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The caterpillars of both the small and large cabbage white butterflies are are the two culprits. The first is pale green with a body up to 2.5cm long, the second is bigger at 4cm and is yellow with black markings. The adult butterflies lay eggs

658The Wakes, High Street, Selborne, Hampshire01420 511 275www.gilbertwhiteshouse.org.ukGU34 3JHOpen all year, Tue-Sun & bank hol Mon (Fri-Sun only in Jan & Feb), 10.30am-5.15pm (4.30pm 1 Nov-31 Mar). Adults £8.50, OAPs £7.50, children (5-16) £3. Card valid for whole property, bu...

plot, the cabbage white caterpillars have joined in. A number of my calabrese plants are barely alive, having been stripped down to the leaf ribs; they're crawling with the (admittedly rather pretty) yellow and black stripy caterpillars of the large

of the stuff. We live 400 metres down a farm track, which is usually blissfully peaceful, except when you want to get out and find your way barred by mounds of white stuff. I know that almost every newspaper and television channel has written about nothing

Despite the attentions of the cabbage white caterpillars my Brussels sprouts are doing really well. I think the calabrese acted as a kind of sacrificial crop, as the cabbage whites have gone for these first, the cabbages second and the Brussels last

, three came along at once.A green-veined white, Pieris napi, was the first to appear, fluttering down to examine the mock orange flowers. This is probably the most widespread of the ‘cabbage’ whites, since it occurs commonly throughout the British Isles

-forgiving whiteness has gone and left behind it … well, a lot of soggy, mucky chaos. Hedges are staggering slightly after supporting all that weight and my flower borders look about as attractive as roadside ditches. I tend to leave my herbaceous plants standing

Are your roses martyrs to disease? Are their leaves covered with black spots or a white overcoat of powdery mildew? Well, I'll come clean and put my hand up on both counts. Much depends on the time of year and whether it's wet or dry - but, most

Breathe deeply as you enter my sitting room this month and you’ll take in the powerful, almost intoxicating fragrance of paper-white narcissi.I planted the Narcissus papyraceus bulbs last autumn, in a glass bowl layered with gravel. All I've done

, as a quilt of whiteness. But the deepening gloom as the sun goes down is not as empty as it might first appear. There are things out, but they are moving slowly and cautiously.A pair of magpies cough their way through the Leyland cypress a few doors