On long, slender stems and waving in a September breeze, my sunflowers have finally shown their yellow faces. They are beautiful.

I fought adverse conditions to reach this day. A towering Maple tree shades our back yard and we use the sunny patch for vegetables. Mainly, though, I am lazy. Sunflowers seemed out of my reach.

Now I go to the back deck and talk to my crop. I finally realized if I planted them there they would get enough sun. I tell them how pretty they are and how much I appreciate their effort.

I’ve coveted sunflowers ever since seeing the abundant fields of them growing in France. Our mundane vegetables have provided a great deal of
satisfaction and food, but are nothing like sunflowers dancing in the breeze.

My husband and I battled COVID last winter and came out of it in the spring feeling weak and disheartened. One day in May I was buying seeds and found a fancy packet of sunflower seeds. The alluring picture on the packet made me choose them.

When the packet arrived in the mail it kicked around on the kitchen counter for awhile, then was relegated to other places on the first floor designated for future projects. Many of those projects never come to fruition. For instance, there’s a beautiful packet of wildflower mix that still sits next to the lipstick I keep on the ground floor for quick touch-ups.

No more indecision, I counseled myself. My husband was busy putting fish heads into the soil, making the garden ready for tomato plants. I employed my usual method of gardening and handed my sunflower packet to him. I use a point and command style, especially when it comes to the garden. I point, Marshall executes. Fish heads and sunflower seeds were the orders of the day.

As the summer progressed and the garden resisted scorching heat and floods of rain, the sunflowers stayed steady. I watched from behind closed doors wondering how it would all end.

About three weeks ago our daughter Marcy tackled a garden love affair. The burly tomato plants had wound themselves around the skinny, vulnerable sunflower stems. Marcy is ruthless. That day the tomato plants learned who
is boss. Almost immediately the sunflowers grew a foot and started to grow their outer protective covering. Tiny slivers of yellow peeked through.

Then came the squirrels. I went out late one afternoon to check on how thing were going, and three heads were missing. A defiant squirrel was munching in the yard. It was then that I remembered sunflowers are used
for many things. The seeds are delicious and the oil is used for cooking and skin care.

I hung fluttering paper COVID masks on the stems and so ended squirrel dinners.

Today my garden is brimming with sunflowers. In many cultures sunflowers have great significance, with common themes of health and happiness.

Certainly in this stressful time we need these reminders. A handful of sunflowers brings smiles.