For my “lockdown garden” in 2021, I went to the local animal feed store and bought some sunflower seeds. I was warned that they were irradiated and may not flower.
To my surprise, they did come up and over the years. I planted them in various places in the garden.
I noticed that they slowly got smaller and smaller from one year to the next, and by the end of the third year, they were no bigger than big daisies.
Last year, I completely forgot to plant the seeds that I had saved and was sad to think that I would not have any sunflowers to brighten my garden.
All was not lost, however, when, at the beginning of December last year, I noticed the appearance of a lone sunflower just in front of the house. As the month wore on, I was thrilled to see how it grew and got taller than anything else around it. You can see from the skies as the photos go along, that it is our summer – a mixture of sunshine and heavy rain.
Every morning at first light, I usually sit on my stoep with a cup of coffee gazing out over the valley as it changes colours as the light rises with the sun. Sometimes Gigi, our ginger tom, will come and sit on my lap and those moments are so contented before the day begins.
All through January we have watched as the lone flower grew – and grew – and to my surprise instead of just one bloom, produced a stem that had many blooms on it. Something I have never seen before. Maybe the result of the original radiation of the seeds, who knows !!
As the flowers opened up and gave me so much joy every day, other creatures have taken up residence there. You can see the beautiful spider web. Bees and other insects are loving the flowers, and the light and water drops add to the joy.
Sadly, these past few days we have had no sunshine, so the blooms are drooping, which makes them look so downhearted. Hopefully when the sun shines on them again, they will raise their heads in relief.
I must remember to keep the seeds of all these flowers – just imagine the fantastic show I can have next year.
To listen to my song about sunflowers – Sunflower Crazy, click here.
