17 DECEMBER 1948, Page 17

In the Garden

One of the first questions to ask when desiring a new shrub is whetheal it is quite hardy. As a brother of the famous shrub specialist, Mr. Vicaryl Gibbs, used to say, "I will not have anything in my garden that is n:13 though 4 a good doer." Now, ough many disappointments follow the planti of too tender shrubs, some few are too much neglected from a spurioue reputation for tenderness. One of these is the plumbago that is called Ceratostigma Wilmottiana, which is the loveliest of all blue-flowering bushes. Even if a very hard winter cuts it down, it comes up again like the common fuchsia which is usually herbaceous in Eastern England,. though, strangely enough, not always in Scotland.

W. BEACH THOMAS.