Some of my sunflowers are getting to the point where I can harvest their seeds. That’s super exciting because it’s my first time collecting seeds. This’ll sound very dumb, but until earlier this year, I thought sunflower seeds were a bit like apples and grew out of the little things that bees collect pollen from, but then I saw that the seeds grew underneath the pollen. I always thought I had seedless sunflowers. I’ll leave plenty of seeds for the birds, but growing sunflowers from seeds that I harvested myself sounds so cool, and I’m really looking forward to spring now.

It’s amazing how plants can recover from what looks like a major injury. Last year, I had a sunflower seedling in a small cup, and something bit off its head. Might’ve been a bug, or a bird, we’ll never know, but all that was left was a thin stem, just like in your photo. I kept watering it, and after a while, it started growing new leaves, then a second head, and although it was much smaller than the other sunflowers, it still bloomed.

Animals and plants that glow like that are so cool! We live in such a magical world, and photos like this remind me that the magic starts right at our doorsteps.

My favourite part about growing flowers is when all the little pollinators show up and get their legs covered in pollen. I could watch them for hours :3

That sounds lovely! Thank you for your insight, it’s already taught me something new (I didn’t know that woodchips prevent compaction, or that it was an issue in the first place). And if your garden looks this pretty in the winter, it must be absolutely stunning in the summer <3

Oh, I’m SO jealous because having a forest garden is my dream. Do you have to put in a lot of work to keep it in shape?

Wow, stunning colours!