The Nursery

Each new season I spend in my woods, I am charmed by the local residents. Last spring a turtle laid her nest of eggs just below a basil plant in my herb bed. I placed a protective fence around the nest, but the little ones never hatched. Too much rain?...too hot?...life with Mother Nature is sometimes  unforgiving.  We are now entering the season of the box turtles.

Yesterday after a long and violent rain I opened the front door in the early morning with coffee in hand and saw this gal making her way toward my hosta bed across my new paver sidewalk.

She was a stunner in colorful beauty. One of the most striking box turtles I have ever seen, a newcomer. 

She has all her parts, which is sometimes not the case for these gentle creatures.

I went back inside and finished some housecleaning and then decided to walk around the house to see if the storm had created any damage. There had been some pretty high winds along with the downpour.   I rounded the corner to my newly created liriope grass bed that lines the side of the garage.  This new bed was part of the work from the changes to the driveway and retaining wall made this spring and gives some grace to what was a grass-less pathway to the water along the garage wall.

I was a little shocked as was this gal when we happened upon each other.  She was a different turtle, more faded in color and a little larger.

I soon realized that she was working on a nest (click on photo below for better view.)  Once again my home has been blessed by its selection as a box turtle nursery. I hope these little ones do better than those from last year.

When I returned an hour later you could not tell that anyone had disturbed the earth. It was perfect!