Beautiful changes in Coppertop’s sunflower patches warrant a revisit this week.

The mammoth sunflower has bloomed. It stands over eight feet high. Amazing!

In Eastern Washington and other parts of the world, some truly amazing flowers reach crazy heights. A sunflower hybridizer in California named Tom Heaton claims his enormous Sunzilla hybrid tops traditional varieties like American Giant and Russian Mammoth. Sunzilla grows over 16 feet high  and was bred for a stable stalk to support its heavy, 24-inch head! Read more here. Tom’s sunflowers are dwarves according to Guinness World Records:  “The tallest sunflower is 8.75 m (28 ft 8.49 in) tall when measured in Kaarst, Germany, on 27 August 2013 and belongs to Hans-Peter Schiffer (Germany). Schiffer has held this record twice previously with heights of 8.23 m and 8.03 m.”  Wish I had a photo of that!

Not the tallest, but very charming, the large pot of sunflowers on our patio has bloomed in lovely chianti shades, true to the variety’s name.

Mixed with other sunflowers in bed #2 stand these stunning dark-centered varieties. Their petals are wider and shorter than others.

Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see the shadows. It’s what the sunflowers do.

― Helen Keller