The nasturtiums (which have been almost forgotten in sunflower one’s time of need) are snaking their way across the patio in two different directions. So much so that another pot reshuffle was required to stop other things from being climbed all over by them. Their seed pods are also getting quite massive and numerous, which is very encouraging for next year’s growth. There are literally hundreds of flowers now, and roughly that number of seed pods.

Given that I started with no more than a couple of dozen seeds and now have this sprawling mass dominating the patio, I think they’ll be in every spare corner next summer!

Here’s an attempted arty shot of all three of the flowers. Some improvement required!

Number two’s flower continues to grow and the petals have pretty much straightened up now.

Nancy decided that she could do a better job of splinting number one using some rather fetching and appropriately green-coloured ribbon, to replace my Heath Robinson lash-up involving part of an old cereal box (left). The results (right) were a distinct improvement, and number one now has (we believe) sufficient support to prevent the head from completely snapping off.

Despite the desperate look about him, number one is a hardly fellow - as you can see by the fact that despite the damage his head is still craning upwards towards the sun. Down, but not out!

And amongst all the excitement number three has also flowered now. Hooray! You can see him as the left-most sunflower in the middle picture.