I love sunflowers!

 

After all, who doesn't like sunflowers?  I was taught to love them by my mother who loved them, too.  She especially liked black eyed susans which I think are a type of sunflower, certainly similar to them.  We would stop along the roadsides in Oregon and California to look at them when I was little.  I have planted a number of different kinds of sunflowers over the years we have lived here in Utah where they grow well.  And I love to see where they pop up from year to year.  I have had one or two growing in the same window well for a number of years.  This year has been a banner year and I have them growing all over the place.  I love it although Gary doesn't always like them crowding the sidewalks and patio.  The best place they showed up is a rock garden that we have between our deck and patio.  I tried to grow three bushes there last year but it was way too hot with the cement, rocks and white decking. I thought it would always just be rocks.  This spring a green plant started growing and I really thought it was a weed because it branched out in so many places.  It grew and grew to the point when Gary was wondering why I was growing a weed.  I just liked the green plant there.  Then during my dad's birthday celebration, my sister-in-law assured me that it was some type of sunflower (Lea is a plant person.)  I decided to transplant a few other sunflowers into the same spot and now I have this awesome sunflower wall.  The flowers just begun blooming the past couple of weeks and I love to see it from my kitchen window.  This week the finches have arrived and I can watch them eat from the flowers along with thousands of bees.

 

The view from the patio
Our deck is behind it.  It is fun.

You are all invited to come and see it.  I will provide the lemonade and cookies!