Tired beauty

I'm going to tag this for Flower Friday, which is a bit of a stretch.  The Echium seed head was a flower once, and not so long ago.

The tattered Monarch is probably about to perform its last duty after overwintering somewhere close by.  The plants right next to this Echium  is a milk weed in full flower, so I'm hoping she is about to lay her eggs.

When the Echium was in flower it was lovely, but you'll have to imagine that.