ESCAPED FROM GARDENS 69 



out meadow grasses by its greediness. So came 

 and went astray Yarrow, the Ox-eye Daisy, Scotch 

 Thistles, Elecampane, the Wormwoods, Chamomile, 

 Tansy, and even, it is whispered, the unconquered 

 Dandelion itself. 



In May, before the bushes round the Lilac 

 House have lost their charm, other flower -children 

 of that garden, set cornerwise between road and 

 hill, are opening their eyes down in low, moist 

 meadows. From deep-rooted bulbs spring tufts of 

 leaves that hint of the Lily tribe ; from these come 

 slender scapes of flat -topped flower -clusters, whose 

 florets open white and full under the sun, but 

 close at night and during cloudy weather, showing 

 then a green striped under -side. This is the Star 

 of Bethlehem, which flourishes, often luxuriantly, 

 among the taller meadow grasses, giving at a short 

 distance the effect of a field planted with white 

 Crocuses. Sometimes whole fields will be strewn 

 with the stars, so rank in their profusion that from 

 the road I have more than once thought them 

 Anemones, until the sight of some vestige of a 

 house near by has hinted of my error. 



Even before this season, when Skunk Cabbages 

 and Spice Bush share the swamp honors, when in 

 the gardens of to-day only Snowdrops and Yellow 



