Julie - the shrub is Viburnum tinus and the pest is Viburnum beetle. Snails seldom eat tough shrub leaves like these unless they're desperate and they leave much larger areas of damage. V tinus flowers in the winter. Here is a link that might be useful: Viburnum beetle

this is all a farce. The so called name of the plant is not really Goodbye Neighbours. Goodbye Neigbours is actually a trademark which is now invalid because it has become the identity of the plant itself. The originator of this plant has never offerred a variety name . If the name of the plant was say Houzz Special it would be written like this Acmena smithii 'Houzz Special' GOODBYE NEIGHBOURS TM Here properly used GOODBYE NEIGHBOURS only tells you who produced the plant and is NOT the identity of the plant itself which is 'Houzz Special' If I used the trademark HIDE YOUR NEIGHBOUR I could write the description like this Acmena smithii 'Houzz Special' HIDE YOUR NEIGHBOUR TM ...The variety name stays the same 'Houzz Special' but the buyer can see its produced by the business that uses the trademark HIDE YOUR NEIGHBOUR

Hi, This is a 'frequently asked question', but I'll give you my two cents worth: 1. Nothing beats local knowledge - look around the houses in your area to see what works, and harass your local nursery folk until you get someone who knows what they are talking about. Test your soil with a Ph kit before you plant anything - particularly if you want Camellias. 2. Conventional wisdom is that C. Japonica wont do well in Qld, but your local nursery folk can tell you if thats true in your area ('frosty Winters' could mean a climate closer to Canberra than Cairns ..). Even Sasanquas can be difficult up here in CQ, and I've been told that creating a decent hedge with them is an expensive proposition. I'm happy to hear otherwise. 3. Murraya - your choice, but I think we have enough of the exotic form of M. Paniculata - unless you want the Jasmine scented flowers, I'd opt for something a little more exciting. 4. Lillipillies - OK, now we're getting to it. If you cant find one that meets all of your requirements, whilst remaining moderately frost-hardy, then you need to start looking at thinks like Japanese Box and other ho-hum alternatives, IMO. I dont know how feasible it is to set up some form of protection to get them through the first couple of years (particularly frosty nights, although my old garden in Ipswich had no problems : the Southern Downs are a different proposition), but I think you'll be very happy with your choice in 3 years time. My faves are: S. Australe 'Aussie Boomer' S. Australe 'Aussie Gem' S. Australe 'Aussie Southern' (very tough from 6 months on) I'm currently trialling S. 'Cheetah' to see if its growth rate matches the mother-of-'em-all, S. Australe ('Creek Cherry'). I have other varieties of Syzygium, Acmena and Eugenia, but the 3 fastest growing plants in my garden are: 1. Toona Ciliata (>2 metres in 12 months) 2. Hymenosporum Flavum (1.5 metres in 9 months) 3. Syzygium Australe (1.2 metres in 9 months) These were all 'twigs' in 6-inch pots, and they've had a fairly hard life : the first Summer in my new house saw months of hot and windy 35-deg+ days. Good luck, Artie

I have done some more research - the beetle is the cause of the trouble. It is apparently a Green Strip Leaf Beetle (Calomela Pallida) which is normally kept under control by birds. However there is an apparent imbalance happening at the moment as by coincidence we have observed severe damage to other Lillypilly hedges on the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast today - as well as our own Brisbane site. Green Beetles were all over these hedges. The next question I have is what is a non-toxic remedy for the control of these critters?