72 ESCAPED FROM GARDENS 



erratic bloomer, and is more frequently seen in a 

 merely leafy state, like the Orpine or Live -forever, 

 its companion on rocky road banks. Every one 

 knows that persistent plant of thick, bladder -like 

 leaves and many names by sight, but usually by the 

 leaf alone, for I have seen waste fields and road 

 banks covered with it season in and out, and found 

 perhaps only a half dozen stalks of its pink -purple 

 flowers. 



In July, when cheerful Toad Flax is at its best, 

 the steep bank following the roadside from the Lilac 

 House down to the turnpike often wears a tint of 

 purple-blue, an unusual color in New England's 

 byways before Aster time. Standing firmly rooted 

 between stones, topping the brilliant yellow and 

 orange Toad Flax, the Blue Bells of Scotland are 

 ringing a midsummer call if unheard of men, still 

 intelligible to the myriad flying insects that swarm 

 about the flowers at the summons. Not alone on 

 this hillside, but everywhere about the country, you 

 will find this most captivating flower, far away from 

 any house site, on sandy hilltops, or quarry edges, 

 or set in jewel -like clusters in the emerald of a 

 pasture. So again, through a pinch of seed and a 

 woman's care, does Old World poetry creep through 

 New England fields, breaking their rigor. 



