24 JANUARY 1947, Page 17

In My Garden Someone said : " I should like

to live by a river if only for the sake of having a willow garden." Now my garden, such as it is, is on a singu- larly dry plateau, but willows flourish abundantly (as they do by Hamp- stead Heath), and the permanent feature that I most prize is a Vitellina pendula aurea beside a concrete pool in the midst of a herbaceous border. It burgeons and flowers early and the leaves fall late. Any garden can support a willow section, though commercially the cricket willow (Caerulea alba) seems to have a curious preference for Essex.

W. BEACH THOMAS.