Here Comes The Sunflowers

sunflowers

What you’re looking at is the beginnings of nine out of ten sunflower seeds I planted a week ago Sunday. They are actually two varieties. The five in the back are children of a magnificent sunflower grown last year by my friend Jo up near Vacaville who sent me some seeds from it.

The seedlings in the front row are those sent me by the Great Sunflower Project, which I participated in last year but none of the seeds sent me then germinated and I was bummed. This year with four of five of their seeds having sprouted things have obviously gotten off to a much more positive and productive start. Come on No. 5, you can do it!

And they came up quick, too. I wasn’t expecting anything to happen for about a week, but they were already pushing through by last Thursday.

But that’s not all. Not pictured are the handful of Jo’s seeds that I plugged into the soil where last year we grew our tomatoes and basil. There’s at least 12 sprouts up over there, too, but those little fellas are also less protected and some are getting gnawed up but good by unseen bugs. Here’s hoping they can withstand the onslaught!

Updates on their upward mobility to come.