some yard plants

Checking up on them. I pruned my flowering crab apple tree in the front yard today- for the first time ever. Tired of getting hit in the face by low-hanging branches when I mow, if I forget to duck. I used clippers and a handsaw. Cut out all the branches that are too low, then took out a few larger and higher ones that were obviously dead. I tried to keep it looking balanced. I was cleaning up when a guy who had been working in someone else's yard across the street approached me and asked if I was done- offered his services "for next time" including what I'm sure he thought was a plus: "we haul it all away when we're done!" I shrugged at him: "that's okay, I use it. I do composting and burn the branches in my fireplace in winter. I don't need anything hauled off." And I prefer to do the work myself, if I can. He looked a bit surprised, probably most people don't want to do the work I guess.

Cleaning up elsewhere in the yard- taking out older stems of daisies, clipping spent flowers on the tithonia so it will keep blooming- I saw some things that look particularly nice so went back around with my camera. Turtlehead is blooming! The dark foliage tends to blend into the background, so it looks as if the pink flowers are floating, sometimes. I can't quite get that effect with the camera, though. Around a tree:

Next to my veggie garden:

Flanking that, the sensitive fern is still lovely.

Of all the areas where I have planted salvia, this one by a tree in the backyard near a fence is doing the best. It has larger leaves and is untouched by insects. The parent plant I took cuttings of for all the rest, is doing worst right now. I don't know if because it needs to be refreshed (dug up and divided) or because growing near the columbine which attracts pests, it gets the brunt of insect damage.

My clematis was looking so terrible earlier in the summer I thought it had died. But now it is growing a new tendril and even has a few flower buds again. It doesn't hold well onto the decking post. I think I need to tie some more strings up for it to hold.

I don't know what happened to the sedums around the stump in my front yard. Lower parts of stems the foliage has all blackened and died. Is it something from the rotting wood affecting it? or a bug, or a sickness... New foliage seems to be growing, however. I need to clean the dead stuff out and cut it back.

The cuttings of it I transplanted to another spot behind my lilac, are doing great. No withered leaves here. You can see it is quite different from the stonecrop I planted it among- and I kind of like the mixed look.