flowers reaching for the sky

We have been studying about flowers and growing them, so we can offer them at the farmers market. Thought this year we would begin simple, with sunflowers, zinnia and the like. In the fall we will plant many others, things that winter over and then bloom in the late spring..I've been working on selecting the types of peonies and the filler plants for them.

I forget how much I love sunflowers until they begin to open. A native of the United States, grown by the Native Americans (along with squash, pumpkin, beans, tomatoes, corn, etc), they have their own set of pollinators. While we will see a honey bee on the sunflowers sometimes, mostly it is the native pollinators.

We have a total of 12 kinds planted, this is the earliest one we put in: was supposed to take 60 days and be 4 foot tall, has taken 80 days and are 7 feet tall..maybe less compost more dirt next year on these plants.