plonq | Year In Pictures: 2010/09/02

This sunflower is flourishing in spite of my best efforts. It's a volunteer flower, probably sprouting from a seed that fell from one of our bird feeders. It got knocked over flat by some brisk winds that swept through here last week, and fearing for its well-being I pushed a bamboo steak into the ground beside it and tied it up. When I returned a few minutes later the stalk had snapped where I had tied it and the upper half of the plant was flopping about freely in the wind. I figured I had killed it at that point, but being the stubborn type that I am I tied it up again, this time putting a string right at the top of the stake, and another below the broken part of the stem to keep it from moving around.

As you can see from the picture it recovered from its mishap. I doubt it would be able to stand without the stake, but it seems about as unconcerned as a plant can be.