Bug alert

My rosemary bush is yet again this year being stripped and devastated by bugs. Its in such a sorry state.

Poor poor rosemary. It should be lush and green, beautifully fragrant with lamb.

I noticed this happening for the first time last Spring, discovering the culprits to be a "Rosemary beetle" (apparently only recently arrived in this country but spreading fast) partial to rosemary, thyme and sage. (Theres an RHS [Royal horticultural society] piece about it on the web) (There is also a website from a group in Essex who are tracking the spread of these beetles. Yes, really! I think they want to know even if you don't live in Essex. I reported my beetle colony and got an email straight back)

So WATCH OUT!!! if you have rosemary in your garden. These bugs do an astonishing amount of damage very fast. Most of the leaves are chomped away, those that remain are withered and blackened.

My witchy sister-in-law says that having rosemary planted outside/near a house has something to do with the situation/power of the woman in the house. Well, far be it for me to comment or draw any conclusions from the state of my rosemary. Lets not go here, eh? (tho' I have to admit it does looks rather how I feel) (see, I couldn't resist going there could I? If I keep picking at it it will never heal.)

The beetles are rather lovely creatures actually, a beautiful burnished irridescent greenish gold with purple stripes. But rather than give up on the plant entirely, I spent much of last Spring and Summer guiltily picking off and squishing them. Wearing gardening gloves, obviously. Even so - yeeuch! Not a pleasant task, they squish very easily but with enough blood to make you feel remorseful. (I never feel remorseful about the slugs, but possibly would if they bled too) {not that I squish them by hand} [feeling queasy now]

[I have noticed, tho', that I get more callous in the garden as I get older. Or maybe its not age but hormones?]

The only alternative, though, [to the squishing, not to the callousness] is to dig up and destroy the plant - or use pesticides - which (even if you're not bothered about wildlife) [or being organic] {which I am as much as poss.} means that you can't use the rosemary for cooking.

Are you following all the ( ) [ ] { } ??

I thought I had been successful last year. Picked and squished until I could find no more bugs. The rosemary recovered amazingly well, proving how "for all that Nature is never spent, there lives the deepest freshness deep down things..."

But here we go again. The beetles have clearly been there through the winter, lurking dormant, lying in wait in their beautiful wickedness.

I'm not sure I have the heart for another season of bug-squishing. I might just dig it up, bin it and buy a fresh plant. Sigh.

On the up-side, I got 2 loads of washing nearly dry in the garden yesterday (with the usual Spring-time dilemma about whether or not to rush out and get it in when the rain started) (it stopped and the sun was then blazing again [well, almost] vindicating my not-being-arsed-to-do-the-rushing-out thing).

I so love the smell and feel of fresh cotton sheets which have dried in the garden.

And the sun is shining once again today.

M and I are going to the cinema this afternoon, to see V for Vendetta - a film based on a classic and excellent comic/graphic novel by one of the best British graphic-novel artist/writers. The comic fandom are apparently divided on whether or not its any good. It should be interesting at least, its very political, quite controversial - and has the lovely Natalie Portman in it (with a shaved head apparently) [also Hugo Weaving, but I always expect him to call everyone "Mr. Anderson"]. I'll let you know what I think of it.

It seems a shame really to be inside a cinema on what may be a rather lovely Spring {yeeaaaayyyyy!!!!!!!!!!! FINALLY!!!!!!!!!!!!} day.
But Sorren is looking forward to spending the afternoon with a friend.

And this is something M shows some interest at least in us doing together. Sigh.

And the spring-watch blooms are progressing quickly, fatly, beautifully, bursting out all over: