Summer Solstice and Sunflowers

 I always make room for a few sunflowers in the veggie beds. I like to plant them at corners, like guardians towering above the crops, keeping watch. But let me tell you, tall sunflowers in our windy environment can be a bit of a challenge. It's really impressive to watch as these plants put all of their energy into height, only popping out a leave now and then, until they tower above most everything else. But in this wind? They usually need to be staked up for support.

Last year I had one climb so high, that I had to tie another pole onto my longst pole just to support it. Once you stake a plant, you have to keep at it as it grows, or the unsupported bit can blow over and break. But I remembered seeing a little bed of just sunflowers once in a windy plot between the road and the sea, and they were left to their own devices. They seemed to support each other. Or else they had falling over when they were little, and turned toward the sun again; they adapted. So I decided to try not staking my sunflowers this year.

I planted one in a little corner without much nearby. I planted a second one right next to the pea trellis, thinking this might act as a windbreak. The lonely sunflower has been blown over many times. It's stem is twisty at this point, but it's still thriving, bending and adapting to the conditions it finds itself in.

The one by the pea trellis got more help than I had anticipated. The peas were planted around the same time, and early on I noticed the peas starting to wrap their little tendrils around the sunflower. I watched with interest to see how this would play out. I thought the peas might overwhelm the sunflower, but they didn't. They had thier own trellis for support, and so they just kept reaching out and grabing a leaf now and then, like they were reaching out a helping hand, offering support. Of course the sunflower must also be helping to support the peas. This sunflower has grown straight up despite some garly winds and is now nearly as tall as I am. It was the first to bloom, opening just a couple days ago.

Sometimes in the garden the metaphors practically write themselves. Inspiration is everywhere. One of the things gardening inspires in me is curiosity. Will the sunflower and the peas continue to mutally support each other? Or will a wind eventually come along that blows them both down?

whatever happens next, I will keep watching, noticing, and writing about it.

Happy Solstice, everyone.