30 JANUARY 1948, Page 16

In the Garden An agricultural labourer who did some rough

gardening for me cut off all the flowers of that strange bush Viburnum Rhitidophyllum, because he thought they were dead relics! How soon many of the viburnutns form their flowers, even if, unlike V. fragrans, now in full bloom, they wait to expand the blooms! The very early, and late, bloomers vary surprisingly in date. For example, the most useful of tree-shrubs, now sometimes called the winter cherry, was due to flower in November, but with me began in mid-January. It is worth its place in every shrub garden. Indoor vases at the moment are very lovely with a mixture of the naked-flowered jasmine and the Algerian iris, which should be picked when the buds are