A sorry tale of two sunflowers

I was so proud when I took this photo, both my velvet queen's looking
big and tall and so full of promise 

Its very rare that the garden is the scene of a mystery, apart from in a popular UK TV programme called Midsummer Murders, im sure in that programme over the years at least one or two of the dramas has focussed on a garden.  But my garden is less exciting.  I plant things, they grow, or they don't grow, its all very simple, the action is cut and dried.  Until now.

Last weekend I finally planted out my first two sunflowers, and boy was I thrilled with them!  My other variety, sunburst mixed, had both died, but velvet queen had grown big and strong and started to put on height, as all good sunflowers should.  I was worried they were beginning to feel pot bound so I decided the time was nigh to plant them out.  Being so very tall I carefully selected my planting spot so they would have something behind them to grow up in front of, and hopefully be undisturbed.  I settled on the mothers herb bed which has a nice fence behind it.  Perfect I thought.  Oh how wrong I was!  I dug them little holes, tucked them in, bedded them down and left them happy in the knowledge that all was well.

Such a root system, shame its all gone to waste now!  Oh it could make me cry!

Approximately a week later I went to water the largest of the two sunflowers, my pride and joy, and discovered to my horror, a terrible, terrible thing had befalled it.  In my absence the mother had gone to remove a pot that she had randomly placed at the back of the border.  And being a complete blunder-bus she managed to virtually decapitate my sunflower.  How she managed that with a blunt pot I don't know.  She claimed she didn't know it was there, but I clearly told her where it was, and discussed with her that we would have to cut a patch through the choisya behind to allow it to reach its full height potential.  So she can't claim she didn't know.  She did quickly admit that the blood was on her hands, and set about cellotaping the head back upright using a splint.  Now I don't know what anybody else thinks, but I think that sunflower is effectively a gonner.  The whole point of sunflowers is they have the one stem that produces a big head on the top, a nice strong, complete stem.  I don't think sunflowers are like starfish; cut a leg off and it simply grows another.

I turned at this point for comfort in my second sunflower, merrily growing slightly further along the bed.  At least he would be able to still give me sunflower success.  Only when I went to inspect him, he was gone.  Not partially eaten, not decapitated, gone.  Not one trace of that sunflower remained.  Of course I immediately blamed the mother.  Now if it had been eaten by the slugs, or pecked by a pidgeon, or got by the frost, well that's fair game.  It is the outside world after all and one can only expect casualties at some point.  But my own mother?!  What treachery is this?  Had I know she would be such a problem I would have laid down a ring of biscuits while I was slug pelleting to distract her.

She claimed as her defense that maybe I hadn't planted it there at all, which really doesn't help anybody's feelings.  I have two theories.  One is she mistook it as a large weed and just yanked it out.  Two is something came along and ate the whole thing, every last scrap.  That seems doubtful as nothing has been remotely interested the whole time they were growing in the pots.  Either way I guilt tripped the mother for the rest of the evening.  And this is why I had to sow more sunflowers this week.  Hopefully sunflowergate has not put me too far behind.  It would seem that every year you have to experience a great gardening loss, last year it was the peppers, and this year it has been sunflowers.  Im going to be keeping a firm eye on that woman from now on though!