lemon queens

the weather was so beautiful tuesday and the skies so blue. i'm glad i spent some time in our garden, savoring the last of our blooms. it's almost time to put the garden to bed until spring.

i planted three varieties of sunflower this year : mammoth, autumn beauty and lemon queens. instead of planting them all one day like i usually do, i spaced out the plantings from april til july. the goal was to have sunflowers blooming all summer long, and it worked!

these lemon queens are the last of them. john and i guess that there were over 20 sunflower plants in our garden this year. pretty to look at, but not so fun to dispose of! that's the glamorous part of gardening the books always leave out. but i'll be sure to include it in my book. chapter 12 : what to do with your 10 foot sunflower carcasses.=)

after the squirrels were fed, i collected some seeds for next year's garden. just lopped off some dead sunflower heads and dried them in the basement. with luck those seeds will grow and i'll save myself a few dollars on seed packets.