Today, the first of the sunflowers looked like they were ready to dry so we can collect the seeds. We intend to eat some of the skyscraper seeds and feed the rest to the yard critters. We will collect seeds from the smaller sunflowers and leave what’s left to the birds. To control where where the smaller seeds scatter, I felt it was best to collect them.

It’s pretty amazing to realize that the big petals aren’t the actual petals, but instead that little flowers inside the head are the actual flowers that the bees pollinate to produce seeds. By the way, bees LOVE sunflowers, so if you want to attract bees to your yard, plant sunflowers.

Here’s how the sunflowers looked last week.

You can see the individual flowers on the end of the seeds. The seeds start off greenish and then turn white, and then last week they started to get their black stripes. Here’s how they looked today after I knocked off the loose wilted flowers.

The seeds look big and they have their black strips, but you have to dry them before you can eat them. So I bought a handy mesh laundry bag to dry the head in and catch the seeds.

I don’t know how long it takes for the seed to dry and fall out, but I’ll post again when they do. I imagine for us people to consume, I’ll need to further roast them in the oven. I’ll save a handful of the raw seeds for planting and cast the rest on the ground in the backyard for the birds and whatever other critter eat seeds.

Now the question is, how do I break down the HUGE stalks and leaves for the compost pile? I guess I figure that out tomorrow.