It’s time for the annual tour of my sunflower field! Unfortunately, this year, my sunflower field hasn’t been as lovely as in years past. I’ve have a lot of blooms, but I also have a lot of weeds, and the blooms I do have are pretty sporadic. I absolutely know why, though: I didn’t put a lot of heart and soul into it this year. Of all the things on my plate, the sunflowers didn’t get a lot of my attention this summer.
However, I do still have some beautiful blooms so here is a little glimpse at some of the gorgeous flowers currently growing in my side yard!
We planted the sunflower field on May 9, and I had my first sunflower blooms on July 22!
Planting day:
I apparently took very few pictures on planting day! We had a little chainsaw accident, plus the big kids had their drama play that afternoon, so even though we spent a few hours out there planting, I didn’t document much at all!
First blooms:
And now:
I didn’t grow these ones, but my friend did- aren’t they STUNNING?!? She has a simple backyard floral garden and grows the most stunning zinnias and dahlia’s and all kinds of other flowers. We picked up a whole bunch of flowers for Tera’s birthday party to make flower arrangements, and I just couldn’t stop taking pictures of them!
Here are my zinnias- all the plants in the background are sunflowers!
This is my 3rd year to have a sunflower field, and I’m still learning as I go. My first summer I planted them facing east/west and didn’t love that (although I loved the actual sunflowers). My second year I planted them north/south and despite a flood and a lot of weeds, that field was very successful! I learned a lot from my first two summers, so I really thought that this year would be even better. However, I don’t think that it has been any better. It’s ok, though- it’s a good lesson for me to remember that growth sometimes isn’t linear, and some years will be better than others. Some years will have circumstances outside of my control, and some years will have circumstances within my control, but I may choose to not spend my time on those circumstances!
Last night a friend took some photos for me to use as headshots and marketing for my doula business, and we snapped a few in the sunflower field. It is SO gorgeous at “golden hour” right before the sun sets. Next week, I’ll have some friends over to pick sunflowers and make sunflower arrangements- looks like I need to go do some weedwacking first!
Previous Sunflower Fields:
Life Lessons from the (2025) Sunflower Field
Visits to Sunflower Fields that I did not grow:
Great pictures! Sometimes it’s hard to know why some years certain plants go well and some years they don’t. You’re learning things by observing which is really important. I’m inspired to try to grow zinnias next year. Though even with them, I’ve heard from some people they have great luck with them and other people don’t. I guess I’ll keep my expectations low.