The harvested Early Russian flower head.

It was always a possibility, but then I’m an optimist. To my great disappointment, it appears that my Early Russian sunflower didn’t set seeds after all. Looking at the flower after it bloomed, it looked like there were lots and lots of seeds ripening up there. However, when I finally harvested the flower head, it felt unnaturally light in weight. I wasn’t worried initially because there were a number of plump-looking seeds along the outer edges. However, they turned out to be thin-shelled and hollow. Maybe the flower was too high to attract pollinators after all. There goes my next dream of filling the garden with lots of Early Russian sunflowers.

© 2011 curiousgardener.com All rights reserved.