As I looked for flowers that would attract a variety of pollinators and help with pest control, sunflowers featured on almost every gardener's list.
I got a packet of Burpee Organic Mammoth Sunflower seeds. Mid- March, I sowed them directly in the flower bed keeping a distance of about 18 inches between them.
Very soon, every one of them had germinated. I had not planned on this. Two seeds were planted at each spot expecting about 50% germination. However, the rate was 100% and since I can never pull out a perfectly looking plant for thinning (and I read that sunflowers do not like being transplanted), I let them be.
It was wet during this time and they seemed to be growing slow. They were about a foot in height after about 3 weeks.
In about 5 weeks, I saw this star like bud at the tip of one plant.
In the first week of May, it looked like this. The flower was forming inside. I couldn't wait to see what the first sunflower in my backyard would look like! It was getting nice and warm in the afternoons, and I had planted these where the afternoon sun shone abundantly on them. Perfect weather for sunflowers!
By the second week of May, the flower was ready to bloom. The petals began to unfurl.
The yellow beauty drew my eye to it every time I stepped into the yard.
The flower head seemed to be getting bigger. The temperatures were in the upper eighties and it wasn't raining too much.
The ray flowers were doing their job, and the disc flowers were slowly blooming.
Almost prefect looking!
Then it began to rain. Every afternoon for the past three days, and not just a stray shower. It rained at least 3-4 inches in 2 days. This was what the sunflower looked like this morning.
More updates on the sunflower saga in later posts!
I got a packet of Burpee Organic Mammoth Sunflower seeds. Mid- March, I sowed them directly in the flower bed keeping a distance of about 18 inches between them.
Very soon, every one of them had germinated. I had not planned on this. Two seeds were planted at each spot expecting about 50% germination. However, the rate was 100% and since I can never pull out a perfectly looking plant for thinning (and I read that sunflowers do not like being transplanted), I let them be.
It was wet during this time and they seemed to be growing slow. They were about a foot in height after about 3 weeks.
In about 5 weeks, I saw this star like bud at the tip of one plant.
In the first week of May, it looked like this. The flower was forming inside. I couldn't wait to see what the first sunflower in my backyard would look like! It was getting nice and warm in the afternoons, and I had planted these where the afternoon sun shone abundantly on them. Perfect weather for sunflowers!
By the second week of May, the flower was ready to bloom. The petals began to unfurl.
The yellow beauty drew my eye to it every time I stepped into the yard.
The flower head seemed to be getting bigger. The temperatures were in the upper eighties and it wasn't raining too much.
The ray flowers were doing their job, and the disc flowers were slowly blooming.
Almost prefect looking!
Then it began to rain. Every afternoon for the past three days, and not just a stray shower. It rained at least 3-4 inches in 2 days. This was what the sunflower looked like this morning.
More updates on the sunflower saga in later posts!
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