Tag Archives: Sunflowers

Being in the Center or on the Edge

21 Thursday Jan 2021

Posted by in Back Yard Garden, Backyard Garden, Bumblebee, Canon, Dwarf Sungold Sunflower, Garden, Home Garden, Honey Bee, Sunflower, Sunflowers, Sungold flower

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The Bumblebee in the first picture is having a good time on the peripheral of the Dwarf Sungold Sunflower. He is feasting on the nectar as he makes his way around the flower. The Honey bee in the second picture is planted in the center of sunflower for his sweet feast. Which bee is smarter in its position in the flower? I’m not sure if there is a sweeter part of the flower between the center and the petals.

The Honeybee do produce more honey than the Bumblebee. The Bumblebee is good at using their bigger bodies to vibrate the flowers until they release pollen. Releasing the pollen helps plants produce more fruit.

Is it better to be closer to the edge to shake things up compared to being in the center where it may be safer? In the case of the bees, it seems that each position is important.

It is usually more comfortable to play it safe. I like to look at the ocean for the view, but I do not like to spend a lot of time at beaches. When we went to Hawaii, we did visit the beach but did not lay out on the sand. When we were in Costa Rica, we chose to be in the 4 foot deep spacious swimming pool over going to the beach in the resort. In our area, recently there have been sad incidents where people have been hit by waves on the beach and disappeared into the ocean. While these incidents can be rare, I am pretty content not spending a lot of time on the beach.

Conversely, there are times it is advantageous to take a risk and try something new. In our pandemic life, we tried playing family games with participants in 3 different locations. We played 3 different online games for the first time in a Zoom meeting. It was fun to learn the games and interact with each other.

Doing this blog and sharing my photographs is something I never thought I would do. I keep learning new things as I continue to shoot and examine my pictures. I appreciate all those who take a little time to look at my blog. Taking risks continuously teaches me new lessons.

Lastly, there is a time to play it safe, and there is a time to take a risk. Both actions are important to do. I’m learning that I need to do both and learn when I should take a risk and when to play it safe.

The Bees are doing the same thing by being in the center or on the edge. It’s all good!

Photos give valuable lessons.

 

Inviting Bees with Dwarf Sungold Sunflower

20 Wednesday Jan 2021

Posted by in Back Yard Garden, Backyard Garden, Garden, Home Garden, Sunflower, Sunflowers, Sungold flower

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I received a bunch of seeds courtesy of the Sierra Club. The seeds were from Bentley Seeds Inc in Cambridge, New York and were to grow Dwarf Sungold Sunflowers or Helianthus annuus. So I followed the instructions last March 21, 2020 to put the seeds in 1/2 inch deep into loose soil and planted the seeds about 12 inches apart.

These flowers are considered as dwarf in size. But they are still big and grew to be about 3 feet tall with about 8 inches in diameter. I shot this picture on July 16, 2020. These flowers are full with all these ruffled petals. They attracted a lot of bees to my garden. Unfortunately, these sunflowers did not last forever and eventually died off. But they are relatively easy to grow.

I still have some of seeds leftover from my free stash. I plan to grow more sunflowers in March as I did last year. I am learning what flowers grow well in my environment of fog and sandy soil. I am creating a schedule when I should purchase and plant the flowers to invite more flying friends to my garden.

It is funny now I am planning how to invite bees, butterflies and hummingbirds to my garden. Early last year, we were planning to invite real people to our garden for a party to celebrate my mother-in-law’s 100th birthday. I was planning the Bluetooth music with speakers and fun lighting. My wife was imagining what kind of food to purchase and cook. My mother-in-law wanted a party at our home and not in a restaurant. Parties can be more intimate at home. Parties do take work and planning. But it is rewarding to see people interacting and having fun.

Unfortunately, all these plans were dismissed as we realized how serious the pandemic is. Even though our plans had to change, the discovery of a backyard refuge for me and my flying friends has been an interesting adventure.

Who knows how long this pandemic will last? We don’t know when we can actually invite our family and friends for a backyard party. But for now, I plan on inviting my flying friends and providing enticing sweet treats for our garden party.

I am learning to change with our circumstantial changes in order to thrive during this pandemic. Change is hard, but change is required.

Photos remind us that our world constantly changes, and we must change to adapt.

 

Dwarf Sungold Sunflowers are Big!

10 Friday Jul 2020

Posted by in Garden, Home Garden, Sunflowers

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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!