Sunflowers

It is a relief to arrive at the farm with no more serious a problem waiting than the grounds being engulfed in long lush grass.

Mind you, it is daunting to sweep a glance over all that grass knowing that the time available outside of midday heat is not quite enough to mow it all. So there is a step backwards each trip into grassy chaos until cooler weather arrives in a few more months.

The bluetongue lizard that we narrowly avoided running over as it sat on the wide expanse of tar at the turnoff of our road at the highway, has now slunk away into the cool of our backyard. Mowing that grass will be low priority, so grasshopper hunting can be a safer lizard pastime there than outside the garden. I do wonder though if we are lowering the intelligence in our resident bluetongue gene pool by introducing one rescued off the road.

The sunflowers outside the garden wallaby-fence greet us brightly in the sunshine. They have proven themselves unpalatable to wallabies, but the claim that they suppress weeds is hard to judge. The hoped for alleopathy hasn’t stopped some weeds from growing almost as tall as the sunflowers. It would seem that any advantage over weeds is from shading. But the sunflowers are cheery to have.