The other morning, when I saw these epimedium leaves with semi circles snipped out of them, I was determined to put a photo on my blog, just to see if anyone else has noticed them and/or been bothered by them. They appear on roses and hydrangeas, too, not just epimediums
They're nothing to worry about since they're caused by leaf-cutter bees cutting the pieces to line their nest (the AA Book of the Countryside says) which is often in rotten wood or soil or sand.An egg is laid with a store of pollen and honey nearby and the cell is sealed with more leaf. There the eggs hatch into larvae and emerge next spring and start over again. The original bee died after laying the last of the eggs. I'm just pleased to think that some more wild life finds the garden an acceptable place to live.
I met a lady-older-than-me with her daughter in a local garden centre a couple of years ago trying to find something to kill this pest so I hope she went home without insecticide and tolerant of something just 'looking for a home' after I'd explained what had caused the damage.
Mind you, the badger dug up quite a patch of lawn last night now Gillian's cut it...
2 comments:
Talking of badgers, my neighbour said a few nights back, she was just putting the wheelie bin round and 2 badgers came trotting purposefully down the hill, straight past her, without missing a stride and carried on their journey.Cool customers or what?
Gardening can be so hard at times...never had badgers, but they sound like a lot of trouble!
Micki
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