From cleaning the streets to giant sunflower

14 years ago

My son, God bless him brings me lots of treasures to play with!

This used to be one of the wire brushes that go on those huge street cleaning machines.

I painted it red and yellow, put a piece of screen in the middle and added wire paper holders for seeds.

Remember that Christmas deer that became a summer deer? I used his antlers to make the leaves, wrapped them in green duct tape.

Now, what was next on my to do for the garden list:-)

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Comments (19)

biddlebeach
14 years ago
OMG!! Love that!!!
tasymo
14 years ago
That is on GORGEOUS sunflower!! EXCELLENT!!!
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Been doing a little reading, not much. There ARE people who know more but aren't likely to see your thread here. Evidently sunflowers are useful for decontaminating from lead, pollutants and even radionuclides. If you want to read more, google sunflowers soil remediation. Also do a search here on GW for sunflower seed hulls. The word for the weed inhibitor is alleopathic, black walnut, sycamore, sugar maple, eucalyptus, others. I'll post the link because it is interesting, mentions sunflowers in the comments but can't find the comment that led to it. I've got one fairly sunny spot just north of my seed pollution (no possibility it's from seed hulls) where nothing has grown for years, suspect maybe my son or someone dumped some old oil or gas oil mix there. We had a heating oil spill when I was a kid; until we moved 7-10 years later, same result, totally barren. Getting soil tested is a hassle and would be more involved than the basic one for lacking of essential nutrients, probably cost more. I really hate to dig it all out, dispose of it and replace with fresh soil but may have to. I've got a free pack of sunflower seeds from years back and could use a few of my new good ones to test that spot and see what happens. If the sunflowers do grow, will get rid of the plants although toxins evidently are absorbed by the plants and don't get into the seeds. I wouldn't want to harm birds. I don't have any reservations planting sunflowers for one year in my soil and deal with the heads. A lady grows them in her strip between the sidewalk and street for a few years I've noticed now, they still grow but not a nice variety and/or scraggly, probably need some water, too. Here is a link that might be useful: Allelopathic plants: natures weedkillers
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Comments (11)
Wow, gorgeous! Nicely done :) I love the two-toned petals. I have some Solar Eclipse F1 that are supposed to have two-toned petals. I also have some Taiyo which are supposed to be a more classic yellow with brown centers. If I get any volunteers, I guess I could end up with something interesting next year. I put mine in the ground a little late, but they're nowhere near that one. I am now able to see where the flowers are going to appear, just tiny centers right now, but at least they're on their way. Don't you have some other varieties as well? I seem to remember some in the some other pictures you've posted.
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Comments (57)
And so do I! I planted sunflowers for the first time this past spring. I just bought seed packets everywhere I saw them , so had sunflowers from 12" to 12', lemon, orange, red, and even a couple of black ones! They made the side yard look so bright and cheerful, I'm going to do it again in 2015! I just need to find a way to keep the seedheads on the stalks till the birds have had their fill - I ended up cutting some and putting just the heads on a privet hedge next to my driveway. The cardinals went crazy for them - I LOVE SUNFLOWERS!!!
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I looked on the back of my seed package and saw the page seed company. A few weeks ago, I checked out their website and even tried to email them twice to find out more information. Both times their email response came up with a blank message. I will have to call them. I'm curious to the source of the seeds. If I know where they got them, then maybe I can get them there myself. Did you try to grow any this past year? If so, then how did you do with them? I was recently cleaning in the garage and I found another quarter of a package of them. Now I'm up to 2 and a 1/4 packs of them. How the mice didn't find them is beyond me. I'm probably going to plant most them this spring, and save a half a package just in case I have a disaster. Once I save a few heads, I'll have plenty of seeds.
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shysue
14 years ago
How clever you are! That is definitely a trash to treasure for the garden. Love it!!!
cindee11461
14 years ago
That is totally awesome!! Now where can I get one?(-:
goldenpond
14 years ago
Super stupendous! Thats is just too clever.
susiewantsroses
14 years ago
ONE OF A KIND!!!!!!!!! MAKES IT PRICELESS!!!!!!!!
concretenprimroses
14 years ago
The sunflower is great! Very creative.
kathy
tennesseetrash
14 years ago
How creative! I never would have thought of that ....
Marlene Kindred
14 years ago
Well, somehow I missed this post before now....LOVE you new sun!! How creative and a great repurpose!!
jlily
14 years ago
Imagination at work. What a great flower power. JLily
sorie6 zone 6b
14 years ago
Very cleaver. How big is the sunflower across? TFS.
textilejo
Original Author
14 years ago
The sunflower is 33 inches across. I think I need to find something else for the seeds in the center. They don't stand out very well. I might move it to the front of my house. The white background of the house will really make it stand out.

I love it when my son brings me the broken parts:-) I have more digger teeth to turn into fairy houses and several other metal things that I keep looking at but nothing comes to me yet on what to do with them,LOL

The red and white mushroom sitting on the ground by the sunflower used to be a fire alarm that hung on the wall and the green car spring bug I made last year.
monarae_gw
14 years ago
I wonder if they would miss one of those from the town maintance crew....hehe!
Love it!

MonaRae
sunnyca_gw
14 years ago
You sure "cleaned up" on that one! Nice recycling! Could you take a lid from a can & cut out "seeds"? paint them black & glue on with weatherproof adhesive! Jan
jitterbug4756
14 years ago
Very cute & creative idea...looks great where you have it at. Love your spring bug & shroom too!!!
janetgia
14 years ago
This project is amazing! Nice job!
luna_llena_feliz
14 years ago
Very cool! Now where in the heck did he get it? I want one too!
remontant
14 years ago
I love it! Why don't my sons ever find me anything that cool? I usually get chunks of limestone and litter. ::/
spedigrees z4VT
14 years ago
That is cool! Your son is indeed a treasure finder! I love your sunflower!

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From cleaning the streets to giant sunflower

Comments (19)

biddlebeach

tasymo

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shysue

cindee11461

goldenpond

susiewantsroses

concretenprimroses

tennesseetrash

Marlene Kindred

jlily

sorie6 zone 6b

textilejo
Original Author

monarae_gw

sunnyca_gw

jitterbug4756

janetgia

luna_llena_feliz

remontant

spedigrees z4VT

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From cleaning the streets to giant sunflower

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textilejoOriginal Author

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