The Saga of the Seeds

I was so excited to be photographing a new flower this summer.  Yes I have had sunflowers bloom in summers past, but this year was such a good variety and I actually got several plants to stand proud and tall across my yard.  (Several meaning sparse, few, scanty, miniscule in numbers.)

 

Yes, they needed my support, but all friends no matter how sunny their dispositions need support on rainy and windy days.  Those heavy heads can be quite droopy once the weight of the seeds kicks in.

I even had a volunteer just appear in a pot on my back deck!  Yes it was a party crasher, but you know some party crashers are always welcome.  Soon it was full of seeds.  And soon the goldfinch, which I RARELY see until the coneflowers seed, were popping by morning and evening.  I could just sit in my living room and watch the floor show!

Once the morning sun was over the tree tops his golden glow was easy to spot even though he tucked himself in the leaves of my moon flower vine which was embracing the dying sunflower.  (I guess that they had had an affair of some sort?)

He really was a beauty and soon made a dent in the seed head.  BUT  it took no time at all for the gray squirrel to also crash this feast.  His manners were despicable and he did not consider sharing.  Faster than the goldfinch can fly away this was the carpet on my deck...

And this was how the remaining flower heads looked!  Egad, it was a frat party.

But I was not filled with dismay...because prior to this disaster, I got the following to warm your spirits as the mornings grow cooler.

The two above I got while experimenting with a ring that I use to turn my lens backwards and convert it to a macro.  Cheaper than buying the macro lens, but VERY difficult to focus and stabilize!

And since there was a party...how about a South American theme?   OLE!