Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Almost . . .

Here's my first sunflower to bloom.

Well, almost. I may be a little premature in my announcement. I'm just so eager to see all those cheery sunflower faces lining the south end of the field garden.

This sunflower is so tall I had to stand on my tip-toes, extend my hands as far over my head as I could while holding the camera and click. (Only took me three tries to get this shot.)

Anybody else got sunflowers blooming in your garden?

12 comments:

The Apple Pie Gal said...

I'll bet we do some next year for the bee's! What else you got hiding in that place??

Unknown said...

I keep trying :( I had a couple re-seed from last year, but things keep happening to the ones I planted this year -like DH not noticing them because there were no flowers yet, and mowing some of them over. I had one that bloomed, then something ate the petals >:(

You Can Call Me Jane said...

Boy do we ever. Well, my brother has that miniature field of sunflowers growing next to our house. It's lovely. And having a bouquet for my table whenever I want is pretty lovely, too. I highly recommend letting your brother (or sister) till up your lawn and plant a bunch.

I love your new header picture- you have such a pretty garden.

Leigh said...

Oh gosh, yes. I need to post a picture. But then I'm farther south than you. They are so cheerful in a garden though!

Mama Pea said...

Apple Pie Gal - Ya know, I've never actually seen any of our bees working the sunflowers . . . but maybe I haven't watched carefully enough. I'll put that on my homework assignment.

Alison - Sounds as if you're sunflower-challenged! I had poor germination on mine this year but once they get going, you can almost see them grow! (That is if DH doesn't cut them off at the knees. Ouch.)

ThyHand - Ah, a whole field of sunflowers . . . what could say summer more than that? And I do love them as bouquets.

Thanks for the nice words re the garden . . . it's reaching the point where it looks out-of-control and pretty scraggly now but that means it's putting all it's oompf into producing!

Leigh - Yes, please do post a picture. Everyone! Love to see them.

Erin said...

I bet yours are open by now! Ours just opened this week, I was pretty late in thinking about them, I will definitely do more next year. Ours have bees on them that are tinier than a normal honeybee? Maybe they are just immature? Cute, though, and very busy! Are you able to get seed from them to munch on? I never get my act together and protect from birds and damage so I just cut the whole flower head off and put on the platform feeder. One day I would love to have enough to snack on!

Susan said...

I had planted a whole row - and the chipmunks followed behind. Needless to say, not a one made it. However, I did get a volunteer which is blooming and keeping the goldfinches happy. Me too!

Mama Pea said...

Erin - No, we've never had a long enough season to get the seeds to mature . . . but I keep trying! The bees you're seeing are most likely not honey bees as they are pretty much full-sized when you see them out of the hive on foraging trips.

Susan - That's the nice thing about the sunflowers. They'll happily sprout up wherever a seed is dropped by a bird or buried by a little chipmunk. If only they would grow so willingly in the garden!!

meemsnyc said...

We're growing bouquet size sunflowers, but they have yet to bloom!

Mama Pea said...

meemsnyc - I grew the bouquet sized ones one year and couldn't believe how prolific they were. Hope yours are, too!

I Just Live Here said...

I have one survivor. Early in the year a storm took out the 12 sunflowers i had planted. I removed the mutilated plants and put them with the compost. Now one lowly sunflower has reached 6 feet tall and has a flower. If I had only known the secret to gardening was to just chuck stuff in a heap ... well heck I could have eaten better and worked less.

Mama Pea said...

ManFort - We've all heard of the biggest tomatoes or best squash that have grown out of the compost heap! Enjoy your one sunflower!