Category: Flowers

Last year we grew sunflowers along the side of our back deck.  We have always wanted to grow them, but each time we planted the seed something would dig up them up.  We blamed the squirrels and birds.  We were smart last year and planted the seeds in a big planter in the house.  We transplanted the little seedlings when they were a couple of weeks old.  Some didn’t make it through the transplant process.  A few were knocked over later on during a big rain storm.  A couple were destroyed during a backyard game of kickball.  Finally, by mid-summer we had a half a dozen sunflower plants with flowers.

We saved seeds from last year’s sunflowers in the hopes of growing a batch this year.  Again we planted the little seeds in a planter.  We set it out on the garden cart on the back deck to get some warmth from the sun.  The next day we went out to water the planter.  All of the seeds were dug up and dirt was all over the deck.  We couldn’t believe that some little creature had the audacity to come next to the house, climb up the garden cart and dig up all of the seeds.  The strange thing was that there were no empty sunflower shells to be found.  We realized it must be a chipmunk that stashed them in his cheeks and brought them back home with him.  Luckily, we found another small bag of sunflower seeds that we had saved.  We were a little smarter with the second batch and kept the planter in the house.  After only five days, the seeds began emerging from the soil.

We have about 30 plants coming up.   We hope that at least a few make it so that we can enjoy sunflowers again this year.

Sophia and I noticed something in the backyard last night.  The bush cherry that my brother John had given us several years ago had finally blossomed.  We started with two little cherry bushes.  Each year the deer would come and “prune” them for us.  The bushes would grow a few inches, the deer would eat a few inches.  The cycle continued year after year.  Finally last fall the deer were too busy eating my hostas and jumping into my vegetable garden to notice that one had finally filled out into a small bush.  I had seen the tiny leaf buds ready to burst earlier in the week.  I didn’t realize that some of those buds were actually flowers.

Many more tiny flower buds fill the bush.  My hope is that we will finally have cherries this year.  They are not like the cherries you buy in the store or even the kind that grow on trees near the Washington Monument.  My parents have grown these since before I was born.  They are perfect for for cherry pies or jelly.  John got his bush cherries from my parents and now we have one of our own.

Sophia and I also noticed how pretty the bleeding heart plant was getting.  We decided to snap some photos of the flowers.

Then Sophia decided she wanted to pick one of the delicate little flowers.

We also snapped pictures of this beautiful pink geranium.  This little plant seeded itself late last summer.  I found it growing in our front garden near the hydrangea.  I brought it in over the fall and winter in the hopes that I wouldn’t kill it before spring.  It started flowering in February and hasn’t stopped since.  We recently re-potted it and have it out on the deck.