Kiss My Sunflower

Sunflower Love 2014. Can two sunflowers show love for each other? I seriously think so! Look. We were well into 2014 here in Jacksonville, Florida. My second DIY garden of sunflowers was flourishing with many plants ranging well above five feet. On May 28th, I actually measured one plant at 85 inches! That's over seven feet at 75 days.

I was so impressed with all the colorful and varied flowers in my garden. What's particularly amazing is that the entire garden is from my seeds harvested from the first garden in 2013.

Each day, I was out in my sunflower garden photographing the many incredible blossoms. It is truly like a spiritual experience for me. Once in a while, I come upon a flower that seems to speak to me more so than the others. Well, heck, if I am to be honest, they all seem to speak to me.

When I spotted two yellow flowers that were face-to-face, it became an interesting photograph. Over the course of a few days, I watched them and marveled at what seemed to be a conversation of sorts. I know people like me talk to our plants, but do they talk to each other. I seem to think so ... seriously!

The rest of the story ... these photos are gracing some greeting cards in my JaguarJulieFlowers Zazzle store!

Thanks for visiting!
So, what did you think of my two romantic sunflowers? I'm telling you, the romance went on for days ... back and forth; back and forth! It was the most incredible thing to watch. Like two flowery people engaging in a romantic endeavor. And, it played out right under my nose; I could see it each day from my home office window that overlooks my backyard.

History: Excerpt from DIY Garden of Sunflowers that was originally created on Squidoo by JaguarJulie on May 2, 2014. On May 3, 2014 this lens earned the Purple Star Award for quality content. This lens was honored as lens of the day on May 14, 2014.

Burpee Sunflower Seeds

Burpee Sunflower Seeds and My DIY Garden! Why Burpee Sunflower Seeds? These seeds have brought me a lot of JOY! I never knew that a couple packages of seeds could add such happiness to my daily life. It all started with the planting of my first garden in February 2013. Now that we are well in April 2014, I am watching the seedlings become plants. Let me tell you how it all started.

From my personal experience, I say Burpee Sunflower Seeds are the best! Let me ask you, Do you like sunflowers? Have you ever grown a sunflower garden from seed? For me, the answer to these two questions is a resounding YES. After my recent experience growing sunflowers from seed, I feel like an expert. Let me tell you about it.

All of my life, I have been admiring sunflower blossoms. I have marveled at the size of the plants and at the beauty of those blossoms. However, I never tried growing any sunflowers. And I never contemplated that you could grow these from seeds! The thing is, I had never grown anything from seed! Could I grow five to seven foot sunflowers from seed?

My recent inspiration for such a flower garden was a scene from the movie Everything is Illuminated. In that scene, the travelers arrive at their destination. As they walk to the tiny house, they pass through the most amazing field of sunflowers I have ever seen. I got to thinking. Why don’t I plant a sunflower garden.

It actually took me nearly one year to get started. I was looking at my Lowe’s and Home Depot for sunflower plants. I wasn’t finding any so I asked the cashier. She told me you don’t want to be planting sunflowers in August in Florida. OK, I didn’t know that.

I made the decision to try growing them from seed. At the end of February, I prepared a large rectangular plot in my back yard for a garden. It was March 2nd when I initially purchased 3 different packets of Burpee Sunflower Seeds: Del Sol Hybrid (Pollenless) Classic Cut Flower, Summer Evening Mix Warm Colors, and Summer Cutting Garden Mix for Vases and Blooms. I also opted to try a Burpee Seed Starting Kit to create my first DIY Garden of Sunflowers! 

In the starting kit, I planted some seeds from each of the three packets in the 25 cells. Soon, I was seeing little seedlings in each of the cells. I picked up a long rectangular flower pot from Lowe’s and transplanted the little seedlings until it was time to put them outside. I was hoping to avoid any freezing weather.

Well, the seedlings were transplanted one more time outside in one of the three rows I prepared in my garden plot. In the second row, I planted the seeds that were left in the three Burpee seed packets. For the third row, I went back to Lowe’s and picked up two packets of Burpee Autumn Beauty Organic Sunflower Seeds.

Then the magic began to happen! As the sunflower seedlings were getting bigger, I was taking lots of pictures to plot the growth. Soon, I began to blog about my garden. Before you knew it, I had blossoms! I was taking pictures in the morning, at noon, and in the evening. And, I was blogging more. One thing led to another and soon I had a Seven Foot Garden. Pretty soon, I was harvesting the seeds. I started The Sunflower Project to pass along my free seeds to encourage the next person to grow their own sunflowers and then harvest those seeds to pass along to the next person. Oh my!

And, finally! I opened my JaguarJulieFlowers Zazzle shop to showcase my floral photography — primarily sunflowers!

Am I glad that I planted Burpee Sunflower Seeds? You bet! Can I guarantee that you will have as much success as me? Well, you don’t know if you don’t try!

To make your journey a bit easier, may I suggest that you try a mix of seeds like this one. I’ve selected the All Summer Sunflower Cutting Garden Simple Solutions Seed Packet because it has Autumn Beauty, Vanilla Ice, Aztec Gold, and Jade. Those four varieties were all growing in my garden. Looking back at my experience with Burpee, I was overjoyed at my results. It seemed that every seed produced a seedling. And, I discovered that not all sunflower blossoms are yellow! One more thing, I fell in love with the Autumn Beauty!

The proof is in the blossom. Be sure to check out my photo mosaic below of some hand picked beauties from my first DIY garden of sunflowers.

