Here Comes the Sun

There is nothing like a summer shower to break the heat. We have been fortunate enough to have approximately 3 weeks of cooler weather with a nice rain thrown in here and there. Once again our yard is green and lush like it was at the beginning of spring. Birds are more abundant and seem to be more active. New flowers have bloomed and flourished also since the beginning of our cooler wet spell. Yet it seems that summer is not quite finished with us yet.

Although July gave us a nice break from the heat and reminded us of the wonderfulness of fall, August came in and seems to be telling us that summer is not over just yet. The 100 degree plus temperatures are said to be heading back our way this week. The added heat has already given a nice boost to the grass and mowing is going to be a chore that will need to be tended with before the week is over.

The heat has also once again urged the sunflowers to once again grow and bloom their big beautiful yellow flowers. Lifting their faces towards the sun at the start of day and turning them slowly as if to follow it throughout the day to bask in all its warmth and sunshine. Being an avid bird lover, sunflower seeds are something that are abundant at our home. Throughout the yard small seedlings can be found. Not just underneath the obvious bird feeders yet also throughout the yard from where the birds have dropped them, the seeds seem to be everywhere. Many of these seedlings are mowed over or plucked from their place in the ground. Yet this year many have been allowed to grow and bloom.

Thanks to my granddaughter, who shared her left over pumpkin seeds with me a couple years back, I have learned the joy of cultivating the seeds of many plants and using them the next year around. Thus, the large yellow flowers that eventually drop their faces from the sun and lean over as if in exhaustion due to the weight of the seeds that have grown to cover their face, are then cut and dried. When fully dried the seeds are then extracted and kept until the next year to once again start the cycle over.

Granted many of my sunflowers are not grown in this manner yet from the seeds that have dropped from the birds, yet there are a few that still are planted from the seeds that have been recycled from the years past. This is still a project in the early stages. With flowers only being on a 2nd or 3rd generation. Yet I look forward to the years when I can enjoy the flowers that have been grown from seeds that have been taken from a plant, that can claim the first seeds as a long distant relative.


Much like an aloe vera plant given to me, which came from a plant that is over 30 years old. Many a new growth has been taken from her and many have enjoyed her remedies. Imagine 30 years. Silly maybe, yet to pass something, even a plant through time excites me.

Blessings
Raelin