NOT sunflowers....

....& I'm hoping, for the time being, that Mae won't know the difference!
Every single day when she gets home from daycare she runs out to the half barrel to see if her flowers are coming up. Yesterday she even asked me to show her on the calendar how many more days until they come up (as I'd marked the "planting" date & potential showing-up date on the calendar for her). A few days ago when I went outside I saw that the dirt in the barrel had been decimated by those blasted squirrels. I didn't have the heart to tell Mae her seeds were history, so on the way home from Tom's Dr. visit this morning I swung by the garden center and asked the guy if he had any really smallish flower plants left. He said he had a few little cosmos plants, but that some of them were pretty spindly--PERFECT says I! He looked at me kind of funny, but when I explained what had happened, he started laughing, and told me I was a "good granny" for re-planting the barrel. He showed me where they were; there were 5 little packets with each packet having 4 little plants in them, so I took three of them. He picked up the other two and handed them to me, saying they were  "bonus packs" & to plant them along with the other ones for my granddaughter. What a nice man, and such an unexpected, generous gesture! So.....the "sunflowers" are planted & I'm sure Mae's going to be thrilled when she gets home & sees that they've all come up right on schedule!   :)))