A Sunflower House for the Summer

This sunflower house you see in the picture is hopeful thinking. It's not mine, but I hope mine looks kind of like this when it's grown...maybe taller!

Two weeks ago, we planted mammoth sunflower seeds for our sunflower house. By the second day, they had sprouted and were growing well. Last night we transplanted them from their sprouting containers to the backyard, where Mark had dug a place for them. I moved the plants from pot to hole, while Gabba, Lucy & Eliza mulched them and watered them (we invited Hyrum to help, but he had just gotten a new book from the library, so couldn't pull his eyeballs away from his book...I think he finished it last night, so I'm guessing we're making another trip to the library today).

We're very excited about having a sunflower house to play in this summer. I've been wanting to do this for some time, but never seemed to get to it. But my good friend, Laurel Walker, called us out in her "Gardner Gazette" to compete in their annual mammoth sunflower-growing contest. Of course, I couldn't resist the challenge. So I've combined the two. Oh, how I wish we had planned for this in April or May! With just a few more weeks' advance planning, this could be absolutely amazing. I found a great web page put up by a woman who apparently does this every year. She has some fantastic ideas on how to make it even better: plant morning glory between the sunflowers, and as it grows, it will make the walls more solid, for example. You should check it out.



It isn't too late to start a sunflower house. It would be a great project for the Fourth of July weekend. And by late August or September, your kiddie-winkies will be happily playing in their own private green space, and you can take pictures to your heart's content in an awesome photo op in your own backyard. That's what I'll be doing, you can plan on it.