I've had the opportunity to speak to a number of rose fanciers this spring, mainly because roses have been under heavy attack by a small, reddish brown beetle called the hoplia beetle (Hoplia callipyge). Only about 1/4 inch long, with silvery scales that make them iridescent in sunlight, hoplia beetles have a big appetite for roses and many other flowers.

The hoplia is related to the June beetle, which is in California, and the Japanese beetle, which luckily is not in California. Some gardeners mistake hoplias for Japanese beetles because their body shapes are so similar. However, the Japanese beetle is larger (about 1/2 inch), and mostly shiny, metallic green with coppery brown wing covers.

Hoplia beetles are especially attracted to light-colored flowers, so can be found feeding on the flowers of citrus, lilies, irises, peonies, magnolias, poppies and especially white and yellow roses. Once they're in your garden, they will move to darker-colored flowers. They are also known to chew on the young leaves and fruit of grapes, peaches and almonds.

Hoplia beetle larvae are small, crescent-shaped grubs that live in the soil. The larvae feed on decaying vegetation and roots, but do not damage woody plant roots.

Hoplia beetles are difficult to control, especially once they have gotten into your roses. Many gardeners pick the beetles off flowers and dispose of them in a bucket of soapy water. If you cannot tolerate the damage, you want to try spraying the flowers with a pesticide such as carbaryl (Sevin). However, I don't recommend spraying blooming plants that attract honeybees, such as citrus, since most pesticides are very toxic to honeybees.

The only good news about the hoplia beetle is that it only has a single generation each year. Usually, most of the beetles are gone by mid to late May.