St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-07-18
The Portulacea Worships the
Sun as Devoutly as the
Ancient Parsees.
Flower Watches and a Gar
den Cloek--CharmS OF a
Summer Night.
Grapevines and Wistaria
Awake Late--The Locust
Settles Early.
New York Evening Post.

New YORK evening Tost, -,
A sleeping garden. so it seems, coula
exist nowhere save in fairyland. Ii
must surround the palace of the Sleep
ing Beauty. We can fancy that the
gardener is mapping and snoring while
his idle tools lie rusting behind great
cobweb. The spider dangling in it is
dreaming of fat flies. The grasshop-
pers, crickets and katydids are all
silent. The butterflies hang notion
less on the plants. like brightly colored
leaves, and the usually busy ants and
bees have gone home to slumber away
a well-earhed vacation. The peacock
OIL the baIustrade sits motionleSs beside
his motionless shadow. The birds
little heads are all tucked under their
wings and filled with visions of ripe
cherries.
But the flowers-what do they do?
And what goes on in the kitchen
garden? Can one see, even In fairy
land, slumbering bean vines or doing
onions?
Strange to say, we need not journey
to enchanted lands to find such things
as these. l can see garden beds (well
named) full Of sleeping plants any sum
mer night in my suburban garden of
plainest prose, where ill weeds flourish,
and mosquitoes bite, and the tax
gatherer troubles, and street arabs
break through and steal.
The portulacca drowSeS first. Its Sau-
cer-shaped flowers close at sunset, TAX
ing the aspect of opening buds. They
worship the sun as devoutly as any Par
see of old, and have no real life except
in his presence. Tomorrow morning,
if his face is hidden, the portulacca will
not have the heart to unfurl single
blossom, but as soon as he appears the
respondent plants will cheer up and
don festal array to do him honor. After
the portulacca flowers are settled for
the night the leaves grow sleepy, and
gradually they take their nocturnal
position. They raise themselves
upright, nesting close to the stalks
of the plant and to each other.
'Pusley," the portulacca's disreputable
and vulgar cousin, also keeps early
hours. Shortly after sunset it, too, is
asleep, with its leaves cuddled together
in little punches, and thus it recuper-
ates its dreadful energies for another
onslaught on my flower beds.
When dusk begins to gather it is bed
time for the clover leaves. The two
side leaflets of each cluster approach
each other face to face till they take the
position of the covers of closed book.
Then the upper and central leaf bends
forward till it touches the edges of the
other pair. The attitudes of the little
Sleepy-heads seems to express devotion.
rather than repose, for they look as
though they were offering veSper
prayers, with their heads bowed low
over their folded palms.
All through the summer we may see
belated dandelions lingering in the
grass, but at nightfall they vanish.
Each flower has closed and has drawn
Its green outer garment over its yellow
inner dress. They now look like buds
and are indistinguiShable from the sur
rounding grass and leaves. Though
they have contrived to gather so much
gold to deck themselves with they do
not follow the proverbial rule for be-
coming wealthy. They are early to bed
to be sure, but by no means early to
rise. The blossoms are not fairly awake
and open before 8 o'clock, even in
sunny weather, while on stormy morn
ingS they are-We must confess it
6CdIludlOuSl1 ldGCs LII 10 q pICbJy OlSut
TO see field full of dandelionS wake up
under bright spring sun. They twin
kle out, one after another, as stars do at
nightfall.
The grapevine and the wistaria are
late up of nights. Perhaps, living in
town so much, they have learned dissi-
pated city habits. They scarcely begin
to take their nocturnal positions before
9oclock, and they are not fairly settled
for the night till much later. The grape
leaves in sleep are raised at the edges
and depressed in the middle, so that
they form shallow cups. AS we look uI
at the boughs of the vine, after the
foliage has taken its nocturnal posi-
ton, we see only the white under sur.
faces of the leaves, cleaning like sill
yer in the moonlight. Wistaria leaflets
droop in slumber as they do in
excessive heat. One expects them
to feel as willing leaves do
soft and limp-and their crisp firmness
is surprise. They crackle like stiff
paper when bent, and they refuse stub
bornly to be twisted into any other pc
sition but that which they have them.
selves chosen to take. This curious
stiffness seems to be characteristic Of
all sleeping foliage.
The common locust settles dowr
early. The end leaflet of the lone
cluster hangs like plummet and the
side leaflets turn their points toward
the ground and dangle in two rows
back to back.
Geranium leaves at night seem t.
twist themselves into deep cups tx
catch and hold the dew.
But some of the jewellers in my gar
den wake and watch while others are
fast asleep. The honeysuckle grow
more alive and alert as dusk closes in
The fresh flowers open soon after sun
set. They are slender vases, filled t.
the brim with perfume, which is sheC
forth upon the night air. Their sweet
ness is a mute invitation to the hum
ming bird hawk-moth, the vines chosel
friend and messenger. While twilight
still fingers we may See him among tn,
flowers beginning his night OF revelry
He feels reasonably sure of good sup
per. The cup of the flower is so slende
and so deep that few insects can reacl
down to rifle its sweets. so that ever
the older blossoms may have save(
their stores for him and the fresl
buds, expanding tonight, contain nee
tar enough to satisfy any reasonable
moth. Those which are neglected by
him will remain opened all day to-mor
row, and bid for the attentions of tn
sunshine-loying butterflies.
The bee knows we'll what lusciou
treasures the honeysuckles contain, ant
she secures them for herself witt
naughty ingenuity. Her proboscis i
too short to reach down into the depth
OF the long flower-tube, and she is quit
too corpulent to go down there an
fetch the honey. So she perches on tn
outside of the blossom. gnaws or prick
a little hole near its base, and the
reaches in and helps herself, much q
her ease, through the breach she ha
effected.
The day-lilies, like the honeysuckles
open at evening and live for night an
day. Many, indeed most, deep-throa
ed flowers are nocturnal. Their necta
can be drained only by insects with yer
long proboScices. Such insects are larg
and conspicuous, and if they flew
daylight they would soon fall prey
birds or other enemies. The day-lily'
lover, like Romeo, must pay his &C
dresses by night for fear of the Capt.
lets, who would impale him if the
could catch him-not ON sword, but o