At last–a monarch butterfly has arrived in our yard!  The unusual absence of monarchs here was getting alarming, but having sighted one, more are sure to follow.  That made my day, especially when good news is so hard to come by.  Of course it was on the zinnias, right outside my window.  Zinnias are the bomb.  I’m going to double or triple the zinnia area next year.

Today I totally cleaned up the herb/medicinals garden.  Now you can actually distinguish the herbs.  My two black swallowtail caterpillars are still working their way from the dill to the parsley.

Another good item–a couple of my little sunflowers, hidden among the zinnias, actually escaped the notice of the varmints and bloomed!  My evil plan is working.  Here are some more flowers; note the bee on the phlox.

And now back to monarchs!