things around the yard

I thought my fanflower was all dead, but here's a little one hanging on.

I took cuttings of 'scat plant' and just stuck them straight in the ground, before a rainy day. They didn't flinch.

My younger heartleaf brunnera have grown a bit.

Hellebores are still steady plants. I appreciate their everlasting foliage.

My ferns in the back perennial bed did much better this year. I am not sure if it is due to all the heavy rains we had, or because I squashed a lot of those boxelder bugs- which I did see crawling all over the ferns. Sometimes it's hard for me to tell if the plants are withered from dryness, or illness.

Rhubarb is still plagued by - slugs? I need to spread coffee grounds. I still put those regularly around the vegetable/herb garden and have no slug troubles there. But I often forget to do the same in the back beds.

Rumex got hit, too. Probably won't grow this again, since it didn't do so great, isn't visible unless I'm up close, and I've decided not to eat it.

Iris sure is happy in its new outdoor spot! I'm glad I finally figured out what it was, and would be thrilled if it got established and started multiplying.

Unsure if I will grow salad burnet again. I haven't found many dishes I like to use it in, and I constantly have to remove older stems from the base of the plant that get sickly-looking (probably from leaf hoppers).

I do still find the leaf pattern and shape very pretty, but I don't often get an up-close view to appreciate it. Also, it seems to need a lot of water to keep in good shape. Maybe it would do better in the garden bed, than in a deck container.

Something not a plant: fungus on one of the wild cherry logs I have sitting around the yard (they're handy as makeshift seats, or places to set things down on). I think it's called turkey tail.

Also, a happy note: today I saw a monarch butterfly on the tithonia, and was able to approach it very closely. Its wings looked bright and new, vivid contrasts and no worn or faded areas like the previous butterfly I photographed. I wonder if this individual hatched from one of the caterpillars I fed. That sure would make me happy. I've also seen a swallowtail butterfly in the yard several days in a row, so beautiful- one that's dusky, with blue on the trailing edge of the wings.