Beetle mania

Val looks at the good, bad and ugly of the beetle world

- Val Bourne

LOTS of gardeners, including me, are plagued by lily beetles, those annoying red, shiny beetles that munch through certain members of the lily family. They start on your fritillarias in spring and then move on to your lilies. They're easy to see, but not quite so easy to catch. Once they slip through your fingers, they're almost impossible to find. I can't use a chemical product to kill them, so I find myself checking my fritillarias and my one pot of regal lilies on a daily basis - with varying levels of success!

After several years of struggling with these agile little beasties, I eventually abandoned growing martagon lilies in my woodland garden. I haven't seen them on other plants, but the lily beetle (which has the very attractive sounding Latin name Lilioceris lilii) is also said to devour the foliage of lily-of-the-valley (Convallaria majalis), Solomon's seal (Polygonatum), potato (Solanum tuberosum), flowering tobacco (Nicotiana), hollyhock (Alcea) and hosta.