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In spring and summer, pollen beetles fly in from nearby oilseed rape crops to gather in open flowers where they feed on ripe pollen. Mostly, the beetles do little harm although occasionally they may nibble into unopened flower buds and damage

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

The mint leaf beetle, Chrysolina herbacea is a native, iridescent green beetle that feeds on the leaves of the mint family in the south of the UK. Both the adults and their fat, black larvae feast on the foliage.Holes in leaves, made by iridescent

Scarlet beetles (6mm - 8mm long) with black heads eat the leaves, flowers and seedpods of lilies and other members of the lily family. Don't mistake them for ladybirds. Between April and September the beetles lay eggs on the undersides of leaves

sweet peasHow to pot on sweet peasHow to deal with pollen beetle

or thiacloprid in midsummer. Both imidacloprid and thiacloprid are systemic pesticides, meaning they are absorbed into the plant and can be present in concentrated forms in the nectar and pollen of flowers. If you do use these chemicals, bear in mind that any

exclusively for wildlife. Building the garden from scratch, I was able to choose the best nectar- and pollen-rich plants for insects, put in a pond for my frogs (it's in a tin bath but it still has different depths and a variety of native plants), a compost