Hey, did you notice the sunflower people are in town? They started as tiny sprouts – they managed to avoid the bluejays and have suddenly become all grown up.
I've got a multicultural contingent of sunnies this year. Some are pale yellow, others are deep yellow, and then there are brick red colored ones too. Some have a single stalk with one flower – othrs are multi-flowered. Single petals, double petals, all are looking fantastic right about now!
They've grown up so fast this year, creating a virtual jungle in my garden. I haven't the heart to cut them out of the tomato patch this year, so the tomatoes are not producing since they are shaded out by these tall sunny buddies. But, that's ok, I'll remember to plant the tomatoes in a sunnier spot next year!
A few things you may not know about sunflowers:
Heliotropism is the sunflower's characteristic of the flower head tracking the sun's path through the sky. The movement of the flower head is a direct result of the plant-growth regulator (auxin) accumulating on the shaded side of the plant when the light is unequal. Because of this accumulation, the darker side grows faster than the sunlit side. Thus, the stem turns towards the sun.
The tallest sunflower was grown was over 25 ft tall, in 1986 in The Netherlands.
The sunflower is the national flower of Russia, the country that grows the most sunflowers in the world.
