As gardeners we are all subject to the vagaries of the weather and nature, who amongst us hasn’t lost a cherished plant to rot in a wet winter, or discovered a freeze dried specimen that was perhaps a bit more tender than we hoped. We can shrug our shoulders and chalk it up to experience and tell ourselves we won’t make that mistake again. The silver lining being we get to buy/swap/grow a replacement, and who doesn’t like a new plant.

This ho hum attitude doesn’t seem to extend to the wildlife we experience, gardening can all too soon turn into a series of battles with little or no hope of actually winning the war. For various reasons I choose not to use insecticides in the garden, and so I expect to put up with a nibbled leaf or three. I can put up with that so long as they leave the flowers alone, it’s all about give and take.

That’s not to say I was happy when I discovered that the scarlet leaves on my bog standard  Tellima grandiflora were not in fact due to Autumnal senescence, but a rather a bad case of evil weevil. Ho Hum, I thought as they came up from the surface of the compost, at least they should survive if I repot them, and the silver lining is instead of one I now have three.

Now just because I choose not to poison pests doesn’t mean I’m happy to give them board and lodging through the winter once they’ve been discovered. It’s not too onerous a task to knock the compost out of the pot and sift thorough the contents for the Vine Weevil larvae. I can almost hear your thoughts gentle reader ‘Sounds like a lot of faff to me, why bother?’ Well as I said before this gardening malarkey is all about give and take and handing feeding Evil Weevil to a Robin is pretty high on my silver linings list.