The giant Mongolian sunflower in full bloom – happily, the flower grew bigger as the days went by. As you can see, there were definitely insects up there, spreading pollen around – during the day, bees were seen, and in the evenings (and presumably during the night), beetles took over.

The giant Mongolian sunflower bloomed for over a week, then began to bow its head after all the disc flowers had finished blooming. Eventually, the top of the plant began to resemble a huge shower-head as the flower drooped even more.

Another hatch of hairy caterpillars practically demolished one of the top leaves before being spotted, and I had to climb up on a ladder to get rid of them. While I was up there, something caught my eye…

The sunflower looked as if it was completely drained of energy, but there was definitely something still going on in there…

As I looked closely at the sunflower, I noticed something very interesting just at the edge of the green bracts…

Look below the green bracts… Do you see the seeds forming there? They’re big!

Seeds! Do you see the seeds? Nice, shiny white-gray seeds!

Yes, I am excited! It always thrills me to see something for the first time.

These photos were taken a week ago, and the bracts and outer petals have closed up more, hiding the seeds from view. I’m planning on harvesting the seeds, so I am watching the back of the flower, waiting until it starts to turn yellow. Some of the seeds will be kept for future planting, but we’re going to use the rest for snacks. It looks like it will be a decent harvest!

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