I am beginning to set up garden areas for butterflies and bees and some for birds. Got the Sunflower plantation started today, just a small one so far but I have room to expand it next week when the weather is nice again. I have several packets of Sunflower seeds and going through them I realized that I will be needing at least two Sunflower plantations. One for birds and one for pollinators like butterflies and bees. I was not aware that not all Sunflowers produce pollen, I knew hybrids probably wouldn't but as it turns out almost all the sunflower seeds I have are for pollen-free plants. Only two of the nine packets of seeds I have will produce pollen. Oh, make that three Sunflower plantations because I have some Hopi Dye Sunflower seeds, I want to try making a dye out of them for yarn. Oh, blast it all, I just remembered a need for a fourth Sunflower plantation. I have three packets of dwarf Sunflowers. You know, I have been wondering what I could find to replace the plants that have run out of strength to continue struggling through our drought. Sunflowers everywhere coming up this summer A newly created flower bed always looks soooooooo pretty!! 1st of four Sunflower plantations to create ( photo / image / picture from toni's Garden )
That's so funny you mention sunflowers... I picked up 5 packets of them the other day. I'll me mixing them in here and there. Maybe I'll have better luck this year than last. And I agree... nothing like a fresh bed! Can't wait to see all of those sunflowers this summer.
We have bird feeders in our front yard. Two feeds are for wild bird seed. A third one is for black sunflower seeds. We also sprinkle seeds on the lawn table. So, guess what comes up in the front yard. Bird seed plants, whatever. And sunflowers. They are coming up thick all around the table and in the front corner of the yard. I'm not planning on cutting that area of the yard. I'll let them grow and let the birds pick their own seeds. We do need to buy some more sunflower seeds. Our buckets are getting low on them. We bought 5 bags (35 lb) of wild bird seed last week and will buy a 40 lb bag of sunflower seeds tomorrow. Seems like the more seed we buy the more birds we have. There is never a time when there are not birds out there. My favorite are the cardinals and doves. Yesterday I noticed one that looked like a sparrow but it had a light yellow breast. I guess I need to look it up. dooley
Toni your garden is going to be filled with sunshine when all those seeds germinate and flower for you. I'm already anticipating the photographs you'll show us of them all. Oh, by the way, when I saw your new bed my fingers began to itch to get some planting done. Sadly the ground is frozen solid here so I'll have to sit on my hands for a while longer.
