Resilient sunflower

In spite of the mowing that I talked about in the previous post*, nature is resilient, and amid the ruins of the sunflower stalks was one that, for being small and low, ended up with a twisted stalk but nevertheless survived and was growing. On that stalk I found the opening sunflower you see here. Come back tomorrow and you’ll see what else I was lucky enough to photograph on it.

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* In a gesture that favors the resilience over the cutting down, I put up this post just 12 hours after the last one rather than waiting till the next day.

© 2011 Steven Schwartzman

Aftermath

A sunflower stalk after mowing.

In my perpetual race with the mowers, I didn’t manage to beat them to the low-lying land in the northeast quadrant of US 183 and Mopac in north Austin last month. Nevertheless, I went there on June 28 to see the aftermath—which the etymologist in me will tell you was originally after mowth, which is to say ‘what’s left after mowing.’ I found the remains of various sunflower plants, like the one shown here, cut down in their prime. Is there a sunny side to the mowing down of sunflowers? Well, now at least we know that their stalks are filled with whitish pith.

© 2011 Steven Schwartzman