My little plot of 15 sunflowers planted early in the season is now beginning to bloom. The short sunflower in the foreground was the first one to bloom and is facing East. I'm not sure why the Mammoth in the background is not. Maybe it didn't hear that sunflowers are all supposed to face East when they bloom? My sunflowers never get very tall. In the several years I have grown them, even Mammoth is lucky to top 5 feet tall. Still, they are bright and cheerful, and if I can keep them from getting munched down to the ground when they are little, they will provide me with months of bloom.
Yes, that is real desert sunshine from behind the first sunflower to bloom this year. While the disk is only about 4 inches across, the long petals make the flower head seem much larger.
Difficult to tell from the photos, but this is a Mammoth, and while it won't get to Mammoth proportions here in the desert, the center is a good six inches across. If I can keep the critters off of it, it could provide a nice snack for the chickens in the middle of winter.
Blooming in bed number two - a dainty dwarf sunflower. As it is supposed to, this one is happily facing East.
A promise of sunflower delights to come - a 4 inch flower head wrapped in layers of frilly green. By the time I am back from business travel, the main sowing of sunflowers should be in full bloom. Big, bold, bright - and edible to boot!
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