Surprise!

We had a good, soaking rain this week so yesterday was a great morning to get all the weeding caught up while the soil was soft.

While I enjoy a morning stroll around my gardens each summer morning, weeding means that I slow down and see the little details that I sometimes miss during a walk through.

I was delightfully surprised to see a tall flower stalk with these large, pastel pink lilies gracing my garden border.  Last fall I stuck a bunch of inexpensive bulbs that I purchased from a discount retailer in a bulb border planting without any great expectations and promptly forgot them.  I know now why the common name for this plant is "Surprise lily."

Later, while pulling weeds in my woodland garden, I pulled back the  low-hanging branch of a shrub to discover this cute little turtle.  I don't know which of us was more surprised.  He is just a little smaller than our tortoise.  After quietly posing for his photograph, the little guy wandered off through the leaf litter.  I would have never seen him if I hadn't been down on the ground with the weeds.