A Day In The Life Of A Sunflower

Out of all the sunflowers I planted this year, this is the first bloomer. This was taken yesterday. I have no idea what is up this year, but most are beginning to bud now and they are short and stunted. The seeds did not come from a dwarf cultivar.

You really can’t tell from this picture because it’s a close up. However, this stands at only a little past two feet when it’s supposed to be five feet or more in height. Could it have something to do with the seed’s age? I have no clue if this was from one of the seeds I harvested in 2017, 2018 or 2019. Not knowing which were going to survive the attack of the slugs, I didn’t label my plants. Sad to say that most of the red variety I was especially looking forward to became casualties. A couple of them literally shriveled from the root. It seemed like something sucked the life out of it. This year was the first time I witnessed something like that since I started growing sunflowers.

This is what it looks like in a matter of less than 24 hours. Out of the 33 sunflower plants in the backyard, only less then ten seems to be growing normal (notice the two long stalks behind this one), but no two sunflowers are alike. They may all have differing heights, yet even at this petite frame, it undeniably exhibits the charm that you would expect from this kind. What’s interesting about a sunflower is rarely is it ever classified by most as a weed, unlike dandelions.

It seems like forever to wait for the flower to bloom,  yet in just a matter of days, its glory wanes.

“Mortals, born of woman,
    are of few days and full of trouble.
² They spring up like flowers and wither away;
    like fleeting shadows, they do not endure.”

Job 14:1-2

Though some enjoy dandelions as it also happens to share the cheery yellow color of the sunflower, most landscapers consider it as an invasive weed. In this household, we always end up having to pull these up by the roots.