Hot Summer Planting

Put the life back into your garden this summer by adding colour, are you bored with your borders? Add splashes of vivid colours to spice things up a little

Colour Matching
Avoid placing colours right next to each other that clash. You could be co-ordinated and stick to shades of one or two colours, like mauves, pinks and purples; or go trendy and plant red, yellow and orange. But don´t mix these two colour ranges or the result will be like an explosion in a paint shop!

It's a good idea to look at a colour wheel, as you will immediately be able to see which colours go together. As they say, opposites attract, and this works for some colours that are opposite to each other on the wheel - like green and red.

A good strategy is to match three colours that are spaced at equal distances around the wheel - purple, green and orange work well together.

Clematis: Make a superb display and are vigorous once planted. A good choice is Clematis viticella ´Purpurea Plena Elegans´ which flowers from late summer to autumn.

Roses: For a pale and pretty display, choose the white "iceberg" variety.

Red Weevil Update

We wrote about the Red Weevil in 2008 and we wanted to give a quick update along with details where you can contact the Junta to have your palm trees checked and looked after for the future

Red Weevil in Spanish Palm Trees



Unfortunately the Red Weevil is now very common locally with the main victim of palm tree being the Canary Date Palm (Phoenix Canariensis), the Red Weevil has now spread to other varieties of tree which includes the Fan Palm (Whashingtonia Robusta).



If you find an infestation of the Red Weevil it is generally too late to save the palm tree, infected palms must be quickly treated if you are to save your beloved tree.

Death is caused by the larvae which burrow into and feed on the soft leaf tissue of the terminal bud, the tree's growing point. In many cases the tree is often beyond help but you can act now and help protect the palm trees that you do have left.

There are rumours that in ten years there could be no palm trees left in Spain but with assistance from the Junta de Andalucia you can have your palm trees treated every month to help protect against this nasty little bug!

Top Palm Tree Tips
Do not cut or trim your palm tree
Only purchase new trees from a licensed garden centre or grower, insist on a passport for the trees which is passed by the Junta de Andalucia, Conserjería de Agricultura y Pesca.

Have you had any Red Weevils in your palm trees? Please share your photos and stories with us!

Red Weevil in Spanish Palm Trees

Gardening Forum - Discuss the red palm tree weevil

The Red Weevil has been making its way to the western world since the mid 80s. It was captured in Egypt in 1992 and then seen in Spain in 1994, it is thought that the Red Weevil made its way to Spain from Egypt by way of human intervention, by being transported on date palm trees.

The Red Weevil is starting to cause havoc on Palm Trees across the Spanish region, unfortunately the Red Weevil's devastating effects are only noticeable when it is too late and the Palm Tree is dead. The late detection of the weevil constitutes a serious problem in the fight against the Red Weevil pest. Although, much research has been carried out, no safe techniques for early detection of the pest have been found.

Despite the attempts to kill these pests more than one thousand Phoenix Palm Trees have been killed and it has cost millions of euros in damage and is continuing to spread.

The Red Weevil originated in southern Asia and Melanesia, where it is a serious pest of coconuts. In 1985 the Red Weevil had reached the eastern region of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, spreading to the whole of the United Arab Emirates and into Oman. It was recorded in Iran in 1990 before being discovered in Egypt at the end of 1992, it is also found in Israel, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority Territories.

The red palm weevil is a member of Coleoptera: Curculionidae. The male and female adults are large reddish brown beetles about 3 cm long and with a characteristic long curved rostrum; with strong wings, they are capable of undertaking long flights.

It is the larvae that produce the damage to the palm. Adult females lay about 200 eggs at the base of young leaves or in wounds to the leaves and trunks; the grubs feed on the soft fibers and terminal bud tissues. They reach a size of more than 5 cm before pupation. Just before they pupate, they move towards the interior of the palm making tunnels and large cavities. They can be found in any place within the palm, even in the very base of the trunk where the roots emerge.

Pupation occurs generally outside the trunk, at the base of the palms. The larva pupates in a cocoon made of brown dried palm fibres.

Have you found this red palm weevil in any of your palm trees - let me know your story, I would love to hear from you. We are running a discussion about Red Palm Tree Weevils on our gardening forum.

Still raining!

Well what a storm we are having at the moment, one of my Palm Trees has snapped and I am a little upset about that - especially as they are brand new!

Some of my other plants down the bottom of the garden are not having a great time with this wind either and looking rather beaten!

It is most unusual to have rain in Spain at this time of year and it has been really treacherous, I had to drive to Casabermeja (well, their post code is Almogia) yesterday to visit an old friend who was having some family troubles - anyway I couldn't have picked a worse day to drive over 80 Kilometres, Casabermeja is really high and I was quite scared driving up the mountainside where the roads have no crash barriers - just sheer drops and lorries coming at me every few minutes, never mind the fact I could hardly see 2 foot in front me because of the mist/fog that was coming down the mountain. An achievement for me as that is the furthest I have driven in Spain ever on my own!

I made it home safe and sound though and I just love the scenery up there, we almost moved there 2 years ago and now I have just been back I am glad we didn't! As lovely gorgeous as the countryside is there, it is just that too much away from civilisation for my liking, we have a track but it is not 5 kilometres long!

So, due to the rain we have not been doing the gardening that we would have liked to be doing, Gina took some great pictures though of what she says is a "perfect rose" - what do you think, post in your comments on her Rose.

We are in the middle of upgrading our Flickr account that contains all of our Spanish Gardening Images - when that is complete we will let you know so you can see the new ones we have taken :)