Sunflower

As pretty as it is and as proud as I am of my daughter for showing an interest in gardening, I'm a bit disappointed with this Sunflower. Actually, I'm a bit disenchanted with this whole growing season. Last year, when one of the men from my former landscaper's company stole my daughter's Sunflower plant, I bought her a seed packet of Razzmatazz Sunflowers to try to make up for it which we planted this year in early spring. It read on the packet that it was okay to plant directly into the ground which we did. We have yet to see a single, solitary plant despite her religiously tending to that area. It would have been so much fun for her to look out her window each morning into the flowerbed directly below to see these glorious, colorful flowers, but no such luck. They must have been duds.

I didn't realize how many different kinds of Sunflowers there are. I was expecting this one to be the tall beauty with the full, dark center but it's not. I should have known that when this one's stem had to be supported with a stake all the way through it's growth. This variety of Sunflower doesn't have a thick, strong stalk like the dark-centered Sunflowers do which stand tall on their own. This one has a weak, curving stalk that when not supported through growth, completely droops over to one side and it's petals aren't as firm and vibrant-looking.

Anyway, it seems it's fully open or at least close to it.