 Well, our field still appears to be in excellent shape and most of the
plants are to ready to start flowering. The plants are over six feet tall
now. I'm standing on a bucket to get above the heads. We had a 1.19
inch rain on July 10th that came in handy.
 This plant is in the late R3 stage, almost at the R4 stage. In the R4
stage the bracts start opening and the yellow petals of the ray flowers can
be seen. It will only be a few days before we have some blooms.
 On the backside of the flower head you can see the nice green color of
the head and the bracts. The bracts are fleshy green leaves surrounding the
head. There's another beneficial insect wandering around looking for
food.
 This picture is similar to the first photograph of the field. The reason
I'm showing this one is the fact that now that the flower heads are just
about ready to bloom the flower heads are facing east. Up until now the
flower buds follow the sun through the day, which is a process called
nutation. But when we get to this stage the heads lock on the sun in the
east. So, if you're ever lost and you run onto a field of sunflowers
that are blooming or have already bloomed you will know which way is east! |
Well, our field still appears to be in excellent shape and most of the
plants are to ready to start flowering. The plants are over six feet tall
now. I'm standing on a bucket to get above the heads. We had a 1.19
inch rain on July 10th that came in handy.
