Garden Links

UK Gardens Get Pestered by Pesky Non Native Insects!

14th March, 2009

The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) has joined forces with the National Biodiversity Network (NBN) to encourage UK gardeners to help map some non-native pests that cause serious damage to popular garden plants. Plants such as Hemerocallis (daylily),
lily, rosemary and berberis are coming under increasing attack from insect enemies.

This collaboration is a new partnership between the National Biodiversity Network and the Royal Horticultural Society.
The RHS science department has submitted more than 4,000 location records of four non-native pests that have been collected via the Royal Horticultural Society’s Advisory Service (predominantly from RHS members) and from the general public via on-line recording forms on the RHS website. The pests are Lily beetle, Lilioceris lilii;
Rosemary beetle, Chrysolina americana; Hemerocallis gall midge, Contarinia quinquenotata and Berberis sawfly, Arge berberidis. This information helps establish the distribution and spread of these garden foes since their arrival in Britain.

The National Biodiversity Network is working to make biodiversity information more accessible to everyone. It involves various organisations, such as wildlife conservation Pesty Partnership:
groups, government and country agencies, local record centres, as well as many voluntary associations. One of the Network’s main activities is to show the distribution of plants, animals and fungi in Britain and Ireland.

Andrew Salisbury, RHS Entomologist says:
“Information on these four invasive garden pests will improve advice provided to gardeners and enable an assessment of the threat that these non-natives pose in the garden and the wider environment. The input from visitors to the web-based surveys is invaluable if we are to learn where these pests are and how they are spreading. “

Jim Munford, Chief Executive NBN Trust, National Biodiversity Network says: “Presently the NBN Internet Gateway makes 31 million species records available to the public. The addition of RHS data on invasive species is very welcome. It adds considerably to our knowledge of important pest species such as the lily beetle. I hope gardeners will use the NBN; perhaps in the context of wildlife gardening, but
also they can add to our knowledge through the RHS.”

Data will be submitted from the RHS on a regular basis to the NBN. To submit your
sightings of these pests and help the RHS and NBN visit::

http://www.rhs.org.uk/Learning/Research/Projects/lily_beetle.htm
http://www.rhs.org.uk/Learning/Research/Projects/Hemerocallis_gallmidge.htm
http://www.rhs.org.uk/Learning/Research/Projects/berberissawfly.htm
http://www.rhs.org.uk/Learning/Research/Projects/rosemary_beetle.htm
To view the data on the NBN Gateway visit:

http://data.nbn.org.uk
To learn more about the NBN visit www.nbn.org.uk