Unexpected visitors

This summer has brought some interesting surprises. For one, Mr. Red Petunia, who popped up out of nowhere between the stones on one patio. My only explanation for this phenomenon is the migration of seeds from red petunias that resided nearby in a hanging basket last year. For no good reason, I always thought petunias would be unable to propagate; something about them is so manufactured, I just assumed they were sterile.

My second visitor is much harder to spot, but looking closely into the second picture should reveal a beady little eye, perky ears, and a lot of speckled brown fur poking out from between the weeds. Since this can describe a number of different creatures, I'm talking about a baby bunny! While weeding on one brutally hot day last week, I was honing in on the base of a thistle when rustling sounds reached my ears. Thinking it might be a new chipmunk foe, I followed the noise, and there it was, a wee little bunny, frozen amid the flowers and weeds. I left it alone, but it was scared deep under a spruce tree by me, opening up a garbage bag for the weeds.* The photo op was from the second time I ran across the bunny, later that week. It has been seen a few times since, but today I was back to the weed pulling, keeping an eye out, and there was no one to be found.

*As a note: weeds from this household are sent for municipal composting, and must be placed in clear plastic bags. My composts only get "the good stuff." I now say, plural, composts, because I added a new bin. The old cube is now being left to mellow, and I suspect it will become a receptacle for a major amount of leaves in the fall.