Tag: RHS

Very hungry caterpillars

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The box tree caterpillar can decimate a tree within days
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They are very hard to control. These were found in the green waste bin some time after the tree had been chopped up and put in there

 

I popped in to see my friend Jane the other day and we sat on her terrace overlooking her beautiful garden. She spends hours making sure it is gorgeous, full of healthy-looking shrubs and flowering plants, but she said she had suffered somewhat of a tragedy over recent days. A shrub that she had planted more than 10 years ago seemed to die overnight.

She couldn’t recall its name but said: “It was beautiful with variegated green and yellow leaves, and one day it was fine, and the next it was completely dead!”

Jane had noticed in the days running up to its mysterious demise that it was covered in what looked like cobwebs, and then when it had died and she looked closer, she realised it was infested with caterpillars.

With the help of her husband, they dug up the sad tree, chopped it up and disposed of it in her green waste bin, at the same time as picking off and exterminating as many caterpillars as they could find. They both love animals and nature and weren’t happy at permanently getting rid of the creatures but reasoned that if they can destroy a whole shrub overnight, they cannot be a good thing to have in your garden. Sentimentality went out of the window.

I asked what the caterpillars looked like, and wondered which butterfly or moth they would eventually turn into. Jane showed me her bin with the remains of the brown and withered shrub and there were dozens of the critters still crawling around it. The caterpillars were a couple of inches long with green and black stripes and a black head, and clearly, they hadn’t managed to capture all of them.

Well, this is the kind of murder mystery that the Countryman’s Daughter thrives upon, and as soon as I got back home, I donned my detective hat and set to work. It took me a good minute of eager Googling to crack the case wide open.

Jane’s plant had been slaughtered by the Box Tree Strangler – I mean Caterpillar.

The Box Tree Caterpillar, which is active during spring and summer, is an invasive species that the RHS says is becoming one of the most common problems in British gardens. It predicts that 2024 will be a bumper year, with five times as many cases reported in the first four months of this year than last. This very hungry caterpillar stowed away on plants imported from east Asia in 2007, although the first moth found in a private garden was not reported until 2011. It quickly became a significant problem in the south east, and steadily began to make its way north, unfortunately landing in Jane’s garden this week.

The box tree is a common sight across the land, often being clipped into geometric shapes or animals by those fond of topiary. If you’ve been to places like Castle Howard, Broughton Hall or Beningbrough Hall, then you’ll have seen some fine examples. But if you have some in your own garden, you need to start regularly inspecting it for this particular critter. If you shake your box tree and moths fly out, then that’s a sure indicator they are laying eggs, so you need to get on the case pronto. The moth (Cydalima perspectalis) has white wings with brown borders, or sometimes is brown all over, and lays its eggs on the underside of box leaves. The eggs are flat and yellow and overlay each other, a bit like tiny fish scales. Initially, the problem can look like box blight, a fungal disease, but a tell-tale sign is the web-like substance that can appear all over the tree. The caterpillars weave this over their feeding area, and once you see that, they can decimate a whole tree within days.

Thankfully, they are only interested in the box tree, so a sure way of keeping them away is to not keep any in your garden. Even when a tree or hedge looks dead, though, it can be rescued with effort and persistence and there is lots of advice online. If you discover it, then you should report it (again online is the place to go to find out how).

One last question – if box tree caterpillars destroyed all the box in the land, would they die out or simply change their diet?

I’d love to hear from you about your opinions, memories and ideas for columns. Use the ‘Contact’ button on the top right of this page to get in touch. This column appeared in the Darlington & Stockton Times on Friday 7th and the Ryedale Gazette and Herald on Wednesday 5th June 2024.

Flushed with good ideas

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Rosemary and lavender are just two of the plants that have thrived during the prolonged dry spell

As I write, the dry weather continues and very little rain is forecast for the coming weeks. It must be causing havoc for our farmers and other businesses that rely on natural rainfall to thrive. Water companies are imposing hosepipe bans, and our reservoirs remain worryingly low.

I was listening to local radio this morning, and they were talking to experts about the impact of the dry spell, and sharing ways in which we as individuals could help. I found some of the information useful and informative, so thought I would pass it on.

Having said that, I’m not sure I can bring myself to follow the tip about only flushing the loo once a day. That’s a sacrifice too far for me. I might instead order a free ‘Flushsaver’ offered by Yorkshire Water which is a kind of bag that when placed in your cistern, allows you to save between one and two litres per flush (but they are only suitable for single-flush toilets rather the increasingly common dual-flush systems that enable you to choose a short or a long flush depending on your…er…deposit).

One of the things they were discussing was the garden-proud Englishman’s seemingly unshakable need to water his lawn, no matter how diminished our domestic water supply is. Who cares if our reservoirs are so depleted that the villages that were deluged to create them are beginning to reappear? Does it really matter that our country is on the brink of a national emergency? Keeping our lawns looking pretty is far more important, surely?

That kind of attitude is quite staggering when you know that watering your lawn is completely unnecessary. Established grass is quite resilient, as its roots are deep enough to cope with dry spells. Yes, it will go brown and crispy for a bit, but that is a small price to pay if the alternative is a nationwide crisis. Come the next downpour, your lawn will bounce back to its verdant self. If we overwater our gardens, the plants’ roots remain close to the surface where they are vulnerable, rather than reach deeper where the soil is more moist and the roots are protected. A bit of tough love will teach them to become more resistant to extreme weather.

The expert on the radio was quite scathing about people who selfishly keep dousing their gardens. We take this essential resource for granted because we normally experience so much rain. But we cannot afford to do that any longer. She also explained that keeping the grass bowling-green short is not good for it either, and suggested allowing it to grow to a longer length as it will encourage the roots to grow deeper and therefore the lawn will become more able to cope in drier weather.

She advised a more selective approach to watering rather than to just let rip with a hosepipe like a killer on a shooting spree. Selectively target where you put the water, and prioritise the things that actually need it to survive, such as salad and vegetables, or things that have been recently planted. Those that are already established will bounce back when the rain returns, which it inevitably will. And on the subject of our unpredictable, see-saw of a climate, if you want a garden that looks colourful whatever the weather, choose differing floral species that thrive in a variety of conditions, whether it is sunny and warm, or wet and cold. Then whatever weather prevails will determine which flower grabs the limelight, and you will be blessed with colour all the time. At the moment, begonias, geraniums, lavender and rosemary are relishing the long dry sunny days.

Common sense should tell you to water in the evening too, as the plants will benefit from it all night long, rather than it evaporating in the heat of the sun. Laying down mulch will also keep valuable moisture in the ground. It of course makes sense to make the most of the rain when it does come, so have plenty of vessels in your garden to collect it, such as water butts, buckets and troughs.

During my research, I discovered an article featuring an expert from the Royal Horticultural Society who offered tips about how to use water wisely during a drought.

His name was Mr Gush.

Read more at countrymansdaughter.com. Follow me on Twitter @countrymansdaug

This column appeared in the Darlington and Stockton Times on 19th and Ryedale Gazette and Herald on 17th August 2022