Roses Are in Bed - Sunflowers To Be Planted

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I left room for more roses next spring, when I will order them and plant early. That is the best way to get the desired roses blooming early. I planted bare-root roses first, bargains from a shopping channel. Then I found an enormous nursery near us for shrub roses full of blooms, ready to be planted. They are all doing well and will grace the altar this Sunday - red, pink, and white blooms.

My helper said, "Don't cut all the blooms off!" I was pruning the old blooms away. I said, "I am pruning to get even more flowers." I have to fill him in on John 15:1-10. We often talk about the Christian faith.

Some of my favorite roses are: Olympiad (red), Double Delight (bi-color, aromatic), Fragrant Cloud (very aromatic), Peace and its blood relatives, Queen Elizabeth, and Mr. Lincoln.

Mrs. Ichabod wanted to see all the roses out front, so I was unable to start on the south side expansion I planned. However, mammoth sunflowers at Park Seed gave me an idea bout how to use the sun and my leftover mulch.

Several packages are on the way. These are mammoth or Russian striped sunflower seeds. The plants can grow very tall (10 feet) and produce enormous disks full of seed.  My helper has two small children, so I gave him two sample packets in advance.

Sunflowers and corn use the sun's energy more efficiently than any other plants. Both demand rich soil and the cool feet/moist soil provided by mulch. In Midland I used pumpkin plants for "mulching" corn. They spread out to quell weed growth, shade the ground, and hold moisture in. Pumpkins are also hogs for water, so that area had to be watered often.

In Phoenix I grew a sunflower fort, using rows of sunflowers to hide the children's playset behind four walls of giant sunflowers. Nothing delights children more than hiding in deep undergrowth and popping out to say "Boo!"

We will probably dig a couple of trenches to put in several rows of sunflowers, covered with wood mulch. In New Ulm I left the stalks up for the winter. My mother thought that was untidy. I pointed out how much the birds loved to sit safely on stalks to look for food. Besides that, the roots slowly rot into the soil over the winter and improve the soil, with the help of soil creatures (starring the earthworm, the work shared by many unseen heroes).

Sunflower seed is so inexpensive and productive that I can plant spots in various locations and see what happens. We have a deep back yard (for an urban area) that allows for some in the back, where the grass alley separates our house from the one on Joye Street.

Who will get the seed disks? Squirrels will eat some of the flowers before they produce. Once the seeds ripen, squirrels and birds will compete to harvest them. Children on our block will probably ask for some disks. There is nothing like holding one of the aromatic seed disks and admiring the artistic rows of seeds.

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Sunday, February 12, 2012

Plan for Sunflower Season.
Creation and Fibonacci Numbers

By Norma Boeckler

Mammoth sunflowers are also called Russian and striped. These make great eating for humans after roasting in the oven, but birds and squirrels like them raw. They are one of the most nutritious products of the garden.

Most people use black oil sunflowers for bird food. The seeds can be planted, too, since they are least expensive in big bags.

I used to buy mammoth sunflower seeds in large packages from Harris Seeds. Larger packages are hard to resist.

This seed disk is not unusual. In New Ulm  I left the stalks up all winter so the birds could perch on them while winter foraging. They like to be just above the ground to look for food. The plant slowly rots into the soil. The decay feeds the soil creatures, especially earthworms, enriching and loosening the soil.

Flowers and Fibonacci Numbers

Long before the spirograph drawing toy, God created the same patterns in sunflower seed rows. The topic of Finonacci numbers is fascinating by itself.

This plant is only six feet tall but the seed disk is gigantic. The sunflower is a compound bloom, so each flower-let needs pollinating. The bees enjoy helping out, so there is quite a show to watch. The plant itself hosts plenty of visitors, so birds may land to feast on bugs chewing the leaves or hiding in the shade.

Sunflowers are often used as a temporary wall, an inexpensive way to provide privacy or shade. Unlike bamboo, sunflowers will not spread and occupy the entire lawn. Children like to hide in a fortress created with four walls of sunflowers.

Biggest sunflower disk contest:

Children like to see who can grow the biggest sunflower. Each plant needs plenty of space around it and as much sun as possible.

For extra growth, dig a hole first and fill it with compost, manure, or organic material. Put the best soil on top and plant the seed there. Once the plant begins, use dead grass, leaves, or newspaper to create mulch, which will hold in moisture, shade the root zone, and feed the soil creatures. Earthworms love newspaper roofs over their heads.

Sunflowers need plenty of water. They are as needy as corn and pumpkins. Their leaves will droop when they need more moisture. Water is the way they take up minerals from the soil, so that will give them more growth and bigger disks. Solar energy draws the moisture out while feeding the plant. Photosynthesis is a wonder we take for granted each day.