Brilliant Emerald or Ruddy Darter?

It was so fast, darting from one neighbours overflowing Greek urn to another neighbours koi carp pond. The dragonfly knew there was absolutely no point stopping at my 'water feature', the dried up river bed which used to trickle away, making anyone in the garden desperate for the loo.

Having given up on the huge variety of pond plants which I watched turn yellow and die in quick succession, Eric mountain is now a home to all the ericaceous plants which I can't grow on chalk. Why do we beat ourselves up trying to grow plants which hate chalk? Anyway on Eric mountain I grow pieris, magnolia stellata and camellia. All of which are no use at all to a dragonfly. They love water but I couldn't even offer the poor thing a muddy puddle.

Another mystery is the lily beetle. Do they laze around underground just waiting for you to come home with some bulbs which they can nibble away so there's nothing to see and you blame yourself for overwatering /underwatering it or forgetting where you planted it or even that you ever had one.

Or you bring the plant home, leave it outside to plant later and the next time you see it, the leaves look like they have been turned into doilies as every one has a series of circles all over it. There are various ways of eradicating them. These include;

Digging up the plant, removing all the soil, washing each flower, every leaf and all the bulbs and replanting in fresh, new sterilised compost. Like that idea? no, I didn't either.

You could go to a plant nursery, if you can find one and buy an evil smelling powder which will probably kill you faster than the lily beetle.

Then there's the nematodes, which you buy online and just hope the beetles are still there (and the lily bulbs by the time they arrive).

The vine weevil has to be treated the same way, but because it's so ugly, you don't mind 'culling' it. By the way these weevils don't just eat vines, vine weevil is a beetle that attacks a wide range of plants, both indoors and outdoors, but especially plants grown in containers. 

It is one of the most common and devastating garden pests. The adult weevils eat plant leaves during spring and summer, but it is the grubs that cause the most damage over autumn and winter when they feed on plant roots, causing wilting, and often plant death. Plants growing in pots or other containers, outdoors or under cover, can be severely damaged by vine weevil grubs. Plants growing in the open ground are less susceptible, although the grubs can kill strawberries, primulas, polyanthus, Sedum,Heuchera and young yew plants. The adult beetles feed on the foliage of many herbaceous plants and shrubs, especially Rhododendron, evergreen Euonymus, Hydrangea, Epimedium,Bergenia, Primula and strawberry.

So, by this stage you are either covered in a nasty smelling powder or there are loads of nematodes buzzing around and you've just sat through Die Hard for the umpteenth time so what's a little more death and destruction? This is the cheapest, most satisfying solution: grab hold of the little beasts and squish them.