Tall and Fierce

For the first time in many years, my sunflowers have grown 

unmolested by birds, bunnies or bugs.

When I look into the backyard, they're all standing around in small cliques.  

They seem gawkily awkward from early evening straight through to the dawn hours, 

like painful middle-schoolers within the society of our backyard gardens.

But when the sunshine finally streams over the trees, they straighten up and suddenly look

strong, in their prime, tall and fierce denizens of a too-small kingdom.

Lemon Queen is acting like a royal out there, doing her light, bright-yellow thing.

She bloomed pretty early in the season.

The Mammoths made me wait while they grew to UNBELIEVABLE heights.

This is actually the view of one stalk from the grass:

(note the tiny bloom heads at every leaf node - so much to come!)

See what I mean???

FIERCE

*** Side Note ***

Have you meandered through the end of the first chapter of First Corinthians lately? All this sunflower talk brings it home for me. Here it is, if you'd like to see it in various versions without even leaving your chair.

He chose the foolish things ... He chose the weak things ... He chose the despised things...