The addition of a pair of pampas grass plants to Mariella Frostrup's balcony were no doubt intended to bring a rural touch to her London flat.

But the television and radio presenter has spoken of her alarm after learning she had inadvertently identified herself as a swinger by planting the grasses outside her Notting Hill home.

Sewing the seeds of a misunderstanding .... Mariella Frostrup, discovered she identified herself as a swinger by having pampas grass on her balcony.

Since the arrival of her two Cortaderia selloana plants, the married 49 year-old said she has been inundated with unwanted inquiries.

Unbeknown to the gravelly-voiced journalist, planting the decorative species at the front of a home is regarded by some as a code sign that the occupants engage in wife swapping. Frostrup, who has two children, said she is desperately trying to get rid of the plants, which grow in dense tussocks up to 10ft tall and are native to South America.