Sunday 30 September 2012

Rosemary Beetle

Found a single specimen of this stunning beetle while pruning our Lavender today, the first time I've seen it in our Llandaff North garden.

Chrysolina americana

As the scientific name suggests it's a non native, first recorded in the UK in Surrey in 1994. It has since spread to South Wales - worth looking out for on Rosemary and Lavender. You can submit records on the RHS website at:

http://www.rhs.org.uk/Science/Plant-pests/Rosemary-beetle

There's a distribution map on the website too.

2 comments:

  1. What a cracker. I'll keep my eyes peeled for that. Up here, I leave the pruning of Lavender until the spring, though down there in the balmy metropolis, you would probably be OK, I suppose.

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  2. I've always pruned our Lavender bush in the autumn and haven't managed to kill it....yet.

    Cheers
    George

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