Hey Michael!
Glad to see you are back at it again with your sunflower forest.
Weezie sent me a message that you germinated the burgundy
seeds I sent you. That's terrific.
I have started this year's crop of sunflowers with some giants:
The one on the right is your Paul Bunyan
seed. The right is a mammoth.
I haven't yet decided where to put them in the yard because the sun is shifting and I want to maximize the sunlight. The
seeds that I planted in the fall did not grow as well because (as you said) they didn't like those short days.
Here is a flat of sunflowers (including Paul Bunyan, the tallest one on the right). The others are American Giant, Kong, Jade and Sunspot variegated. The
seedlings to the right are musk mallows that I planted 2 weeks ago.
Here are some more
seedlings:
The
seedling on the bottom left is a giant pumpkin ( a coworker gave me 3
seeds a few months ago; said his dad grew 800-pound pumpkins in New York). And next to that are some cantaloupe
seeds I got in trade.
This is my second
growing season and I'm
growing as a gardener..I have branched out and am trying different
plants. I got hooked on Brugsmansia (Angel's Trumpet) so I have several of those
growing and flowering beautifully. I have a little
rose patch, plus strawberries and tomatoes, cabbage, bananas, carrots and cucumbers.
A few of my neighbors have walked by and asked when my sunflowers are coming and I said soon, very soon...I think the blue jays and cardinals are also anxiously awaiting them.
My parents are building a new home in Georgia. I will be going up there in a few weeks to start their
flower beds and landscaping from scratch! They have 2 acres of what used to be farmland crowing peanuts and cotton. So the soil should be rich and workable.
I plan to
plant LOADS of sunflowers up there, including some of your Paul Bunyans and American Giants. They have enough space that I can go crazy with planting sunflower
seeds. I have toyed with the idea of doing a sunflower maze. We'll see what happens.
And yes, I will keep you posted...
Take care
Rite2u