Mutants in the Garden?

It was particularly eerie in the Court House this morning when New Dog and I took our walk at 6:00. Thick fog had settled on the town, obscuring one’s view to less than a few feet. Building outlines were murky and street lights were barely visible right overhead. The heavy moisture in the air clung to leaves on the trees making them drip, but especially fascinating was being able to see the hundreds of spider webs that decorated everything from sign posts to boxwoods. A note to The Neighbor: maybe you ought to move your pickup more often. There were webs strung from bumpers to the ground and from the mirrors to the doors.

For the last several weeks, I have been fortunate to pass one of the true glories of summer every day on the way to work. In the end row of their garden, closest to the road, some folks had planted four or five different kinds of sunflowers. I watched their progress from seedlings to mature plants and looked forward to the afternoon, when going in the opposite direction from my trip in the morning, I was able to see the full heads of the flowers, erect and drinking in the sun. Bright yellow, purplish brown, red and orange – all on straight tall stalks. I should have slowed down and taken a closer look but there never seemed time. Now I really regret it because it’s the saddest thing: the heavy flower heads are bowed with the weight of the seeds inside. They just don’t look so optimistic any more. It’s almost time for harvesting.

If you want to plant sunflowers next year (and I really would like for you to), you might as well plant the ones that yield the yummy black oil seeds for the birds. Songbirds just love ‘em and we can all use more of them. The black oil seeds are high in energy, nutrients, fats and carbohydrates for active birds.

Some interesting varieties include Kong, which grows to a height of eight to ten feet with several blooms, but the blooms are relatively small – only six inches in diameter. Black Peredovik plants only grow two to four feet tall, with seeds particularly favored by doves. Sunseed is another short variety, growing four to five feet tall but they have the dinner plate-sized seed heads, rich in oil and flavor.

Mammoth is large all around, in height (seven to twelve feet) and diameter of the seed head (twelve inches). Birds often eat the seeds right from the flowers.

Somewhere around the first of September, check the flower heads to see if the seeds are ready to be harvested. Florets in the center of the flower disk are shriveled, heads are downturned, and a lemon yellow cast is on the backside. Pull a few seeds to see if seed meat has filled. Poorly filled seeds may be due to a lack of pollinating insects.

To harvest, cut the seed head with about a foot of stem attached and hang in a warm, dry, well-ventilated place, rodent and insect-free. A paper bag with holes or cheesecloth can be placed over the heads to catch falling seeds as they drop from drying. If allowed to remain and dry on the stalk, flower heads should be protected from the birds with a wrapping of cheesecloth. Once seeds are dried, they can be rubbed easily from the seed heads.

Have you ever looked closely at Van Gogh’s vibrant paintings of sunflowers? They were done after he had sunk into the depths of depression and hallucinations. The amazing thing about these flowers, however, is that he captured a variety that has only recently been identified. Ordinary sunflowers have a single ring of petals called ray florets. The circular interior contains up to 1,000 tubular disc florets and these are what develop into seeds.

Van Gogh painted a mutant variety in which the whole flower head erupts with yellow petals, called a double-flowered sunflower, the result of a genetic aberration.