The morning I sat down to write this column it was cool outside but still very dry. Even though there wasn’t any wind to speak of, yellow leaves were falling off trees and shrubs. And even though the wooded hillside across the road was still mostly green, yellow undertones could be seen on many trees.

There wasn’t much bird activity in the front yard that morning, but several monarch butterflies were flying around. It’s getting late for these individuals to cross the 2000—3000-mile journey to the wintering site in Mexico, but possibly some of them will make it.

All of the monarchs in the yard were stopping at a big orange-flowered tithonia plant. Commonly called Mexican sunflower, tithonia is one of the easiest early fall pollinator-attracting annual plants to grow. In the spring, all

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