July 5: Demise of the balcony sunflower

[neverspent]

I was a little nervous about leaving my balcony sunflower for three days, but I watered it well, took a photo, and hoped for the best. When I returned, the flower was missing. Upon closer inspection, I could see the stem just below the flower had been severed. I searched a bit and found the flower, or part of it, on the wood below. It had been chewed a little bit, and torn in half, so I suppose an animal got it. My money is on a squirrel. At the farm, when some of my dad's huge sunflowers got blown down and fell over the pasture fence, the horses ate them. Flowers, stems, leaves and all, everything they could reach. Apparently sunflower plants are delicious.

It was a disappointment, and I am sad today. The flower was past its peak, and I had been looking forward to watching as the seeds formed and the head dried up. I hoped I could save some seeds and feed the others to the birds. Or, indeed, the squirrels.

I'm sure I'll have a more circle-of-life point of view about it tomorrow. One thing gardening does is forces you to learn emotional resilience.

Dreamwidth meta: I love that boom-de-yada icon (and I would love it more if animated icons didn't make me a little twitchy), but it is not one of my icons, and certainly not the one I have uploaded for my keyword "flower." Where did it come from? Sigh.

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[neverspent]

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