I started growing these Dwarf Sungold Sunflowers from seeds back in March 21 of this year. I received the seeds from the Sierra Club in the mail. Thank you Sierra Club! They started growing fairly fast, and they love water and sunlight. I planted the seeds in the sunny part of the yard, and these plants have taken off in growth.

The flowers are about 5 inches in diameter, and the plants are about 3 feet. These flowers are quite striking with the many facets of petals. The leaves are about 10 inches long and possess a little bit of a wrinkle. The flowers which have not bloomed do resemble the sun in shape. The flowers that bloomed resemble the sun in color.

These plants are considered dwarf since they will not get much taller than 2 to 3 feet.

In the third picture, there is a small ladybug crawling on one of the spikes of the sunflower. I bought lots of ladybugs from SummerWinds Nursery in Palo Alto to fight the pests eating my plants. My niece works at the nursery. Thank you Tori for showing me around the nursery! It was interesting to release the ladybugs in the garden and watch them enjoy my different flowers and plants.

Once upon a time, I took a career aptitude test to find out what career I would be interested in. One of the careers I scored high in was a farmer!

I never thought much about these tests. But actually, the results are accurate.

As I have been researching what kind of plants, flowers and trees to grow in our garden, I discovered how much I enjoy maintaining and creating my garden.

My hope is to create my environment to attract bees, butterflies and hummingbirds to photograph.

It is never too late to explore and discover new interests and abilities.

The bees are enjoying the different flowers in my garden, and I hope to video and shoot photos of the bees moving around the flowers. A hummingbird is coming around, and is slowly getting to know me.

This garden has been a blessing to retreat to during this pandemic. We do not go out much other than to buy food. So we are mostly sheltering in place.

When the stress of our world’s pandemic and racial strife seem overwhelming, I now can retreat to my garden and focus on God’s creation to get a better perspective.

My hope is to capture the beauty of these flowers and creatures and maybe assist others to get a better perspective about life.

Photos can change our Perspective!