30 NOVEMBER 1945, Page 16

In My Garden It is often asked whether the leaves,

the rather untidy leaves, of the lovely winter iris may be shorn. I have seen this week flowers from plants heavily cut (so as to get rid of accumulated snails) and some peculiarly tempestuous plants. The flowers of the unshorn are, I should say, twice the weight of the others, which are lovely but very frail and slender. The flowers should always be picked while in bud. It is recalled (in Gardening Illustrated) that even the hellebores live well in a vase if Miss Jekyll's advice is taken: slit the stem, say, 3 inches up and put so deep in water that it nearly reaches the flower.

W. REAC:H THOMAS.