Photo of the Week: Roofline sunflower

 

July 13, 2025

Update: I scheduled this post nearly a month in advance. Just before 6 AM on the morning of July 19, 2025 a very weak tornado swept through the area and toppled the sunflowers. I already made a post about that specific event but am reposting the photos here.

Photo of the Week: Life, uh, finds a way

 

Tornado at 6 AM on July 19, 2025

What has been a slow tornado season in Iowa got a little interesting (at least for me) on Saturday morning as a very unusual early morning tornado caused damage within a quarter of a mile of where I live. Damage was minimal. Photos show flattened corn, a bent road sign, and at least two damaged power poles just west of Gilbert, Iowa.

Chris Kuball - Facebook

The tornado seemed to originate from the junction of two storm fronts moving perpendicular to each other, one north to south and the other west to east, hence the rare southeastern motion of the storm.

https://www.kcci.com/article/iowa-weather-tornado-story-county-gilbert-ames-satellite-data/65464449

https://www.kcci.com/article/iowa-weather-tornado-story-county-gilbert-ames-satellite-data/65464449

According to KCCI the tornado has been rated an EF-0 by the NWS as of Monday night.

Chris Kuball - Twitter 

I didn't quite escape undamaged.

July 20, 2025

One week earlier - July 13, 2025

The biggest sunflower was at least an inch in diameter where it was snapped at the ground level.

Making the best of it

Photo of the Week: Sunflower Grove

From this summer

 

Photo of the Week: Perfect Sunflower

 

Right click, open in new tab to zoom in

Gardening: Nature is an Autocrat

As the title says, Mother Nature is an autocrat. All of the cantaloupe seedlings died and all but one of the sunflower seedlings died. So here comes Round 2. Tons of bird and squirrel-planted sunflowers have popped up though. I also scattered a bunch of marigold and California poppy seeds a little over a month ago and they are just no beginning to grow. I've also sown columbine under the existing crabapple tree (because I'm sick of mowing under there) and butterfly weed seeds in the mulch around the house.

As for trees the potted maple has begun leafing out although it's been slow going. I repotted it into a larger pot to try and help it out. Lazarus has has also leafed out although the main stem appears dead as it's begun sprouting leaves from a new stem. I've taken two cuttings from a ginkgo tree and potted them so here's hoping that in ~2 months they'll have taken root. I've also managed to save and pot two crabapple seedlings. Most exciting of all is that I was recently eating an apple when I discovered that a seed had sprouted inside of it, producing a root about a quarter-inch long. So I potted that and am now praying that it will survive. The Lord taketh but He also giveth.

Spring is here!

That means it's time to start planting and with fuel prices rising and food shortages on the horizon there's no better year to start. Last fall I harvested a "wild" sunflower growing near my house and this year I plan to grow numerous sunflowers along the south wall where there is currently nothing but peonies, spirea, and bare mulch.

One head of sunflower seeds and some crabapples.

Along the west wall there's more mulch, spirea, and sedum. I intend to plant cantaloupe in the bare areas here. I have grown cantaloupe in a pot before, producing one baseball sized melon.

In the northwest corner there is more mulch, spirea, daylilies, and coneflowers. I've also planted about 7-8 apple seeds here and am hoping at least one will sprout. In the southwest corner of the property I intend to plant the maple sapling I collected last summer.

Better days...

Winter was hard. The leaves dried up and fell off. I'm praying this means it's just dormant and not dead. Moving to the front yard I'll be removing the shroud from Lazarus the mulberry in a few weeks and praying that the rabbits don't get to it.

Lazarus

Just to the north of Lazarus I planted a sycamore seed. If that one fails to germinate I have several seed balls I can take more seeds from.

Lastly, I may or may not take some of the cedar saplings and transplant them to the north or northwest (if the apples fail) yard to create a windbreak and privacy screen. An alternative is the possibility of 'guerilla' planting them around town.

An abundance of cedars

Those are my gardening plans for this year.