The sunny side of life

"Clem don't put your head in the 'bee-hole'.
Thank goodness no one was around to hear otherwise that statement could have been totally taken inappropriately.
​

The sunny side of life

After some foraging chipmunks "planted" some sunflower seeds in my flower garden, I decided to cultivate some sunflowers on my own. The 'munks also sowed the seeds from the bird feeder in my hanging baskets and potted plants. That didn't work out so well. So since the striped furry ones can't be trusted to put things in their place, I now attempt to plant a row or two of sunflowers in the vegetable garden.

This year's crop doesn't seem to be as tall as last year's and that could be due to lack of rainfall. I diligently tried to use a sprinkler to water. Unfortunately, the sunflowers grew taller than the rest of the veggies and blocked out the life-giving water to the rest of the plants.
With that said, the sunflowers are a welcome sight for pollinators. The blooms are often covered with bees. This year it seems most of those are bumblebees and not honey bees.

On a side note, Clem, the bloodhound, got in trouble for pestering a yellow jacket nest. I ended up yelling "Clem don't put your head in the 'bee-hole'. Thank goodness no one was around to hear otherwise that statement could have been totally taken inappropriately. Earlier that week, Clem had stirred them up and I was the one who ended up getting stung, twice. Clem did not care and had no remorse for his actions. He never does, unless Sadie, the Newfoundland, corrects him.

Back on subject, I was able to pull a couple fun facts about sunflowers from a 2015 article by Lauren Piro titled "9 Cool Things You Might Not Know About Sunflowers" posted on goodhousekeeping.com.
Piro writes that there are approximately 70 species of sunflowers and that "each sunflower can contain as many as 1,000 to 2,000 seeds."

Those seeds are eagerly awaited by goldfinches and other birds. The finches head out to clean out the sunflower blossoms even before the actual blooms die. Last year, I saw seeds flying and was able to capture a photo of a downy woodpecker cleaning out a sunflower head.

Getting photos of the birds on the sunflower is really tricky. I often feel like a stalker as I walk around the garden pretending not to notice them. Once I pull the camera up, they are gone. Meanwhile if I am in the the house, I watch the finches out the window having a field day in the garden knowing that once I go out they will disappear.

​However, that is just the nature of things 'round here.