Halstead in Bloom’s beautiful flowers are under attack from an infestation.

Some of the containers of the flowers, especially those on the bridge between Bridge Street and High Street, have been infested with vine weevil.

Vine weevil is an insect that can infest a wide range of ornamental plants and fruits, especially those grown in containers.

Adult vine weevils eat leaves, and the grubs eat the roots of the plants.

They are one of the most widespread, common and devastating garden pests.

Halstead in Bloom secretary Julia Smith said: “It has been found in three or four places in the past three of four years but it seems particularly bad this year.

“The vine weevil just comes.

“It is particularly bad for plants in containers and is quite damaging.

“Unfortunately it has got the flowers on the bridge this year so they might not look as good as usual.

“We usually replenish the compost in the containers every three years so we are just having to do it a year early.

“We will be adding an additive to the compost which should stop them, although they build up a resistance to the additives after a while.

“This is a new one so we are going to give it a go.”

With the new compost, the new flowers planted for summer should be healthy.

Halstead in Bloom has had a successful year, taking best entry, gold in the town category and winning the category at the Anglia in Bloom awards.

Preparations are already underway for the 2016 competition.