OH EM GEE

[telophase]

ZOMG SUNFLOWER





TOBY FOR SCALE




Toby emailed me today, annoyed at the lawn guys because he'd looked out the window on that side of the house and saw "5-foot sunflowers," and the lawn guys--who came by this morning--are supposed to be weeding as well as mowing. And when I got home, we went out to the sunflowers and rather revised that estimate up. And up. And up. YOU'D THINK THEY WOULD HAVE NOTICED.

They knocked some money off the cost of this week's mowing and said they could get them sunflowers next week, but as the HOA has likely already made a note to send us a postcard about it, we figured we need to get it down tonight. I mean, I like sunflowers, but volunteer monster sunflowers visible from the street is a bit iffy even for me. Much smaller sunflowers in the backyard is more my style. (And forests of sunflowers growing in vacant lots is also my style!)

Now, if only we had a chainsaw...

Comments

[yhlee]

Holy $***. There were wild sunflowers in Seoul, but I have never seen one remotely that large.

[telophase]

The ones you see in vacant lots are usually more like 5 foot tall--I couldn't believe it would get this high!

[lnhammer]

Those are impressive leaves you have there.

---L.

[telophase]

One of the enduring images I have from our life in Tanzania is seeing people use the leaves from elephant ear plants as umbrellas. It's what I first thought of when I saw the sunflower!

[loligo]

Well boo on your HOA, because that monster deserves to SURVIVE!

[telophase]

There were three other sunflowers as well, one almost the same size, but it was growing horizontally and out into the neighbor's yard. I don't think they'd have appreciated it. XD

I don't know why the sunflowers never grow in the back yard. Well, I pull up the seedlings right below the bird feeder, but there's plenty of birds all over the rest of the back yard, so you'd think something would start growing there. I'd let it!

[bluerabbit]

That is a crazy tall sunflower! None of the ones I planted managed to survive, but if you didn't have to cut it down I would suggest planting beans next to them. They will totally climb up that thing and there's no need for poles!

Anyway, that sunflower is just trying to help protect your house from zombies! :P

[telophase]

You're right--beans would be a perfect plant to go next to it!

[hunningham]

I'm just there are wild sunflowers; she lives somewhere where sunflowers grow wild and flourish like the wicked. My yard (British yard, not an American one) has some amazing moss, but that's about the limit.

[telophase]

We have wild sunflowers in many of the vacant lots around here! I expect mostly sown by birds after they visit the feeders people put in their yards.

Lots of wild dandelions, too, but we pull those out whenever we see them because they'll take over.

[green_knight]

At that size, the sunflower looks deliberate rather than like a weed.

More to the point, how did *you* miss a 10ft sunflower in your yard?

[telophase]

We missed it because that's the side of the house we never go down. The retaining wall Toby's standing on is technically on the neighbor's property, so there's no room to walk back there, since it's all planting bed. We use the gate on the other side of the house to go into and out of the back yard when we're outside, and there's a path of concrete pavers among rocks over there. When we are coming home in the car, we approach from the other side, so we don't see that side of the house. When we walk, we approach from the sunflower side of the house, but it's usually after dark at this time of year (too hot to walk in the sun), so it's in shadow.

[green_knight]

Fair enough - but oh, wow. It's impressive every time I see the picture.

[telophase]

I feel vaguely sad that we cut it down, but I really didn't want it there. :) If volunteer sunflowers had emerged in the back yard, that would be a different matter.

(The root ball plus dirt was about 5 pounds!)

[mindyklasky.livejournal.com]

Can you climb up that thing to steal the goose that lays the golden egg?!?

[telophase.livejournal.com]

Another day or two and we'd have been able to, I think!