Watching sunflowers grow

December

January

I planted some sunflowers in front of the garage as a 'Blickfang' (eye-catcher) this spring and they have grown beyond my expectations.  When I went to Hobart in November they were still a few inches tall. On my return after four days, they had doubled in size. It has been a pleasure to watch them grow tall then even taller. Then they flowered and their yellow disk flowers followed the sun as it passed overhead.
 

Setting seed

Now they grow bulbous, more bulbous every day. You can almost see the seeds growing inside them.   The flowers are too heavy to follow the sun now, looking east all day instead.

If you ever want to observe flowers through their stages, plant them in front of your breakfast window.

One week on (16 January) seeds are setting and the flowers bow their weighty heads.  Then the cockatoos discover them ...

Cockatoos discover sunflowers

The seeds are yet unripe but the cockies don't care and would just destroy the plants then leave.  So I chase them off and bag the heads.

to be continued ... 

Bagged sunflower heads