Who does not love the sunny faces of Sunflowers? Annual Sunflowers of all sorts grow very well in our hot summers.

As I age I have become even more of a flower gardener. I love to pick flowers and bring them inside to enjoy.   At one time I thought it was almost a sin to cut the flowers but I quickly learned I cannot be outside enjoying them all the time and cutting flowers frequently encourages many plants to produce more as in the case of Sunflowers even. If you cut of a beautiful leader bloom or blooms they will usually produce more flowers from the leaf axils as shown in this picture.

The downside of this love of flowers is that I hate to weed out volunteer plants in the spring so when numerous sunflower seedlings appeared between my potatoes, I left them alone wondering how the roots might impact the potato crop. It turns out the potato crop was great but it meant removing the sunflowers to harvest the spuds. It was impossible to dig potatoes without removing the sunflower roots. The result was a large bouquet of sunflowers and plentiful unripe seed heads.

Just one of several garden sunflower bouquets from this summer and just a few of the unripe seed heads drying in the sunshine.

My husband read that barbequed sunflower heads are quite tasty. We tried. Maybe we did not have the right technique but I am afraid I am not a fan. I would rather feed the birds or squirrels. It is easy to Google a recipe for Roasted Sunflower Heads. We followed the general idea of dousing in olive oil, liberally dusting with salt, pepper and spice of choice, then roasting on the barbecue.

Many people curse squirrels as they are not great garden companions if you feed the birds as they are masters at stealing from bird feeders. We don’t feed the birds any more for a variety of reasons. It seems the bird seed waste attracts mice, which in turn attract cats. I also have dogs and dogs love bird seed but too much bird seed is not good for the dogs. So the squirrel who comes to my garden is very welcome and provides much amusement including taking care of the sunflower seed heads I balance on the top of the fence as a treat.  This in turn creates great sport for the dogs who lose a lot of energy in patrolling for squirrel. They never win of course.

 My little Yorkie is very confused by squirrels because their tails are similar and I think she assumes squirrel is related. Try as she might however, she cannot get the hang of climbing the trees.

Many gardeners are aware of the companion planting, ‘Three Sisters’ when planting a garden in Spring. Plant climbing beans at the base of the corn and squash between the rows of corn. I now know that potatoes and sunflowers also make great companions, especially when space is limited.

My daughter in her Fort Steele Garden

Here Sunflowers and Runner Beans have become companions. The great height of these sunflowers provided great structure for the beans. In our part of the world , even if the beans don’t mature for eating, the red flowers are a huge attractant for Humming Birds. When it is a good year for Pole Beans however, nothing beats the flavour of French sliced Scarlet Runners.

As you can see there is really no excuse for not growing a few of these sunny garden giants if you love them as I do. There are lots of ways to economize on space with companion planting.