Sunflowers!!

Every year I give gardening a try.  You might remember my first potted garden in Colorado.  It went...ok.  

I just have these grand ideas of what I want a garden to look like and am always unprepared for how much work gardens entail. I have friends back in Illinois who have these gorgeous vegetable gardens, and I think, ooh! I can do that!  And then I remember that I am in Texas, where nothing grows but the temperature, and I am forced to try to only garden a very small flower garden and a few potted vegetables.  Sigh.

I am lucky that Evan likes to garden as well (his dad has a fabulous garden!!!).  The past few Mother's Days, Evan and the girls go out to buy me flowers and we all plant them together on Mother's Day.  It's become a tradition that I absolutely love.  The girls pick out flowers they think I will like and it's fun to see what they choose (this year--marigolds, roses, and some purple bush that is actually growing and thriving, but whose name neither of us can remember) (Evan looked it up--they are blue plumbago!!!).  However, gardening in Texas has proven to be most frustrating.  First off, it's hot as hades and we're always under water restrictions. Secondly, the dirt in our yard sucks (oh, Illinois, how we desperately miss your fertile soil!).  So, it's a game of praying for rain and trying to remember to water enough to keep them alive, but not too much to spoil them as the temperatures keep climbing and it gets more and more dry. I did plant a few garden veggies and was able to eat a few things, but where I set the pots ended up being in too sunny of a spot and the bluejays who nest in our trees ate all my ding dong tomatoes (with me watching! cause they are jerks!!).

Nevertheless, we continue trying.  

Evan has found his signature plant since we moved to Texas, though--sunflowers!!!  He planted them the first year here and they grew!  Like crazy!  This year he planted two varieties in multiple spots in our yard and some of them got to 10 feet high!!!  

 Evan starts off planting seeds and the girls get all excited when they see them sprout. When they get taller than each girl, it is cause for celebration.

 Here are some of them in our garden bed in our back yard:

 This year, we had house finches come and chow down on the sunflower seeds.  I had never seen finches like this before, so I had to take pictures (shocking, I know).  I was inside the house and taking them through the blinds all sneaky and paparazzi like...

 but they totally saw me.

 How creepy is this guy?!  He is making eye contact with me:

The sunflowers have since died and Evan hatchet-ed them down (he rarely gets to use his hatchet...because why would he need it? He's a lawyer, not Davy Crockett).  Next year, besides the obvious sunflowers, we're going to actually check to see what is native to our area in Texas and plant things that will survive in these hellish conditions.

We're freaking geniuses, I tell you.