This is how tall it is. I was literally aiming the camera up to get a shot of it. This one was the larger of the two. It must be at least 12 feet tall.
Here, I am putting my hand around it's "trunk". I hate to use the word "stem" because there is no way this was a normal flower stem. She said they have to cut it down with a saw at the base. It can't just be pulled up at the end of the season.
As they get toward the end of their growing cycle, like this one, the weight of the flower head, now filled with seeds, begins to bend the top over. Once all the flower petals have dropped off, you can cut the head off and put it in the sun to dry. You can harvest the seeds to eat yourself, but I believe she is going to use it to feed the birds. She's already enjoyed the beauty of the flower for a couple of months, it's time to return it to nature. Still, it's pretty amazing to think, something this tall, and this huge, started from one tiny seed....
I grew several of these "Mammoth" sunflowers this year. The heads aren't quite ripe enough to cut, so I'll just leave them on the stalks for the birds to enjoy this winter.
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