Sunflowers

When I was four my mother and I lived in a house on a dairy farm just outside of Butler, MO.  Alongside the road was a double row of sunflowers.  I remember walking in between them as they towered above me.

I planted sunflowers for the first time in 2009.  I bought a mixed package of seeds from Baker Creek in Mansfield, MO.  Visit the Baker Creek website.  They were amazing. 

All kinds of birds visited the yard.  We had yellow finches, chickadees, cardinals, red winged black birds to name just a few.  In the summer the birds used the sunflowers for perches while they hunted for tomato worms.  I don't think I hand picked a single worm or bug off of my garden plants the entire summer.  In the fall the birds ate the seeds and planted a few for the next year. 

As winter got closer the squirrels would brave the yard and climb to the top of the sunflowers.  They worked quickly.  One of them lost their life to one of our dogs early in the year trying to get through the fence.  They ate the sunflower head off and ran back over or under the fence with the whole thing in their mouth. 

Last year I let the sunflowers come up where they wanted.  This year I am gently digging them up and moving them.