6 DECEMBER 1940, Page 14

In the Garden

In the garden, among the last roses, the ragged scraps of potentilla and verbena and the wind-tom pansies, Viburnum Fragrans creates a miraculous touch of spring. There is something of ethereal and Oriental delicacy about this shrub which, at the' end of November, breaks into hundreds of delicious shell-pink blossoms, with a tender fragrance of almond, and continues to flower all winter. It is many years since Farrer discovered it wild in China, where it had the reputation of being the best-loved plant in gardens. Meanwhile, as its first pink petals are shaken off by the wind, the English winter begins to produce its usual oddities. Crocus and snowdrop leaves begin to break the earth, and with them the first daffodils and the