Pesky pests

What a quiet spring we had pest-wise here at VP Gardens, apart from hordes of aphids which obviously like the dry sunny weather we've had. Thank goodness I've learned patience over the years to leave them and sure enough the small garden birds targeted the roses and carried off beak fulls to feed their young voraciously calling for attention at the bottom of the garden. Elsewhere, plentiful ladybird larvae cleared the blackfly from my dahlias in a matter of days. The one pictured above has grown large and fat on what was on offer and is ready to pupate and transform itself into the adults we love to see.

Now we're in June - and with a fairly reasonable rainfall - other pests have arrived in droves to be dealt with. For some strange reason I only ever find rose sawfly caterpillars on my 'Kew Gardens' rose, perhaps its position in the middle of the garden is a favourable to the unseen incoming adults? Luckily, they readily show themselves (as shown above) when I do a spot of dead heading and it's a simple job to remove them with a squishing session*.

Back amongst the roses, I was shocked to find not one, but two adult vine weevils when I dead headed them in the top terrace bed last week. I've only seen them bothering potted plants before, so I've decided to invest in some adult weevil traps for the first time, to try and nip this expansion in the bud. Like the more familiar natural grub treatments these wooden boards also are packed with nematodes in the grooves underneath ready to invade any adult that crosses their path. Placed downwards close to where I saw them, the soil is warm enough for this natural predator to do their stuff, though I had to make sure the area was watered well so they can move out freely. I'll follow up with a grub treatment in the autumn to catch any hatched eggs that are ready for a winter's feasting.

Here's a trap placed ready for it to do its stuff.

Which pests are proving pesky for you this year?

* = as are the aphids if things get really desperate