What's eating my love-in-a-mist?

Love-in-a-mist is generally pest-resistant and often blooms before serious insect pressure builds. Slugs and snails are the main threat to young seedlings in damp springs. Aphids occasionally colonise flower stalks, and thrips or whitefly may appear in warm summers. Good drainage and slug protection early in the season cover most risks.

Seedlings and young foliage eaten at ground level overnight; smooth holes and silvery slime trails. Ferric phosphate pellets; grit mulch around seedlings; hand-pick at night; beer traps.

Clusters on flower stalks and stem tips; distorted buds and sticky honeydew residue. Water jet to dislodge; insecticidal soap or neem oil; natural predators typically provide control.

Silvery streaking and distortion inside flowers; buds may fail to open cleanly. Remove infested blooms; neem oil or spinosad spray; encourage beneficial insects.