15 MAY 1947, Page 17

In My Garden

My experience of the effects of frost on the garden suggests that the usually warm south-west has been much the worst sufferer. The reason is that Cornish and Devon gardeners, rejoicing in a Riviera-like clime, grow a host of tender shrubs, of which northerners and easterners are afraid. A Cornish gardener (who writes also of the increase of moles) records: "We have lost nearly all delicate shrubs: mimosa, eucalyptus, veronica, cleanthus, &c., but escallonias and camellias, though cut back, have survived." Old plants have suffered much more than young. An unexpected victim with me is a St. John's Wort bush. W. BEACH THOMAS. W. BEACH THOMAS.