Sunflowers

Last year in the very early spring, in a fit of hope and optimism after a difficult and very long winter, I went to Home Depot and bought a dozen packages of sunflower seeds, all different kinds. I planted them everywhere on our almost acre of property. I planted them all around the house, in the rear of every flowerbed, in my vegetable garden, and along the back fence that separated our dog yard from the lower 40. For weeks, I walked around in happy anticipation of the glorious riot of happy sunflowers that would surround us all summer; bringing hope and happy visions to all. Well, I guess I brought a lot of hope and full bellies to a lot of birds because not one came up. Not one. For several days I walked around the property thinking maybe there was a scraggly stem coming up in some hidden corner. Telling myself that this really wasn’t a sign of gloom and doom to come, just a sign of hungry birds. Finally, one morning when I thought it was all over, I saw two tall stalks growing in front of the back fence. I didn’t need a whole field of sunflowers for optimism; I would be able to see these two tall sentries every time I walked out my back door. It was enough.

Two days later our gardeners cut down the “weeds” growing along the fence.

This year, along with my very ambitious vegetable garden, I planted just a few sunflower seeds. A couple of days I noted that one of the taller weeds had a golden flower head with a dark eye that follows the sun. I finally have my sunflower.