4 MARCH 1949, Page 20

In the Garden Flourishing in a beautiful spring garden are

two varieties that might have a wider vogue: a white daphne and a white Stylosa iris. Neither to my taste is a rival to the purple-flowering sorts ; but they are a pleasant complement ; and the white iris with its faint streaks of colour has a curious likeness to an orchid and is, I fancy, less encumbered by leaf than the mauve. It was flowering above a layer of cut bracken, which is one of the very best protective agents for any sort of plant. Another species of iris that is worth growing in its white as well as its two blue shades is Siberica, though the white is perhaps the least lovely.

W. BEACH THOMAS.