This is a special time in the Charente- Maritime region. The sunflower fields are in full bloom. I look forward to the sunflower season in this area, as you drive around you can see acres of sunflower fields. It is a fairly flat region and you can see the yellow fields stretching off to the horizon to meet up with the blue sky. The main crop is still the grape vines but the grape vines are overshadowed by the display of sunflowers just now.
There is a small sunflower field, nestled in between the vines, just 200 metres from the house and I decided to keep a record of it flowering.
The sunflower, Helianthus annuus, or tournesol in French, turns towards the sun. Well, sort of, they had me fooled.
Seemingly they do follow the sun as they are growing and while the shoots are flexible enough. However, once they are in flower their stiff stems are too inflexible to continue the motion and the heads point towards the rising sun. Certainly mine turned their backs on the setting sun and are facing a constant SE.
a french garden 
It’s fascinating to see that the sunflowers in your region are just flowering, the sunflowers here in our area flowered weeks ago and are well over now. Lovely photos and I like the record you have kept of their progress 🙂
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I’ve noticed your fruits and vegetables are always well ahead of ours.
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Good for you, Amelia. I do like a series of sequential shots. I’ve only grown really big sunflowers two or three times. Grown well, they have to be the most satisfying of annuals. D
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Thank you, they are such happy, sunny flowers!
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Sun flowers always make me smile. I believe they follow the sun (although often only until mid-afternoon and then they turn back ready for the rising sun) until they are pollinated from which time they stop turning. Umbria has fields and fields of them, Lazio less. there are also many different size flower heads and different height plants, I haven’t worked out why the farmers choose a particular type. Christina
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I expect your fields are over now. The farmers seem to plant them at staggered times here, probably according to their own time availability, my field is a late one. We also get a lot of self-seeded ones early in the season in odd places which are very good to cut and bring in to the house as nobody wants them.
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Lovely. We grew the really tall ones here for a few years, for the children. But we haven’t grown any recently. An omission I must put right after seeing your lovely shots. Next year!
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