SUNFLOWER!
At 100 F (37 C) temperatures and no rain, one of the challenges is to get a few spots of concentrated color and a few vegetables with minimal watering (we are in Stage 2 drought conditions).
This year we have a spectacular sunflower that came in a Burpee seed package called “Fun ‘n Sun Hybrid” mix. Thirty out of thirty-five plants got eaten by voracious snails before we realized what was happening.
We have one 7 foot (2+ meter) “Cappuccino Hybrid”. Cappuccino has very deep orange, almost dark brown, petals around a central center defined by a halo of yellow (diameter ca 6” or 12 cm). The close up was taken standing on an a six foot ladder. The top of the plant had 5 flowers; then every branch had another flower. The other 4 sunflowers that survived was a different variety and are ordinary by comparison.
On the vegetable front, we have dill (the plant came complete with butterfly larva), sage, cucumbers, and tomatoes- Heat Wave, Sweet 100 Cherry, Gardner’s Delight Cherry, Brandywine, Green Zebra (hasn’t set yet), and a hybrid 9881 from Texas A&M that we are evaluating for the farm extension service. So far that one works best as tomato juice since the skin is a good candidate for high-wear shoe soles.
All of this has helped keep my mind off other things.
