Rosemary beetle

What you see

A beautiful 7 mm beetle with metallic green and purple stripes - genuinely handsome, and easy to spot against grey foliage.

Damage

Notched and stripped leaves on rosemary, lavender, sage and thyme, worst in autumn and winter. Grey slug-like larvae on the shoots.

Lifecycle on this coast

Mainly autumn to spring in this climate, which is the opposite of most garden pests.

When to act

Cosmetic on established shrubs; tolerate widely. Act if a young plant is being stripped.

Months: September, October, November, December, January, February, March

Plants it bothers

Rosemary, Lavender, Sage, Thyme, Bay laurel

Natural enemies

Bird, Ground beetle, Spider

Remedies

Encourage predators, Water jet and finger squash

The thing people get wrong

Hold a sheet of newspaper under the bush and shake: they drop instantly and play dead, and you can collect the lot in seconds. Never spray a flowering rosemary or lavender - those are among the most valuable bee plants you own, and the beetle damage is nearly always cosmetic.