Early in the season I envisioned a wall of sunflowers growing across the front of the deck. After several false starts, I configured a system of screens, designed to deter squirrels and birds from eating the seeds and seedlings. It worked! All three planters have several healthy plants. I can’t wait till they flower. I can see the plants from my kitchen window as well as on deck, and they can also been seen from the street.
The lower leaves are full of holes but no sign of the culprit…until this week when I saw a bird in the act of pecking away at the leaves. My friend Doug, also a nurseryman, thinks they are trying to get to the as-yet unavailable seeds. The leaves look tattered, but the plant remains healthy so all is well.
With warmer temperatures, the plants are shooting skyward. I can’t wait till they bloom.
Wall of Sunflowers
Broken Lantern Covers Keep the Screen Open at the Top
Lantern Cover in Place
Sunflowers: Looking Up
Bird Snack
Gardening Nirvana 
Your garden is just to tempting for all the neighborhood critters, but that screen fortress looks pretty impenatrable. Oh no! What will the poor birdies snack on now?
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They can snack on the sunflower seeds when the flowers grow up and go to seed, leaving behind a beautiful head of sunflowers. Last year the squirrels worked away at them. It was fun to watch…after the flower bloomed.
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Ah, that makes sense now. I didn’t realize you only get the seeds after they ‘have gone to seed’. Dah! I’ve never grown these, see I’m always learning something in your garden!
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Thank you! They really are an amazing plant. I’ll dig up the blog I wrote a year ago on the movement of the flower. It’s pretty cool.
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They can snack on the sunflower seeds when the flowers grow up and go to seed, leaving behind a beautiful head of sunflowers. Last year the squirrels worked away at them. It was fun to watch…after the flower bloomed.
Thank you for your always interesting and generous comments. You are the best.
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Blush, if I was a little girl, I’d say “you are what you say you are” (ha remember that one?). I wish you were gardening in my neighborhood and we could laugh and waste away the hour’s talking shop or what not, I guess this is the next best thing. Thanks Alys.
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You are indeed a kindred spirit. I would love that. We would sew, garden, pet the kitties, chat, craft items and eat!
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Oh ya, I forgot ‘eat’…brilliant, obsolutely.
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🙂
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Here you go! https://gardeningnirvana.wordpress.com/2011/06/24/helianthus-flowers-of-the-sun/
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ooops pardon moi, as you may have guessed, that was ‘absolutely brilliant’ not ‘obsolutely’…..I really get way to excited about these things. PS, also loved the photo collage on above, thanks that was pretty surprising too.
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Thank you! I use Picasa, free photo-sorting software from Google. It has all sorts of features.
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Wow, these are looking goo! Your bird snack photo makes me feel slightly better about my hollyhocks which are looking decidedly ‘lacy’.. 🙂
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I’ll bet its the same thing! Keep an eye on them and see if you spot a bird.
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