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When we moved into our previous house, in Nunhead, there was some small, but well-established growth of Japanese knotweed in the back garden. It took four years of pulling up stalks and roots to get rid of it … at least I think we got rid of it

last recorded in 1897. I went back the next month and found it on the B. thunbergii bushes (the purple-leaved cultivar) in the ornamental gardens. Despite close attention to the many hedgerow bushes in East Dulwich and elsewhere, I've not seen it again

is that it arrived with the decorative plantings used around the car parks and ornamental lakes. Although unlikely to become a pest like its 'vine' relative, the beetle is probably well established in Britain. It's known from at least a half-dozen places, usually

Due to the wet weather of the past week, I haven't been out in the garden much. The snails, however, have been very active; I can barely walk to the front gate without the familiar sound of snails crunching underfoot. Most of the plants we grow

and widespread, but more an insect of rough flowery grassland, verges, meadows and commons than of domestic gardens. The larvae burrow in plant stems, but only wild flowers so it's never a pest. It's easy to see how this noble-looking beetle got its scientific

the slightly scruffy-looking worker bees now just starting to forage.I must admit that I take great glee in finding it in my garden, but some horticulturalists may not be quite so enthusiastic. Its English name, the greater bulb fly, gives away its secret

in case I was dangerous, or sizing me up as potential prey.They have slightly more interesting garden 'pests' in Florida. This paper wasp nest was tucked out of the way against the eves, and anyway it was very small.And one day I turned over a few small