Yesterday afternoon, amid a misting rain, my garden inhabitants went about their business. With summer’s heat and a first cold snap behind them, I imagine they relished the coolness and the damp.

As I trimmed and tidied, I tried not to disturb them. It wasn’t always easy. They hid well.

A lizard perched motionless amid the boneset, its white stripe mimicking the stems it grasped.

Tiny bees nectared.

Red-banded leafhoppers spangled the swamp sunflower leaves.

A ghost spider lurked nearby.

The cutleaf coneflower, down to its last few flowers, drew bumblebees and a geometer moth.

Amid the chatter of finches and the calls of a foraging white-throated sparrow, a mosquito whined.

The lizard, now clad in green, descended to the ground and traversed the fallen leaves on its spiky, five-toed feet.

Life all around.