Sunflowers are the most amazing flower that I grow. From a very tiny seed emerges a plant that can reach over 8 feet in height. They tease you for a few months, getting higher and higher with little to show beyond large, pendulous leaves. Then a little head forms that quickly explodes into a large yellow plate of petals and prospective seeds. They tower over the rest of my garden, even the asparagus ferns that have feeding their roots for the past three months. Bees, in particular, are attracted to them, making a mess of their florets. But this erectness and height is short-lived for some as the weight of their heads bend over even the thickest of stems. It’s as if aging has been accelerated with the plant changing from upright youth to bent-over senior overnight. Perhaps I am reading too much into this as I am closer to the status of the later rather than the former. But I will soon collect the seeds of all these efforts to feed the animals that visit us this winter and start a new crop of flowers in Spring.
Sunflower season
