When you don't even know who's in the team
S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border
I didn't feel I could encroach into someone's garden though...
We've certainly had them here for a while, but it seems to be hit and miss. I'm sure they're more abundant when it's been mild over winter and they survive more easily. I hold one hand underneath, and catch them when I see them. Then it's a case of checking all the foliage on lilies as they grow - most days really.
I've had holes on the fritillaries @GardenerSuze and @Silver surfer , which I only put in a couple of years ago, and I'm wondering if that's the cause rather than slugs. There's damage on daffs too, but they do get slug damage on emerging buds, as well as on flowers, so the jury's out on those.
Funnily enough - it's only on the darker/yellower daffs which are beginning to bud up or open. The paler ones that have been out for a little while have damage on the petal edges, and that's definitely slug damage, but perhaps the lily beetles are getting those later buds because they weren't around to get the pale ones...
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Scissors are fiddly. I know they stain your fingers, but I use a sharp thumb nail.
When I spot them, I don't have a pot with me, only hands. When I return suitably armed, they have gone.
"Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."