206 
WATER GARDENS, ETC. 
was here to ask about them^ exclaimed : “I declare ! 
you have managed to turn them into annuals !” 
We knew then that he was amazed that Little 
Joseph had succeeded in making them bloom this 
first year, which, as perennials, they are not in the 
habit of doing. Perhaps this change in their ways 
was effected because Joseph sowed the seeds early in 
the season. Although, so far, only one flower has 
peeped out, I can see that it is of as beautiful a red 
as there is in the whole world. Mr. Percy says 
that it will last in bloom a month. 
We have all been m.uch pleased with Joseph’s 
successful planting, and are enthusiastic about the 
cardinal-flowers. Later, we are going to a moist 
meadow not far away to take up some of the wild 
plants and see whether there is any difference be- 
tween them and those that Joseph has grown. The 
real home of cardinal-flowers is in wild places. Mr. 
Percy says he has never seen them so beautiful in 
any garden as they are by the side of a certain 
stream he knows, and whence they spread out into 
the meadow. 
On the ground about their base there are also' 
many wild forget-me-nots, blooming at the same 
time and trying to get as near the stream as possi- 
ble. Sometimes they grow even in the stream, 
where there is quite a little current running over 
them. 
For several weeks now, none of us has been much 
in the woods or meadows. I was glad, therefore, 
