06/04/2022 unexpected excitement

Saw a great little jumping spider on the ironweed leaves.
An interesting bee or velvet ant male or something, on white avens leaf. It was one of the nervous kinds who keeps flicking their wings constantly.
The rain of the last few days prompted the Missouri fluttermill primrose to bloom again!
The Chef and I cleared leaves off the patio. In several places they were up against the wood siding which is not great as they are essentially composting. Here Briar holds down a leaf pile for us. We leave the leaves in the rest of the yard as that is best for a healthy woodland environment!
The worst offending area of leaf collection next to the house. This is after I pulled out the bulk of leaves. Our compost pile should be happy now!
An extremely tiny planthopper that the Chef found on the outdoor work bench.
The last round of tepary beans I planted are coming up.
The big thrill of the day… The horse crippler cactus in the rock garden has bloomed!!!! I imagine this means it’s either happy here or thinks it’s about to die. Hopefully the former. Since I just planted it this spring I wasn’t expecting it, and its flower bud was not obvious, or grew in really fast the last few days when I wasn’t looking with the rain.

Signs of life

Cat greets morning sun, waiting for his Doggie to return inside.
Lemon balm herb reemerging.
Mystery seedlings in the prickly pear planter. EDIT: These are baby anise hyssop (Agastache)!! Compare the seedlings on the prairiemoon.com website.
A speckled mystery seedling in the prickly pear planter.
Another mystery.
Tiny mystery.
Probably mare’s tail seedlings?
Probably white avens seedling?
In the cactus planter, this Escobaria missouriensis and its smaller sibling are doing well.
I think this is a winecup rosette. Hurrah! Don’t know why it didn’t bloom last year, but I’m glad one survived from two falls ago.
Whitlow-wort transplant is going to seed. May it come back next year!

If you can’t tell, I took today off

First saffron crocus of the fall!
Hmm who could be in an attempted flower bed spot?
Nothing is growing there so I guess I will let it pass. Looks cozy.
I love the white avens foliage and flowers, but the seeds have been aggravating me by sticking to my pants. I decided to move a bunch of concrete pavers that got buried by leaves elsewhere to make the path clearer here to compost.
Ran out of energy and obvious pavers to move.