Although pollen beetles are no great pest, they can nibble the edges of unopened flowers. I've seen a few of them about, but for the first time, I've not had to shake bunches of sweet peas to remove whole families...
What a magnificent year for sweet peas. We've had a constant supply, with bunches of them in every corner of the house. They're lovely, until the pungent, all-pervading pong hits you, when you know you've left them in vase/glass/mug just a few too many hours.
The change from one of the loveliest perfumes I know to one of the deepest-drain-grim stenches I know, is phenomenal. But of course it's the regular picking - largely by my children - which has allowed the plants to keep producing more and more flower stems.
Not all of the flowers are long, elegant show-bench blooms with super-straight stems, but I don't really care, they smell just as fabulous on the plant as in the house. Interestingly, they've not been troubled by pollen beetles this year.
Although pollen beetles are no great pest, they can nibble the edges of unopened flowers. I've seen a few of them about, but for the first time, I've not had to shake the bunches of sweet peas to remove whole families of pollen beetles, or shine a bright light into the blooms to encourage them out. It would have been a waste of time, anyway.
Shiny, black pollen beetles are said to come into gardens when the oilseed rape crop is sprayed off or finishes flowering, so perhaps there was less of it grown this year, or was it just Hampshire that had less? My oilseed rape-sensitive nose thinks not.
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