So, the beetles you are talking about, are lady-bug sized, bright fire-engine red, and black underneath?? If so, they are what we call Japanese Lily beetles!!! Nasty, nasty nasty. The juvenile slugs are gross. They coat themselves with their own excrement. The cures, which only partly work, are as follows: 1st- soak new lily bulbs in a mild bleach solution prior to planting, to kill any eggs. 2nd - take a cup of water with dish soap and a popsicle stick to swipe pea-sized larvae into the cup. Do not confuse with your coffee cup!! 3rd - squish adults between thumb and second finger - particularly satisfying if they decimated a patch of your beautiful oriental lilies. Or, using the cup and stick method, place the cup under the adult and swipe into it with the stick. They don't run away, but flop upsidedown to the ground, where they become invisible, due to the black underside. You are lucky, they aren't hungry enough for the flowers, YET!!! They will be. They aren't there for the lupins, to my knowledge, but will rest on other plants, mid-gorge. Neem oil is hard to find and not cheap. Don't buy mixes, because the neem oil is fragile. In Canada, you can't ask for it as a cure for anything, because it isn't approved for anything buggy. Just ask for neem oil. Mix what you need for each application: 2T.neem oil, 1 tsp. dish soap, to a litre/quart of water in a spray bottle. Use this all in one go - it won't keep its potency. Keep the Neem Oil cool, or in your beer fridge. They have no natural predators in NA. Most 'chemical' products have no effect. I don't know how far they travel, but they took over most of my lilies in the front garden, but my Stargazers in the riverside garden were completely clean. Once they settle in, they are hard to get rid of..... Good luck, and my sympathies.

Thanks guy/gals! That pepper relish and the cantaloup sounds yummy! Here's what I have, now mind these are OLD recipes so they aren't written in cookbook format: Yellow cantaloupes or musk- Sugar melonsWater Select the large yellow variety of cantaloupe or the old-fashioned muskmelons when they are beginning to turn a little yellow in ripening. Peel the thin outer rind, and cut a very thin slice next the seeds; cut the sections in pieces one inch thick, and put them into a preserving pan with six pounds of sugar to ten pounds of fruit. Add one-half gallon of water, cover and boil until the melon becomes clear and transparent. Remove the cover and boil until the syrup is thick. Seal in jars. ====================================== Spiced Fruits: To eight pounds of fruit allow four pounds of sugar, one pint of good vinegar, one table-spoonful of ground cinnamon, one tablespoonful of ground allspice, one tablespoonful of ground ginger, one teaspoonful of ground mace, one teaspoonful of ground cloves, one tablespoonful of grated nutmeg and six crushed bay leaves; mix the spices, put them in four muslin bags and tie them loosely. Boil the sugar and the vinegar for five minutes, add the spices and the fruit and cook until the fruit is tender. Soft fruit must not remain long on the fire. Remove from the fire and cool. Next morning lift the fruit with a skimmer and put it into glass or stone jars. Boil the syrup, pour it over the fruit and let cool; do this for nine mornings. This recipe will answer for pears, peaches, apples, currants, apricots, watermelon rind, citron melon and cantaloupes. Rather than doing it for nine mornings, I would process it hot in the waterbath for whatever time your cookbook says to do the particular fruits, LOL! ====================================== Here's one that sounds more modern! CANTALOUPE OR MUSKMELON PRESERVES The melons should be ripe but firm. The rind is removed and the firm pulp is cut into pieces of desired size and shape. The prepared material is weighed and ~ pound of sugar is allowed for each pound of melon. The melon and sugar are packed in alternate layers and allowed to stand for 24 hours. At the end of this period the juice from one small lemon per pound of melon is added and the materials are set over a slow fire. Slow boiling is maintained until the syrup sheets or flakes from the stirring spoon. The hot preserve is filled into clean jars and is processed in the water bath for 2 or 3 minutes. Steph

Need color and fragrance for shade garden as well as nice varied ferns. Can offer postage or will pick up in the Eugene, OR area. Especially interested in any fragrant lilies.

Thank you for the suggestion but it has to be the Lenox Asiatic lily because that is the name of my granddaughter.