Rose rage - flowerbed violence grows

As the green-fingered hordes descend on the lush lawns of Hampton Court flower show next week for afternoons of beauty and tranquillity, spare a thought for the gardeners of Maidenhead. There, gardening seems a rather more fraught affair.

Last month, a court in Reading heard an extraordinary case that culminated in a woman allegedly having her finger bitten off. Pamela Fox, furious at the sudden death of her prized geraniums, was said to have marched up to her neighbour, Marija Andric, accused her of pouring caustic acid on the flower bed, and bitten down hard on Ms Andric's finger, severing the tip.

Mrs Fox was finally acquitted of causing grievous bodily harm, but the mystery remains: what happened to the geraniums?

This bizarre dispute is just one example of the new phenomenon that has become known as "rose rage".