El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1912-05-18
The Neglected Garden
By Elsie M'Elroy
GARDEN is a joyous thing Tor

A GARDEN is a joyous thing FOR
n the friends you find there IN
4 spite Of months OF neglect IN
spite OF a hard winter. in spite Of ma
rauding dogs and worse hens, in spite
Of everything that has come TO make
garden doubt and sulk-there are SO
many things that respond instantly 10
g little digging, a little pruning ana
watering. The plants actually seem
thankful to see their humans again.
After months Of wind and dust and
cold and no loving but long dlstance
and wireless. even the weeks OF Marcn
In the neglected garden had their Dlos-
SONS. splendid and fine and fragrant
While one Is coaXlng, the blossoms
come out. and now 1t is summer ana
the garden reJoices-
When we neglect our garden We 81
recf the vuccas and agaVes 10 90 rlgnt
on Human friends, human toFe ~
NEGLECT apparently mean noInlng 70
them. they have their own s4LliIll-Ss
Tor wind and sand and sun mere atiu
nnnarentIv never know whether the
house of their garden is open ana Nv
ing or silent and smut 4Aey STOW
more NIGHTLY when the garden mas us
devoted attention, but they grow on
The hoIlyhocks are the prOmptest to
recognize attention They spread their
leaves 10 resets Of tropical Insurance
and bask in their comfort, even IN
March, II they have water and a little
service with the trowel about their
roots.
The Birds of Paradise are like the
yuccas In paying no particular aILen-
ton 10 humans except TO take adFan-
tage Of water and digging when the
garden has H.
The violets had every one disappeared
in the dry baked earth, but IN three
weeks were up again with bright new
leaves in response TO little deFo-
ton
The Siberian crabapple put on pink
buttons OF buds with the 1lrst orlnh
The iris needed only a drink TO bud
out from its green sheaths and Iur-
ntsh every line and corner with white
never stayed three months in the gar
cen, for some reason known TO them
The peoples ana larkspur took tnelr
leave the first hint of trouble
Their delicate silks and tissues OF
scarlet and lavender were too fine for
che neglected garden They are ike
some fine friends OF our JOY ana pros
perity, who have no time for our trou-
bles, but one loves them Just the same
and tries TO coax them back, the Lrst
sunny day.
Some OF the chrysanthemums de-
serted, some Of them stayed some
double rufned kind and some that
bided through the neglect were the
common little magenta ana SolQ Jul
tons. The silSen friend Is not always
the first 10 60
The irrepressible cosmos springs up
fairly a pest for bObbing up through
any neglect Given q drink the little
1nfchaelnlas daisies have to be uproQted
and given 70 the trash man ana lhen
there are too many. me golden roo
the big plumy yellow kind that grows
in the Pennsylvania hedgeroWs, comes
I'D IN just the same quantity this year
as another. It is a nOncommital sort
OF a plant In the Fl PasO garden, not
very responsive, but never sulky.
The lilacs are growing little every
year, but no blossoms yet A lilac IS
q blessing for which you wait five
years after you plant It. It is like an
orchid. It takes exactly five years 70
make a new orchid
The hyacinths have bloomed better
than ever before, the honeysucl0le vine
IS in fragrant bud, the grape vine
n ragrant leaf
The little sand willow bloomed in
time for the humming bird TO swing on
Its plumes-
The little cinnamon rose, a sweet
briar, sweet in leaf and stem, crowded
thick with leaves has tossed out its
numberless tiny yellow flowers The
wall flower blOOmed sweet scented IN
scarlet and gold velvets-
Soon after the garden felt q little
loving again, the two new tiny leaves
OF fOuro' clocks and cosmos crowded
every inch OF the garden they could
find unOccupied. and the fOrked baby
leaves Of the morning glories got
ready 10 tie up, smother and destroy
the garden with their snaky vines and
wonderful bower OF blossom.
The neglected garden in the fall viii
often show a tall dry houyhOck stem
fun OF brown seed pods, wound about
with morning glory vines in full bloom
Of purple and red. When a morning
glory does that one forgives it many
sins. but weakening towards a morn
ing glory IS hard on everything else
in the garden. anyway If you take
every single blessed one out. there will
be plenty left to do deadly mischief
and apologize for II with their lovely
blossoms