Tag: Maximilian sunflower

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12/16/2023 Maximilian sunflowers stalks in driveway

Sunflower stalks probably 6-8 feet tall tied up with a white cotton rope to keep them bundled up out of the driveway
In late fall rains, the maxes fell over. This has been pretty annoying when backing cars out of the garage or trying to put stuff in the bins. So I have preliminarily tied them up so the seedheads are still there for birds and the stalks are there for overwintering bees. But less aggravating to walk through. I might put a raffia ribbon on it or something if there are Complaints about it.
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10/05/2023 three chef meal

Credit for fancy salad to Paula. The Chef made the bacon cheese chicken rounds and sautéed veggies. All of us and our guest rolled out potato gnocchi. The potato gnocchi is topped with pesto made with garden basil. the sunflowers are the ones from the garden from two days ago.
Our guest brought this exquisite chocolate flourless cake topped with chocolate ganache. Paula added the edible flower of Texas mallow. (It tastes… like a plant haha.). The cake was DIVINE.

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10/07/2023 weeding helper

Briar the German shepherd dog lays, looking completely and devastatingly bored, with her butt squishing the base of several stalks of Mexican sage, which are valiantly flowering purple and white above her butt.
After kindly avoiding sitting on the Mexican sage while I weeded, Briar finally decided to sit on them. 🙄
Briar the German shepherd dog stands with her head and back wedged under and draped by long arcs of Maximilian sunflower stalks and blooms.
Earlier, Briar helped us look over the now conveniently low Maximilian sunflowers. We can see all the insects easily!
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10/02/2023 feeding the world

Bright yellow composite flower stalks are fluffy with small blooms. They are in a rusted steel planter.
Probably Solidago rigidiuscula (thanks for ID, Mom!). This was an accidental but fortunate stowaway in the caliche from TX home!
Big arcs of flower covered Maximilian sunflowers are in bright sunlight in front of shaded and dark leaved Datura in the background.
Heavy work, feeding the neighborhood. The maxes hadn’t fully dropped yet here like they did after the rain.
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10/05/2023 red list day

Today I walked outside for a break and saw a very boldly striped bee on the Maximilian sunflowers and thought to myself, “Self, that bee is different.” Turns out I was right! This beautiful lady is a Southern Plains Bumblebee! If I have counted and remembered correctly, this is our fifth bumblebee species for the yard.
This species is an IUCN red list endangered species. It is not federally listed so it has no legal protection in the United States, but it is declining and of great conservation concern. Briar was observing our exciting new friend with great attention.
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10/04/2023 big rain! Big max!

eight foot long plus sunflower branches arch over wet concrete, weighted down by bunches of wet yellow flowers.
We got a very sudden storm, with over two inches of rain.
A bouquet of small sunflowers foregrounds a gray table with a noodle veggie soup and a plate with three rows of handmade sushi.
We accidentally broke off a sunflower stem while putting the trash and recycling bins back behind them. The trimmed off flowers looked lovely with the dinner! Thanks Paula for trimming them to save them!
A tidy bouquet of small yellow sunflowers is framed by two decorative gourds, vaguely pumpkin shaped but with greenish stripes and a bumpy surface.
Paula added the fun pumpkins from last week’s farm share after the Chef rearranged the flowers a bit.
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09/06/2023 garden after half inch rain!

Three partially opened bright yellow flowers with spiky green foliage and sepals stand in front of tall sprays of delicate white and pink gaura flowers. The gaura and the tall stalks of sunflower with arched green leaves peek above the edge of the roof, visible from this low angle. A sweetgum tree is blurry behind the house with a pale blue sky above.
Last night we had a lovely series of small thunderstorms and got a half an inch of rain in the gauge. This morning I think the flowers looked a little cleaner!! These are Grindelia ciliata in front of gaura and Maximilian sunflowers.
A partially opened yellow camphorweed flower is framed by the spheres of more green buds, including one big blurry one in the foreground. The background is dappled green and pale blue-gray sky.
The smaller yellow flowers are Heterotheca subaxillaris, which I recently learned has the common name of camphorweed. I keep forgetting to smell it.
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06/29/2023 damn bermudagrass

I was pulling some bermudagrass that is still in the buffalograss. Briar sat and helped. Behind her is the orange and red section of the rainbow garden. The new orange Agastache is in full bloom by the dwarf peach tree. The tall stalks are what’s still blooming of the standing cypress. In front of those stalks are the Will Rogers zinnias. After a few generations some other colors are sneaking in- especially that bright yellow one! It’s pretty though. Over by the house in the background you can see our Maximilian Sunflowers in front of the trash and recycling bins sure have gotten tall.
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05/27/2023 front yard

The rainbow garden is almost there.
The winecups have gotten MASSIVE. I have never seen such mammoth winecup leaves in the wild.
A typical winecup with regular sized leaves. We saw this one today on our afternoon walk, at Saxon Park.
A view panning over to see the Salvia greggii and coreopsis too. All the white flowers in the raised beds are cilantro. If you’ve been looking at our iNaturalist feed, the cilantro flowers are hopping with insect activity.