94 PLANTING BEFORE THE WALL 
and watered are as real as those that come up with- 
out any assistance from man. 
In our woods, the leaves are now well unfolded. 
The hepatlcas, bloodroots and anemones have 
ceased blooming, and even the few little yellow 
violets that we found are making their seeds. Two 
spring orchids are aglow with their enchanting 
flowers. They grow in a secluded, deep part of 
the wood near where we hear a whippoorwill. 
This bird often lives in the hidden haunts of 
orchids, and seekers of these flowers sometimes find 
them by following his melancholy notes, in much 
the same way that men hunting tigers locate them 
by the cry of the peacock. 
This year for the first time we saw wild ginger. 
Mr. Percy showed it to us the day before he went 
back to college. Its leaves are rounded and appear 
like velvet. They cover the ground in great mats. 
But the flower of wild ginger does not like to be 
seen. It prefers to hide its head in the earth, and 
lies under the leaves closely hidden in its dress of 
green marked with purple. Joseph and I should 
have missed seeing it altogether had not Mr. Percy 
slipped his hand under the plant and lifted the 
flower up to our sight. 
He said that wild ginger would be a delightful 
plant for our wood-border, since it likes the shade 
so well. As soon as its seeds were sown, we deter- 
mined to have Timothy take it up in large blocks 
and transplant it for us, just behind the hepaticas 
