Wildflowers. And Us

I was picking these wild sunflowers while we talked on the phone today. I actually didn't pick them so much as I picked them up and off the ground. I'd spotted a large bush that had recently fell over, so since it was already on its way out, I broke it down and brought much of it home for processing. Nothing went to waste, by the way. First, I separated the heads from the rest of the flower. The flower heads were crushed, ground up and spread into the part of my yard where I am only growing native wildflowers. This should lead to lots of wild sunflowers popping up by this fall. The remaining stems and leaves were put in my compost pile, where the "greens" (vegetable matter) will be a welcome addition to the "browns" (paper, cardboard boxes, etc.) that are currently over-represented in the pile. The right mix of greens and browns help to maintain consistent decomposition. I'm very curious to see how the worms will react to the sticky sap that covers the flower stems. I suspect they'll stay away for a few weeks until the sap is thoroughly broken down and then continue breaking down the plants. The flower petals were separated (see the last picture) from the heads and were then put into an airtight container to be dried and then used in this weeks' commitment ceremony, which will be Friday night. That's as good a repurposing as I can imagine.

#wildflowers #wildsunflowers #sunflowers #2024