Chris' Firstborn Sunflower Child

Growing Sunflower Children (57 Days) Jun-30-2007
Being Part of the FLOWering of Creative Intention (Part II)
I last wrote about my Sunflower Children on May 14, 2007, (see Sunflower Children: 11 Days). I'm making a big deal out of this because this is the first time in my life I've planted and grown flowers of any kind, and I'm especially sentimental about these sunflowers because my father gave me the seeds last year culled from his own sunflower garden in Arizona.

So how's it been going? Well, if you look at the 11-day pictures from my May 14 entry, you'll notice that I initially planted 13 sunflower seeds in biodegradable Jiffy Pots. By day 11, only one had sprouted (the one endearly referred to as my "firstborn"). I gave the rest of the first-sown seeds a week or so more to emerge, but they didn't, so I planted a second batch of seeds in the same pots, and this time put two or more seeds in just in case more were duds. Days later, one by one, little green emerglings began poking through the soil! I was so delighted and planted a total of 9 sunflowers in the ground.

Sunflower Row: Firstborn
Sunflower at Far-End.

Here's a picture I snapped of one row of sunflowers planted along my wooden corner fence, happily referred to as my "Sunflower Garden." It's hard to tell by the angle of the photo, but the closest sunflower (with a red Geranium planted next to it) is much shorter than the one on the far end corner, which is the firstborn. The shorter ones account for the second batch of seedlings that started growing almost two weeks later. (To get the full scope of my Sunflower Garden, imagine turning the corner at the far end of the fence and you'd see another three sunflowers planted there. Forthcoming pictures will be revealed upon blooms.)

Notably, 57 days was a milestone for the firstborn sunflower because it grew to the point of needing a supportive stake to hold it upright so it wouldn't droop over. The support you see in the first photo was a temporary fix, and now all the sunflowers have tall dowel-rod supports accompanying them.

Chris' Vegetable Garden, June 27, 2007

Not coincidently, I also have a vegetable garden growing in my backyard which is just flourishing in the dirt. I've already harvested a small crop of radishes, which grew from seed-to-eat in less than 8 weeks (and I've planted a second crop which you can see is prolifically growing in a close-to-the-ground cluster just to the right of my site URL in the above photo. I think I planted way too many seeds too close together this time, and I haven't done the "thinning out" thing yet. That's okay, I'm new at this and will learn the ways of the green-thumbed gardener).

Tomatoes and cucumbers are planted elsewhere in my yard because my "logical-half" life partner compromised with me beginning with an 8' x 8' garden patch this year to be sure he didn't end up being the one taking care of it. Can you imagine? Well, I've shown him! I've been faithfully watering, weeding, and miracle-growing my flower and vegetable gardens this summer and shoo him away whenever he is pulling weeds from MY garden. What kind of Mum do you think I am? (The compromise is that he did the majority of the work digging out the 8' x 8' patch and filling it in with rich, black dirt. I helped too, but it was back-breaking work picking and shoveling out the hard clay underneath our sod.)

Yes, planting earth-nourishing foods in the ground from tiny seeds is a first for me this year too, and it's noteworthy to say that my interest in gardening has arrived at this time in my life for a number of reasons, which these are two:

1) The influence of a dear friend who has grown beautiful things in her yard for over 30 years (revealed in my flower picture entries in May and June 2006). She is responsible for introducing me to Bleeding Hearts, for showing me how to plant Impatients, and for mentoring me in a thousand more wonderful ways.

2) The profound impact Wayne Dyer's book, The Power of Intention has had on me. I've been so moved by Wayne's description of the "field of intent" and how it's always working in our lives (whether we acknowledge or appreciate it or not) that I knew I had to carve out a place in my life where I could pay special attention to how the force worked. For me, this was gardening. I loved how Wayne described it on page 7 of his book:

"This field of intent can't be described with words, for the words emanate from the field, just as do the questions. That placeless place is intention, and it handles everything for us. It grows my fingernails, it beats my heart, it digests my food, it writes my books, and it does this for everyone and everything in the universe."

And it grows my gardens.

"Emerging"
Firstborn Sunflower Budding (11 Days)

Back to my firstborn Sunflower Child... It took less than 11 days for me to witness the field of intention activating the life force contained within one sunflower kernel. The conditions I helped co-create (nurturing through soil, water, sun) were just right to induce life to continue forth, and I watch it daily with awe. I'll never forget the feeling I had on my first glimpse of the green budling: my heart simply leaped for joy. •

Next: See the Sunflowers Full-Grown »

© 2007 Chris Dunmire www.chrisdunmire.com. All rights reserved.