New Zealand invaders
British gardens could be under threat from insects that find their way into the UK on plants imported from New Zealand and other countries outside the EU, warns Kenneth Cox, leading plantsman and the grandson of planthunter Euan Cox. Invasions by New Zealand mealybugs have devastated two gardens in Scotland and he says it’s only a matter of time before the insect reaches other parts of Britain. Unlike most mealybugs already present in the UK, the species from New Zealand can survive winters outside glasshouses and there are no pesticide controls available to tackle them. A planthunter himself, Cox is also head of Glendoick Gardens in Perthshire, a garden and nursery that specialises in meconopsis and primula – both under threat from the mealybug. “This is not just about this particular mealybug, but about how New Zealand, Australia and North America have incredibly strict regulations but we don’t,” he says. “They don’t allow any plant in with soil on it, but we do.”