October: the last sunflowers

J and I decided it was time to cut down what was left of her sunflowers, which were ranged along the side of the deck, next to the greenhouses, in four large tubs. They had grown rather tall and leggy and were badly battered by high winds a couple of weeks ago, which repeatedly blew the tubs over. The stems did not break, but it wasn't good for the flowers, and I repeatedly rescued and re-tied them. We selected those stems which still had some flowers, even incomplete ones, and a few with attractive seed heads, to bring into the house. Our bouquet  includes dead and dying sunflowers, like Van Gogh's, as we needed enough to fill the vase and I like the heads with their little green zigzag sepals. The rest of the dead flowers are spread out amongst the plant pots and empty trays for the birds to forage.