Pretty, Pretty Sunflowers

A couple weeks ago I complained when we came home from vacation to find that sunflowers had taken over our front yard. You see, a few months ago I handed my daughter four packages of sunflower seeds to hold on to for a few minutes while I put a plant in ground. Five minutes later I hear her say "I need more seeds!" More seeds? I asked where the sunflower seeds went. Her reply was "Over here, over there, and over here, and some over there, and I think there's one right here."
I admit, I really didn't think they'd grow. None of them have drip lines running directly to them. Some of them are growing right in the middle of our heavily mulched walkways. Something interesting that I just learned (thanks to the Internet) is that sunflowers remove toxins like arsenic, lead and uranium from the soil. Over 10,000 sunflowers seeds were recently planted near the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in order to try and remove cesium from the soil. This same process was used to clean up waste at Chernobyl, and the plants were buried afterward with other nuclear waste.

Planted with love by my four year old, they grew with very little care. They continued to be neglected by her, until they bloomed of course. This one is called "Royal Flush" and is a new offering from Renee's Garden.

Once they started blooming, the bugs took an interest in them too, like this praying mantis above who is hoping to grab a snack on the next unsuspecting pollinator that lands.

Speaking of pollinators, the bee's are in pollen heaven right now.

Every bee we see is full of pollen. The fine little hairs on her legs collect this pollen for their hive. Somewhere within a 2 mile radius of our home is a happy hive.

Normally I grow sunflowers that grow just one sunflower per plant. This year we grew a few different kinds of multi-branching sunflowers, like this Arikara sunflower who's seeds I purchased from Cherry Gal.

I think the multi-branching ones might be my new favorite.

The largest sunflowers we have this year are the Mammoth Grey's from Baker Creek .

The seeds from this flower are HUGE, and I hope we get them before the birds and squirrels do!

This sunflower wins the award for being the tallest, it must be at least 10 feet tall.

This one must have been the yummiest, as it was quickly devoured by the birds.

It's just a matter of time before the birds get this one too. Or will a squirrel swipe it first?

Some sunflowers may not be grown for their beautiful flowers, but rather for their beautiful seeds. Varieties like the one above were used by Hopi Indians to make dye. To make the dye you boil the seeds in water, and add fabric or yarn to the colored water.

Or, you can just enjoy the beauty of the seeds!

And if you manage to get one that has a double head- it looks a lot like a fly, according to my daughter. Bzzzzzzzzzz!

Sometimes the sunflowers grow a little funky, like this one above.

Which then makes me do this to the pics, just for fun :)

Hope you enjoyed our sunflower tour!