I had no idea these would even grow in Bahrain, let alone develop so well. When a plant shop salesman handed me these seeds months ago, he was also not sure what would happen. Yes, they will grow, he said, to a few feet above the ground and, maybe, give some flowers. You can try, he said and try I did, not knowing what to expect.
Bumaiah, my gardener was, however, very sure these would grow and grow well! He said sunflowers are best suited to the mild winters in Bahrain and would be an ideal flowering plant.
Some months down the line, he has been proved right. But, yesterday, even he was surprised after he returned from a couple of weeks off to see how these have grown. The shortest plant in the patch is around 6 feet high while the tallest is nearly 12 feet – and growing!
Needless to say, these majestic plants are a pleasure to watch and observe! They are just another example of nature playing with our senses.
I have personally never seen sunflowers more than six to eight feet tall, even in the fertile plains of Punjab so, quite frankly, am ‘over the moon.’And, that’s not all. At least three of the plants have produced flowers in beautiful shades of mustard – another unusual phenomenon!
A quick Google search, however, reveals this is the Mammoth Sunflower variety, grown most commonly in the world’s temperate regions, and can grow to heights of between 10 and 12 feet.
While I credit myself with willing to risk being conned by the salesman, I will give full marks to Bumaiah, who believed. Hailing from the South Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, he is a gentleman with the proverbial green fingers. He’s done a great job elsewhere in the small plot of land we have and made sure we stand out among the small community.
As for us at home, we are just very glad we can live our dream – and that too in a so-called desert nation, where nothing supposedly grows!