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, on the edge of meadows, while the meadow browns prefer fluttering across swathes of long grass.Whatever the reason, they're very obvious in the garden this week, because they're mating and they spend many minutes, or even hours, 'in copula'. One pair sat

decision I feel. They inevitably end up tucked into the edges of the carpet around the skirting board, dry, dusty and very dead. They just haven't learned that central heating is all the rage nowadays. They come indoors to avoid the excess moisture and damp

, laying lawn edging and root pruning cordon fruit trees (while, apparently wearing a pair of white cricket trousers and a double-breasted blazer!). The best tip is for a slug trap: "take an old photographic negative and a piece of tin. Solidified

until late autumn. Late populations of our native butterflies should then be in good condition to search out sheltered sites to overwinter. Last autumn I was intrigued to watch a tortoiseshell butterfly land on a neighbour's roof, then quickly edge its

in the ground (on a south-facing wall) didn't even think about flowering until late July, but the foliage still looks lush and green as we edge into autumn. There may be a moral behind this story, but I'm dashed if I know what it is. It all depends whether you

. Then: a comma.Polygonia c-album is perfectly named for its many-angled raggedy wing edge. During its hibernation sojourn it is invisible; wings held tight together its dark mottled underside resembles so closely a torn dead leaf as it sits motionless

Last week I found vine weevils on the rim of the pot my orange tree lives in. It stands next to my 'nursery' of seedlings, so potentially hundreds of plants could be affected. The adults cause little damage, save for a few nibbles on the edges

above and 'Gariguette', another French variety which has a distinctive long shape. The latter is grown by Raymond Blanc in his restaurant garden in Oxfordshire.My alpine strawberries will be used as edging on my lettuce beds at home where I've dug

: close to the wild dahlia (which grows in Mexico where it scrambles around the edges of jungles and has tiny mauve flowers) and much taller and more sophisticated than her flashier cousins.Dahlias are pretty trouble-free, although because the flowers

pustules on yellowing leaves. Rose rust doesn't kill roses, but it does take the edge off an otherwise glorious display.And this is where I'm pulled in two opposing directions. Do I maintain health and vigour, and spray regularly with fungicides to keep my