Garden favourite faces fatal threat from mildew

ONE of Britain's most popular plants is in danger of being wiped out by a virulent new disease.

Busy lizzies, the hanging basket favourite, are under threat from a new, fungicide-resistant strain of downy mildew.

The fungal disease appears as a white powder on the underside of leaves, causing them to yellow and fall off.

Amateur gardeners across Britain are seeing their infected plants reduced to bare stems and dying prematurely.

Downy mildew was first identified as a disease in the UK in 2003 and is thought to have arrived from imported cuttings.

Until now its spread has been controlled by commercial growers spraying the plants with fungicide. But there are no fungicides available to amateur gardeners for control of the disease.

The mildew infection has thrived in the wet, mild summer and is now resistant to the metalaxyl fungicide, horticulturalists warn.

Andrew Tokely, of Thompson & Morgan, one of Britain's longest-established plant and seed firms, said: "Downy mildew is going to be a real problem now for growers. There is no cure. It could be the end of busy lizzies."

Gardeners are being urged to keep an eye out for the disease and destroy any of the plants displaying symptoms to stop the spread.