Many of the black-eyed Susans, sunflowers, and zinnias have been picked dry by birds and insects. The caretaker of this garden, the author and essayist Margaret Renkl, leads me to her leaf-strewn deck out back, to show me a glimmer of hope. She placed the monarch caterpillar and the butterfly weed it was attached to inside the cage to protect it from red wasps. “They look like little jewels,” Renkl said of the chrysalis. In her new book, “The Comfort of Crows: A Backyard Year,” published on Oct. 24, her powers of perception are on full display.

---

Persons: Margaret Renkl, Renkl hasn’t, ” Renkl, ” Organizations: Alabama lilt, chrysalis Locations: Nashville, Tennessee, Alabama