Sunflowers

Sunflowers, Acrylic on Paper, 8 x 10, 2024 by Helen Ries

There was a package of free sunflower seeds in our order from the hardware store. 

I love sunflowers. I would like to have a few little sunflowers in our garden. 

I shook the package into a pot of soil and a few weeks later planted the more robust seedlings into my vegetable garden. Most of them got eaten but one sunflower survived and it grew, and it grew and it grew. 

I propped it up with the tomato stake. It outgrew the stake so I crafted another support, soon it outgrew that too. I tied it up every which way, to keep it from toppling over.

The head spread open and welcomed the sun onto its bright pedals and its face browned. 

My husband went out to measure it. He stood in its shadow.

Steffen is 6 feet tall!

We checked on  the sunflower often to measure its progress and to be amazed. 

When the fall came, the birds discovered our sunflower. One day the garden path was carpeted with sunflower seed shells. The seeds must have been just perfect because until that day, they went untouched. I admired the willingness of the birds to wait for just the right day before eating up the seeds. 

The sunflower held out over the winter, continually shifting its shape and colour. It remained a wonder and eventually it became a hopeful reminder that spring was not far away. 

A few weeks ago we finally took down the sunflower. Its stalk was so thick we needed a saw. We pulled out the stake that had been gobbled up by its trunk. 

I went to the hardware store, found a new package of seeds and I am growing some new seedlings. I am hopeful that again this year I will be surprised. 

These sunflowers remind me that often our expectations do not match the results and that extraordinary things can come from very little.