My husband, Doug, has been feeding the wildlife in our backyard for several years, including: chipmunks, squirrels, rabbits, and birds. Our sightings of songbirds like Mourning doves, Cardinals, Blue jays, Orioles, and Finches are sometimes rare; but, our Sparrow population is prolific. The Sparrows attack our feeder as though each meal is the last they’ll ever see, often leaving nothing behind.
Imagine our surprise when we looked out this week and found a sunflower plant growing within a foot of the bird-feeder. Growing like a weed, this plant doesn’t just have one flower head on it, it has nearly a dozen heads with a few buds still to open. Quite simply, it’s beautiful!
I’ve done some reading, and believe our sunflower plant may be the result of a wild sunflower seed germinating, resulting in the multi-head beauty.
However it came about, our surprise Sunflower may eventually provide added sustenance for our hungry feathered friends. As well, this lovely addition to our back garden is certainly worthy of the following tribute Haiku. Enjoy!
"A seed dropped from the feeder
And in our garden
Grew, fiery gold sunflowers!"
nhg
