Lets talk about sunflowers!!

 I am so enjoying watching my sunflowers grow and begin to bloom. I  have never planted sunflowers. I don't know why I have waited so long to do this!! Just watching them first sprout from the ground to where they are now is just phenomenal!!

Just look at those little guys reaching for the sun!!
This picture was taken July 6th. I believe we had
planted the seeds around June 7th.

When they started growing, they really started growing!! My staking was so
underestimated to how tall these guys were going to get.
This picture was taken on July 14th. Such a huge difference in less than 10 days!!

The first one to begin blooming. Love this color!!
Two months from first being planted!! 
This picture was taken on August 5th.

Still my only bloomer at this point. But just
one day later it is fully open and loving the sunshine!!

Same day, but a better angle of the full bloom!
As you can see, there are lots of buds on this one stem.

Next plant over and we have a gorgeous yellow one!
This picture was taken on August 14th.

And there they are in a row. This was early morning
The sun was just beginning to peak over the ridge.

I am going to try my best to harvest the seeds and resow them in the spring. I have a few other locations throughout the yard I want to plant sunflowers. The box they currently are in is great, but the plants closer to the house get a lot of shade mid-day and on. So I will not plant any sunflowers in this box next year but instead move them down closer to the shed where they will get full sun all day.

I am working on cleaning up and planning how the corner garden in the front yard will be laid out. I think I will plant the sunflowers in color blocks and stake them with this year's stems. I saw where you saw off the roots at the end of the season and allow the stalks to fully dry out. They say to leave a little bit of the leaf knob so you have a way to thatch twine to them. You can find a tutorial here.