Sunflowers

We normally plant a few random flowers around the vegie garden. I'm not too big on growing flowers myself, being the son of a florist and having enjoyed the delights of de-thorning roses and lugging around lots of heavy, wet things in my teenage years. But whatever, they look pretty and people passing by really like them.

This year we planted a few sunflowers for the first time and they certainly attracted a lot of attention. A little too much attention from someone (or something) in the case of sunflower #3.

It vanished without a trace one day, apparently ripped off by an admiring member of the public. One gentleman whose English was not the best, was trying to tell me an alternate theory:

"It was the bat! The bat ate it!"
"The bat?"
"Yes, I grow them once, I see bat come down and take them! Eat them!"
"A bat??"
"Yes, the big white one!"

It dawned on me at this point that he meant a bird, a white cockatoo in fact. Quite plausible actually, but since I hadn't seen (or heard) any around for a while, I still suspect it was some form of human.

We'll grow some more next summer.