With over 100 sunflower plants, I took a thousand photographs, and more, of the pretty blossoms. Now, many of those inspiring sunflower blossoms are appearing on a variety of products on Zazzle. Here’s a Pretty Colorful Autumn Beauty Sunflower Coaster! Who knows where a few seeds might lead YOU!

By the way, I was the Official Squidoo Backyard Gardener Contributor. But, I bet you didn't know that I also am one of the Blondes that DIY #blondesthatdiy <-- hashtag!

SUNFLOWER BLOSSOMS FROM MY GARDEN!

I love to hear from my readers!

Please take a moment to share your thoughts. I hope you enjoyed my review of Burpee Sunflower Seeds and enjoyed my sunflower garden. For me, I had tremendous success with Burpee! I’ve picked a few flowers to share from my garden. After all was said and done, I had over 100 plants with hundreds of blooms. I took well over one thousand photographs of those flowers. Be sure to check out my blog and follow my sunflower journey. Better yet, why not start your own sunflower journey?

History: This page was originally created on Squidoo by JaguarJulie on November 9, 2013.

The Color Yellow - Wearable Sunshine

One of my all time favorite colors is the color yellow. It is like sunshine and if you wear yellow apparel, it is definitely wearable sunshine. I gained a greater appreciation for yellow when I became a blonde in my 40s.

And, then in 2013, something magical happened. I grew a sunflower garden from seed. Not just one plant, but more than a hundred, evenly spaced in three rows in a plot about 10 feet by 16 feet.

I have been enjoying the sunny color of sunflowers in my own flower garden out back. On March 2, 2013, I planted the first of a variety of seeds for my new garden. The first blossoms I saw were like this one. I can’t imagine a happier flower than this.

In 2014, I repeated that sunflower garden. It was still 10 feet by 16 feet; however, now I had four rows instead of three. Using the harvested sunflower seeds from my first garden, I also had considerable more plants. There's one of my brighter yellow sunflower blossoms. Isn't it pretty?

My inspiration for the sunflower garden, aside from loving the color yellow, has its origins in an appreciation for the sunflower art of Van Gogh.

Say hello(w) to Sunshine Wearables : The Color Yellow is like a burst of Wearable Sunlight! Wearing the color yellow finds me in a happier state of mind. What is it about the psychology of such a color in that it has the capability to perk us up? Is it perhaps that it reminds us of sunshine or of a smiley? Or maybe sunflowers and gerbera daisies? Let the sun shine in!

Once upon a time, the hubby [now my ex] was extremely late getting home from work. When he called and asked if I needed him to pick up anything, I suggested perhaps something from the deli of Walmart as it was getting late for me to be fixing dinner. It was more than an hour later when he got home. Behind his back he was hiding a half dozen of large daisies — oh, definitely a favorite color! And, these are them!

1. I find that wearing a sweet little pair of yellow daisy earrings can perk you right up! Like these. Be careful somebody doesn't want to pick that daisy!
2. Scientific studies show that people who smile are happier people! A smile is like a ray of sunshine. Encourage the art of smiling with these sweet smiley earrings! This color of smiley always puts a smile on my face.
3. Lemonade is sure pretty when you paint it on your nails. For me, OPI is my favorite pick. Why not consider 10 nails of sunshine? OPI Nail Polish/Lacquer Lemonade Stand by your Man NLD22
4. Did you hear? Patent leather is back in fashion. Shimmer your waist with this awesome, sunshine yellow patent leather belt. It's slightly retro! Luxury Divas Yellow Patent Leather 3" Wide Elastic Corset Waist Belt
5. There is a lot of style going on with this sandal -- it's quite strappy and colorful. Love the wide straps of color. And, the wedge gives it a bold look. Seychelles Women's Last But Not Least Wedge Sandal,Yellow/Vacchetta,9.5 M US
6. Well, you might want to wear these every day. However, consider a rainy day and you will add a ray of sunshine with your spiffy ballet flats.
7. Now, talk about a happy and smiley person ... it's Jessica Simpson for many reasons. Channel that happy with this sweet sunshine yellow bag. Gorgeous!
8. When I saw the sunshine backpack, it made me smile. Perhaps you are smiling too? Well, when you wear this, you will find that people are seriously "smiling behind your back!" Imagine that.
9. KitchenAid Artisan 5-Quart Stand Mixers in Yellow Citrus

I Love Gerbera Daisies Too! Direct from my front garden. Yes, indeed! I am also growing these gerbera daisies in my front yard. I purposely selected this one gallon potted plant from Lowe’s. It was repotted in my front garden just in time for spring. So, I have some sunny colored flowers in my front yard and back yard.

For me, I drove a super bright YELLOW car for nearly TEN years! I saved and saved and was able to afford this 1999 SLK 230 Kompressor -- after leasing it for 3 years, I opted to buy it from the bank.

YELLOW SUNFLOWERS
I love the color yellow especially in sunflowers! Check out some of the yellow blossoms from my very own flower garden. I've added my photography and designs to my Zazzle shop JaguarJulieFlowers!

I hope your day has been brightened! Ah, such a happy color. Are you INTO this color? What interesting items do you own that are yellow? Do you wear this color year around? Have a car in that color too? Hey, I’d love to hear from you!

History: The Color Yellow : Hello(w) Sunshine was originally created on Squidoo by JaguarJulie on June 22, 2008. Highest lensrank ever achieved: #3,712 overall. Lens #378 in the quest for Giant Squid 400 Club.