There is something about Sunflowers that I just can not resist! I don't know if it's their height, strength, tolerance of drought or their sunny disposition but I just love them ! When I first arrived at the Goodstone and looked across the beautiful rolling green land bordered by old stone walls many things screamed out at me ! One was peonies (Which will be my next blog topic) and another was SUNFLOWERS!!!! I started in January '08 so it was the middle of winter and thankfully it turned out to be a mild one! By late February early March we were on our way to creating the sunflower patches !!!
We began by weed eating the areas we wanted down to almost bare ground. Next we took all the cardboard we had been saving from around the Inn and covered the soon to be garden spots with it. Lastly we piled on about 6 inches of good composted mulch and let the beds sit until May! We had great success with that technique, being as it was the middle of a hay field, the cardboard saved us from having to weed AT ALL last year. Amazing!!! The Sunflower seeds went in mid May and by July we had a stellar display of sunflowers ranging from 2 ft. to 12 ft. in all colors and styles.
This year we did have to do some weeding and re mulching to retain our patches but the work is well rewarded. The soil is amazing in those spots and our beds are established nicely. Our seeds went in a little late this year, which is fine with me as it will just extend our season a bit. With all the rain this spring and into the summer I am not worried a bit about this years crop! I was wondering if last years crop would re seed and save me from having to purchase new seeds this year but I didn't want to risk it ! And I am glad I didn't. We barley had any come up this spring in our field patches while a ton had sprouted in the veggie garden. While trying to figure this out I realized that we left the sunflowers in the field beds all winter for the birds to eat and eat they did!!! They were really thorough!
Above/Below:Creation of the Sunflower patches March 2008
Above/Below: Result of all that hard work !!!! Heaven on earth!
Above: Last year's Sunflowers in reds and yellows!
Below: This year's Sunflower crop newly sprouted!
Above/Below: These little babies sprouted in record time! Less than 2 weeks after sewing them I spotted the new mass of green sprouts showing after one good rain!
I can hardly wait until they are big and beautiful again! It feels like it will take forever when in reality I know they are going to come and go rather fast! I love to be around flowers that are bigger than me! Maybe that's the real reason I love Sunflowers so much! I often watch my little dog Diggs run throughout the gardens and think "Man, it would be so cool to be smaller than an Echinacea, I'd love to be able to stand inside a clump of Peonies or lay in the middle of a big soft catmint!" Lucky Diggs! Sunflowers enable me to feel like that in their presence! Thank You Sunflowers for that precious gift!!!! Among many others!
Above: Sunflower seedlings direct sewn in late May 2009
photographed June 9 2009
Below: Volunteer Sunflower in the veggie garden, sprouted in early may photographed June 10 2009
The other thing that has always amazed me is how much stronger plants are when they volunteer! Maybe it's the head start they had but I think it's more than that! I'll have to compare the final product when they are more comparable.... But I bet the volunteers win !
Above: Emily next to a volunteer sunflower in the Veggie garden!
Below: Up close to last year's crop! The bee's were really happy about them too!
Nature is magic for sure! It continuously blows me away that in less than six months the sunflower lives it's entire life cycle. From seeds to baby seedlings to strong mammoth flowers useful in so many ways and back to seeds ! 
It would be cool to be smaller than an echinacea, I love your perspective...gardens screaming at you to create...they do scream at us don't they! The reward for responding is so great! Love your how too's...very inspiring.
ReplyDeleteSunflowers do make you feel small in a good way. I often remember what it was like to be a kid among giant size furniture, buildings, adults, dogs, etc. When you're an adult you forget how magical everything felt when you were small. But sunflowers do remind you of that feeling. :)
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