For those of you who have been following me for a while, you may remember a post from a few years back titled For the Love of Photography “The Accidental Sunflower Garden” .  The post was about two (2) beautiful sunflowers growing wild in our backyard thanks to a few leftovers from our backyard critters.  They were so much fun to photograph that summer.  One photo even managed to make its way into my Etsy Shop as both a greeting card and matted print.

So, you can image my delight when the same thing happened this year!  Lucky for me, this time they were growing on the lower section of our yard and within easy reach of my macro lens.

When I discovered them, there were three (3) scraggly little stalks each growing at different heights. From a distance they weren’t much to look at except for a few buds and one (1) bright yellow flower standing tall with its face pointing towards the morning sun.

As I moved closer to the tallest stalk, I noticed the brightest flower was surrounded by a few other buds each waiting for their chance to shine.

Macro photography of a sunflower

Macro photography of a Sunflower

Rain droplets on the Sunflower petals

Clearly, the sunflowers had another purpose in their short lives.  The garden insects quickly found them and began to nourish on their sweet nectar and delicate petals.

Green bug devouring the Sunflower petals

Fortunately for me, the bees didn’t seem to mind my camera lens snooping around them.

Bumble Bees gathering nectar

But my favorite shot is the one below with the detail of the disk florets beginning to take shape.  Don’t you just love the geometric shape growing from the middle outward?

Disk Florets beginning to take shape

It’s been a few weeks now and the flowers are beginning to shrivel up and the stalks are slowly drooping towards the ground.  I’ll miss my little sunflower garden once the blooms have all faded away.  Hopefully, if they’re left undisturbed, they’ll dissolve into the earth and will come back bigger, stronger and brighter next year!

Donna

Website: Donna Robinson Photography

🛒Etsy Shop: Donna Robinson Photo