#I do wonder if the birds' appetites might be a contributor of that tbh

[kihaku-gato]

@lilkittay both the clematis and new england asters in question are cultivated plants in a relatively small gardenbed adjacent to a poorly-tended and currently unplanted vegetable garden and then further afield agricultural land. The Clematis in particular (a non-native C. tangutica that some classify as invasive and a native but infamously overaggressive C. virginiana) were becoming too difficult to keep from choking everything else or escaping containment without drastic measures- which lead to pruning out-of-season to deadhead the reseeding of them.

Fortunately even if I had deadheaded the new england aster specimens (which I'm glad I didn't- watch me change my mind when I fight their offspring 2024 lol), a good chunk of their relatives (some from reseeds of the garden plants, others being the grandmoms of the plants I have in my garden) have been proliferating in the ditches/roadsides here (and some other volunteers have slipped past the mowers to flower/seed along the lawn edges), so the Juncos and other birds would still have access to food from those specimens. Garden tending was near nonexistent this 2023 so a heavy hand was required to keep some aggressive species from reaching places they cannot be allowed to reach.

Spotted some Juncos from the window this morning feeding on the New England Aster seedheads. I'm glad my lazy butt never got around to cutting off the seedheads.