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stride and fill my lungs with fresh air.One of the great things about visiting arboreta is seeing plants that would never fit into an average domestic garden. Winkworth has a magnificent collection of more than 1,000 mature trees and shrubs, including

The pointed nail galls are caused by microscopic mites, which overwinter in the bark of lime trees and crawl on to the underside of the foliage in spring to feed. The mites secrete chemicals into the leaves causing them to produce the unusual

and the soil around it with a fungicide suitable for the control of rust fungus.roses, fruit trees, ornamental trees, shrubs, perennials, vegetables spring, summer, autumnOther problems affecting garden plantsHollyhock rustRose rustBlack spotIris leaf spot

When apple trees are in flower, the sawfly, Hoplocampa testudinea, lays its eggs in the developing fruit. In June, the larvae tunnel their way under the skin of the fruit and into the core, causing the apples to fall. When they're ready, they tunnel

Browse a selection of deciduous treesBrowse a selection of evergreen trees

The sap-feeding scale insect Unaspis euonymi is particularly attracted to Euonymus japonica, although it will feast on other evergreen euonymus too. The white males congregate on the leaves, but the brownish-black females live on the bark, making them hard to spot. Large numbers ...

the Oasis regularlyMore Christmas decoration ideasMaking home-made Christmas decorations from poppy and teasel seed headsHow to make Christmas tree decorations from poppy heads and beech leavesMaking Christmas candlesMake a Christmas wreath video project

There are many species of aphid, often with its own favourite host plants and particular life cycle. Greenfly and blackfly are the most familiar, but there are also yellow, red, orange and brown aphids. Aphids usually spend the summer on one plant, moving to a host plant to overw...

Capsid bugs are sap-feeding pests. The 6mm-long adults vary in colour from green to red-brown, depending on the species. Look for the distinctive diamond shape when their wings are folded. When they feed, they release a toxic saliva that kills off tiny areas of leaf tissue, causi...

Hungry, voracious caterpillars can be found in a wide variety of colours and sizes. Some feed on fruits, roots and stems, but the likes of the cabbage white butterfly, hawk moth and winter moth feed on leaves. Although they may at first seem an attractive form of wildlife, large ...