Thursday, June 20, 2024

Pink Sunflowers?

  Last fall I ordered seeds for a pink sunflower - Midnight Oil - and coveted them throughout the winter for spring planting. They weren't cheap: 15 seeds were offered for $11.99 on Amazon (that's nearly $0.80 per seed!)


 It was probably April when the weather began to warm enough that I planted the seeds in potting soil and in peat pots on our enclosed south-facing porch.

 I moved them to the north end of the garden in mid-May when the risk of frost was past.

Recently I noticed the plants were beginning to form buds. They were still short - dwarf sunflowers that were no more than a yard tall. That was my first disappointment. But then the buds began to show color.

 Yellow!

06-16-24

 I figured maybe they began to show as the traditional yellow and then faded to pink.

 They didn't.

06-17-24

 Of the eleven plants I have growing in my garden, five have bloomed. All are yellow!

06-20-24

 Here's another close-up of the largest flower head.

06-20-24

 They're pretty but they're no more than the standard sunflower. And there's not a pink petal among them.

Later: The seller on Amazon offered a full refund. "I'm very sorry that you had a bad shopping experience," they wrote. At least the resolution was honorable.

06-24-24









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