Tangwystl Cottage - you can never feel glum looking at sunflowers

Well, that's what I think anyway.
I also think the same when looking at those 'happy faces'.

Helianthus annuus

I think the only editing I ever did on this photo was to crop it. I've used it as my avvy in the past. I love it because it is from my own garden efforts.

This is the original photograph, before cropping.

It really was a tall flower, so cool!

One of the shorties.

The spot I planted these in must have been very favourable to them, they did so well. The hens also appreciated their treat of large seed heads to peck at.

This was the first time I'd actually tried growing sunflowers, but had always wanted to. I was really, really pleased with how they did that year. The variety was likely either Russian Giant or Skyscraper.

It was so cool to watch the heads follow the sun across the sky. Here, they are facing roughly north (the west being to their left in the pic).

The enclosure behind them is 2 metres tall, so you can get an idea as to just how much taller those plants got.

I got busy doing other things so it was quite a few years between this crop and when I next planted sunflower seeds in the garden.

I am determined, because we use the seeds in cooking, to become self-sufficient in this crop. I'm not sure if I'll ever attempt to extract oil from the seeds, but you never know.

As the florets finally begin to die off you can start to really see the seed head producing. All those brown bits in the middle that fall off when you brush over them are the actual flowers.

The only gripe I have about sunflowers is their inclination to attract unwanted guests like the earwig. Gross, especially when you go to harvest the seeds and earwigs fall out from throughout the head. Gross, gross, gross.

This was one plant which self-seeded from a previous year's plant and produced an absolutely amazing number of sunflower heads on it.

Sorry the photo isn't the best quality, but I hope you'll be able to count a good number of the heads in different stages of development. I think I counted about a dozen.
It was also a very strong stalk as I never even tried to tie it to the fence. It survived all strong winds we had, and lasted well into the autumn season.
I'm really hoping I see self-seeding plants from it each year; and the bonus will be that whatever I collect I know will be organic!
One thing I learned during my research was that the best seeds to retain for replanting are from round the outside of the head. Nice plump healthy ones.

Random fun fact time:

And remember, bees adore them!

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