Coneflower trials continue

“Most folks probably think that gardens only get tended when they're blooming. But most folks would be wrong.”
― Shannon Wiersbitzky, What Flowers Remember

Don't forget to click on a
picture to see larger 

 Damaged or not this picture is so pretty.
I am beginning to think that I am not supposed to have a lovely garden area of coneflowers.  The flowers were beautiful and promising more.  I hoped for no rabbits (still fenced in)(flowers,s not the rabbits!) I looked forward to butterflies and bees visiting.  Not this year either.

Heat is bad enough, drought and very sandy/powdery soil and 100° or more have made a sad mess of the area.

The new culprit?  Caterpillars!!!! They were tiny black and spiky.

I had noticed black leaves and black edges to the petals.  I had no idea what was going on.  Then, I spotted
the telltale droppings. I knew then it was caterpillars.  A Silvery Checkerspot butterfly to be exact.
http://www.beautifulwildlifegarden.com/silvery-checkerspot-butterfly.html

I am not sure if the caterpillar is eating on the petals or this is a result of serious damage

"A perennial is a plant that would have come back year after year if it had survived." I use that when my husband asks "How long will it live?"

There is a caterpillar in the center

Spring joy

 A garden is always a series of losses set against a few triumphs, like life itself. ~ May Sarton

Spring  promise

After cutting away damage, small flowers bloomed

Same flowers in August

"We go in withering July
To ply the hard incessant hoe;
Panting beneath the brazen sky
We sweat and grumble, but we go."
-   Ruth Pitter, 1897-1992, The Diehards, 1941