Growing sunflowers from a neighbor's plants

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I've been riding past my neighbor's sunflowers for years, and just recently I saw him outside, and asked if it would be OK if I took a few seeds. Yes, I know that I can get sunflower seeds at the store, but what's the fun of that? And besides, these are blooming beautifully in January, and I'd love to get some flowers that do well in the winter here in the Phoenix area.

I took a couple of spent flowers and put them on my workbench in my garage when I got home this morning. The next step was to pull everything apart, and separate out the seeds, which were much smaller than I'd expected (I'm used to the big sunflower seeds that you buy at convenience stores!)


Looks like I got plenty. Here's a shot of the seeds next to a dime, so you can see how small they are.


I'm going to make up a nice fine mix of potting soil with coffee grounds, and see if I can get them started in the garage. I'll let you know how it goes!



Update: February 10th. Sprouts!



Thank you for the encouragement! If you want to see daily pics of my adventures on my recumbent trike in suburban Phoenix (just for fun, of course!) you can follow me on Buy me a coffee, and you can buy me a coffee if you'd like to:

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