Jack and the Beanstalk

You won't see many flowers on this blog as the only thing that seems to grow at This D*mn House with any kind of vitality are weeds and vicious shrubbery. And, because I've inherited my mother's "black" thumb. (Even cactus don't survive it.)

It's a different story at my neighbors' house. (The wife could probably make a stone bloom if she wanted. She has all kind of vegetation sprouting around their house.) That's where you'll find these fine specimens.

This year, I've watched these sunflowers grow from seeds. It's quite odd to have something like this just towering over you. These babies are at least 8 or 9 feet tall. And the tallest flower itself is bigger than my head! The leaves are wider than dinner plates.

It's funny, but I don't actually remember them getting that tall. It was kind of like one day they just sprung up out of the ground, ala Jack and the Beanstalk.

The neighbors say that they heard there used to be an outhouse where the flowers are planted and wonder if that might not explain the ginormous flowers. ( I don't know if that's true or not. If it is true, it would have been at least 65 years ago because their house, which was built with indoor plumbing, is just a few years newer than ours.) I'm not sure that that kind of fertilizer would continue to have any effect this many years down the line.