I finally got a decent rhubarb plant going this year after 2 failed attempts. Previously, the plant developed some reddening of the leaves and the crowns ended up rotting away. With this new plant, I noticed some stalks were dying off. They were quickly replaced with new ones, so no worries about that. As long as new stalks are appearing, I would think that your plant is fine. As for the holes in the leaves, I would suspect slugs. Have a look around and see if you find any. I've been using Safer's Slug & Snail Killer and it works like a charm. Beer traps if you're strictly organic. I would have used beer traps myself, but I was afraid to find my neighbors skulking around the yard with straws in hand.

Some birds prefer insects, some fruit, some grains and some are flesh eaters Takes all kinds. Birds have thier preference and prefer food that tastes good and does not fight back too much. Fuzzy caterpillars are not on the list of prefered foods but there are somelarge birds like chickens which will eat snails and slugs. Many thgings which are toxic to humans are not toxic to to ther organisms. Even the most toxic plant will have something which uses it as food. Note that a weed is simply a plant which you do not want. Dandelions and purslane are edible for humans. Under suitable conditions they outgrow any insect damage, but if you look closely you will find insect damage. Large domestic birds like chickens , turkey , geese will eat them. The old folks use to geese to weed their strawberry patches. They don't like strawberry plants but will eat most of the grasses and broadleaf weeds that infest the patch.

Alina, I have seen the same thing in some of my clematis--ie the lower leaves turn paler and yellow and finally brown out. This has never been due to lack of water and I attribute it to the fact that some clematis just develop this way. Those bare legs are just a hazard with some clematis cultivars. In some plants, the older leaves are covered up by new leaves and the older ones just turn light and fall off. If the clematis in question is growing very vigorously then perhaps it could be a nutritional deficiency where the plant doesn't have access to or the ability to take up nutrients fast enough to keep up with all the new growth.

Last year, I grew about 12 different kinds of leaf lettuce including red leaf and bib. A few leaves would get very few chewed holes, but I would pick them and wash with the rest. I used a salad spinner after a good rinse. Unless bugs are still attached, I see no reason you can't enjoy the 'holy leaves'. If the holes get to be wid spread and worsen, you can apply a light spray of neem and that should work well for about a week, then you can star picking leaves again. All the types I grew last year were huge, and afetr the nd of July some had, bolted. I pulled off the flower stalks and the plants seemed to back to prodcing more leaves again. a few died out, so I planted a few more areas. I caculate that I must have picked at least thirty 2 gallon sized xipper bags tightly packed with salad greens. I was running out of people to give then to!