I bought a little pool tonite to put in there. We will test it next week when I need to water them.

Thank you C

Bon and Dawn for putting this idea in my head. Ryder is having so much fun in his sunfwower circle.

He hangs out in there most of the time we are in the garden. The other day he starts hollering from his pool " can someone pweese bring me some green beans, the purple kind"
Who could resist. I love it because it is shade and the only shady spot in the bottom area

What a great idea!

I'm glad he's having so much fun with it, Kim.

Now for stage two: as much as we love sunflowers, they often begin to die back after they've produced their blooms. (Deadheading once the bloom is fading can help as it often will cause the plants to put off side shoots with smaller blossoms.) What I used to do to keep the sunflower house useful after the sunflower plants died back was to sow seeds of fast-growing annual vines to climb the sunflowers and provide foliage to keep the sunflower house shady after the sunflowers die back. You can use the annual flowering vines of your choice. I have used morning glories, moonflower vines, black-eyed susan vine, Cardinal climber vines and cypress vines. Once I used firecracker vine and it was spectacularly beautiful, but it is a bit of a picky grower compared to the others.

You also can use edible vines like cucumbers or pole beans, or ornamental beans like hyacinth beans, or even mini-pumpkins (if you don't have squash vine borers) or decorative gourds. One year I used luffa gourd vines and then we made sponges in the fall/winter from the gourds we harvested from the plants in the autumn after they had dried out.

There's nothing sadder than a little guy or gal in August after the plants on the sunflower house or tee pee have died back and it isn't shady any more because they really miss their little hideaway.

This is so awesome, Kim! I'm tickled for you guys. I didn't have a chance this year, but we did get several volunteer sunflower plants that came up, one in the small planter bed. I've broken down all the planter beds, moved the dirt and leveled the grade to return to a yard. But I didn't remove the sunflower plant. So, now, all that stands out front is a big glorious sunflower.

I'll never go without sunflowers ever again. It's a heart thang. Your little guy has the bug!! hehe

This is a great idea. My grandson would love it. I think I'll try one next year.

great ideas Dawn I will sow some hyacinth since I have jars full of seeds that never got planted at home and I will be uprooting everything at the school home soon. Every stalk has at least 5 heads already and when I grew them in PA I remember only one head per stalk. They are just now bulging with seeds.

Kim, The number of flowerheads per plant is dependent on the variety. Some varieties make only one big (or gigantic) flower head, others may a few, and some produce tons of smaller sunflowers.

When we have big heads full of seeds, I wait until they are mature (but before the seeds start falling out of the seedhead), cut them off and line them up on a flat, dry surface to continue drying out. Then I store them away (in a metal or plastic container with a lid to thwart rodents) and save them for winter. In the winter time, I'll put one out of the ground occasionally and let the birds strip it of the seeds. It makes our yard a popular place to be in winter. Most of the time, I don't get all the seedheads harvested before some seeds fall, so I tend to get sunflower volunteers the following year which is fine with me.

Dawn

i planted 4 different varieties but can not remember what, LOL.

I decided not to plant the hyacinth since Ryder loves purple beans raw I would not trust him. He ate an ear of corn raw the other day and proclaimed its good tawcorn. Every corn is popcorn to him

Ryder sounds like a charmer. How old is he? My grandson, Landen, is 3 1/2 and just now getting into gardening. We planted some morning glories and moon vines and he can't wait to check them out ever time he comes over Sometimes that's everyday, he can't figure out why they are growing so slow. I take him next door to my neighbors veggie garden and he is amazed at the tomatoes (when he's not chasing cats). He is coming over tonight for supper so I am sure we will be checking out his vines. He will just love the moonflowers when they bloom because he is obsessed with the moon and stars. When we have a full moon you can't hardly get him inside. I love the wonder of kids, they make it all,worth while.

He is almost 3. but if you ask him he is 3. He is completely in love with gardening and harvesting and eating fresh out of the garden. I boil him an egg and he eats carrots and a few beans for breakfast. he just discovered he likes cucumbers. once I convinced him it is not a pickle ands the prickles wash off. The garden is about 7500 sq. foot and he knows every inch of it. I didn't know how much I loved gardening until this year. last year I had an ok garden at home in a small backyard. But this is monstrous and so much fun.
We got 2 piglets tonite so he probably wont be able to sleep.

The little ones make gardening or any agriculture worth it. The joy they show about all of it, brings joy to the adults that are getting a bit jaded sometimes. You see it all through a new set of eyes. My grandson is always talking about things I see everyday but have quit actually seeing.

The feral kittens were enough to keep my Grandson excited for weeks. You are probably right about the piglets, he won't sleep for a while!!HA