Sunflowers

So, I really like having a garden.  But this year, I was a total garden slacker and it kinda shows.  The tomatoes are rocking it (which just means I feel guilty for not canning them yet), but almost everything else was rather so-so this year.

Except those sunflowers.  I suppose it might be because I really loved that sunflower craze of the mid 90's, or maybe they just remind me of home.  Whatever the reason, I can't have a garden without sunflowers.  Not just any sunflowers - we had one reach a good twelve feet before the blossom got so weighed down with seeds that it lost a few feet.  They make me happy every time I see them.  And they also remind me of a My Little Pony show I loved when I was younger where the ponies have to travel through a field of giant sunflowers.  I don't remember what peril required such a journey, but that's when I first realized sunflowers could grow so tall.

 

They put on quite a show every year, but it turns out I have a husband who likes sunflower seeds so they are an actual crop around here.  Every year, I chop off the heads, let them dry, pick out hundreds of fat seeds, and roast them up for him.  As much as I love sunflowers, sunflower seeds are one of my least favorite snacks in the entire world, so he gets to snack away. 

Anyone want to share in the fun?  I bought seeds about five years ago, but haven't since.  I save a few every year and it seems the birds are helping my habits cause a few always crop up in random places of my garden where they were dropped the year before.  In a few weeks, they'll lose their color (sniff sniff) and it will be time to harvest.  I'd be glad to share a few seeds.