Leafcutter bees

Nesting female bees cut out immediately obvious elliptical shapes from the edges of a leaf to make their cells for laying eggs. Since one female might need 20 or so cells, that's a lot of leaf cutting, particularly when the bee keeps returning to the same plant. It's only a significant problem when young plants are being defoliated or you're growing specimens for a show.

Symptoms

Bees snip out elliptical sections of leaf margins, particularly on roses, and use them to make thimble-shaped cells in their nests. However, they can remove quite a large area of leaf.

Find it on

roses, wisteria, epimediums