Although he works hard in the yard, especially in the grass cutting and root removal departments, my husband doesn’t usually take that much interest in the flowers. Sure, he’ll help with planting them and will sometimes say something like, “Yeah, that looks pretty,” but only when asked. He has, however, been known to admire something in his mother’s yard (especially the vincas) and suggest that I plant some in just the same way (a border).
However, just like yours truly, he’s gone cuckoo about the sunflowers. As evidence, tonight he showed me some pictures he’s been taking on his cell phone, and I wanted to share them as an update to an earlier post. Oh, and about that earlier post, I’ve been informed that the slender yellow petals that I was describing aren’t petals at all but are actually individual ray flowers. Plus, get this. I knew the sunflower was the state flower of Kansas, but now I know that it’s also the official flower of Russia…an entire country.
Looks like this extraordinary plant holds a certain charm for others as well. It’s even been used as a treatment for whooping cough!
mom's musings 
Sunflowers just make everyone happy! I love daisies too!
We’re gone bonkers over them and have learned lots of neat things about them lately. For instance, they’re part of the daily family or vice versa. There’s some sort of connection there anyway! Otis has been reading up on them, and today he informed me that as time goes by, the yellow outside flowers will drop off as the inside seeds mature. Is that fair?? I thought about how we as parents wilt or sag or “fall off” while the seeds we’ve sown blossom and grow…hmm. I think I’m getting a little carried away with this!