Jack and the Beanstalk

Happy 'sunnies' for a Sunday. Each year I grow a row of dwarf and hybrid sunflowers in the back of our veggie garden to use for bouquets throughout the summer.  Most of the plants reach anywhere from 4 to 6 feet tall.  However, this giant sunflower stalk was a "volunteer" in the middle of the garden this year and topped out at over 12 feet!  It looks somewhat shorter here because the multiple sunflower blooms were weighing it down a bit. The Goldfinches are in heaven!

Neon Sunflower

Autumn is closing in upon us and all the sunflowers in our garden are in bloom. This pretty one stood out especially because of the neon-green center.

Sunflowers

I added a few sunflowers from our garden to brighten up the small carnation bouquet from the grocery store. Happy September! :-)

Farmer's Market Sunflowers

During a recent trip to the Farmer's Market in Madison, Wisconsin, there were numerous vendors selling lots of sunflowers.  This booth had quite a beautiful display.  I thought the contrast with the black and white overlay gave the flower colors a little boost!

Sunny Delight

We are growing a variety of sunflowers in our garden this year and they are in full bloom. I love this burgundy/peach version, and apparently, so do the bees! If you look closely at the photo below, you'll also see a shiny metallic Japanese Beetle in the center. They were especially pesky this year and invaded many of the trees and gardens in our neighborhood.

Sunflowers!

A series of sunflowers from our garden. We usually grow a row of tall multi-color sunflowers as a back-drop to our vegetable garden. While this summer's torrential rains and hot, humid weather seemed to stifle most of our tomatoes and peppers, the sunflowers thrived. To all things there is a season...