This morning, amid the chaos, a butterfly arrived. This lovely female Monarch came into our garden, to sup on Verbena nectar. Round and round she flew, touching down briefly here and there, and eventually landing on the Verbena flowers.
During Summer, which we are just coming to the end of, we experienced the worst drought we've ever known - no rain for 53 days straight and 30C+ temperatures during the day.
In all that heat and no water, my garden just died, except for the scabby old Verbena plants I collected from the side of the road two years ago. They have self-seeded well and now there are quite a few plants. They might look tatty, but they go on and on flowering and butterflies love them - which was why I brought the plants home in the first place.