Big Smile!

I've posted quite a bit about the big sunflowers I planted this year, but haven't yet mentioned the minis. Last year, I so enjoyed having a mini-sunflower (var. "Ballad") in a container on the veranda that I wanted to be sure to do it again. This year, I bought two called "Big Smile" -- a pretty accurate name, as you can see below.

One of the things I enjoyed about these flowers last year was that, for several weeks, we had orioles in the yard, scarfing down the sunflower seeds. This year, I've seen a few orioles flitting through the backyard, but have yet to see them helping themselves to the seeds.

Bees, on the other hand, love the sunflowers, as illustrated below, so they're often my company when I'm having coffee on the veranda. Tangent: Have I mentioned yet how much less afraid I am of bees since I started gardening? :)

This year, I potted each of the two sunflowers with some alyssum (I'm starting to think alyssum belongs in everything!), and -- to contrast with the yellow -- something blue: Lobelia (yep, the same species as that Lobelia) in one pot and Evolvulus (which was new to me) in the other.