Sunflower Update

My sunflower, oh my sunflowers, I love you so. With the perfect growing conditions we have had this year (lots of sun, just enough rain, nice and hot) my sunflowers are now well over 7' tall and higher then my porch roof. Which only leaves me wishing I had grown something in between the size of the sunflowers and the strawflowers, other then a few Jalapeño plants which are still quite small. Oh well, next year!

One of the many amazing properties of sunflowers is the wealth of little creatures they feed. There are the aphids which happily snack on their juice (instead of my vegetables, I have no aphid issues in my veggie patch!), and the ants which tend the aphids. Then the lady bugs who also enjoy the aphids, in a different way, if they can get around the ants. Then the bumble bees, who enjoy the nectar (you can see them in both pictures with their back legs covered in pollen), I have no fear of bees and I'm very happy to see them as they are struggling these days. Then lastly there are the chickadees who come and visit me in the fall and pick most of the sunflower seeds out of the heads so they can bulk up for the winter.

Plus the flowers themselves are quite showy and beautiful.