Can you guess which sunflower is the volunteer?
@AbbyGreenhill (45494)
United States
June 28, 2017 10:16am CST
I live in Tennessee, our state's nickname is the Volunteer State.
Any gardener knows that if you don't plant a particular plant but one comes up it is refereed to as a volunteer. We often get volunteer tomato plants in early spring.
I love sunflowers and have been planting them along the fence since we lived here. Very early spring I saw the beginnings of a sunflower - a volunteer from last year. It was a while before I planted more sunflower seeds to keep it company.
Now the volunteer's flower is opening already - this volunteer is showing the way to the other small ones!
Photo is mine.
12 people like this
15 responses
@AbbyGreenhill (45494)
• United States
28 Jun 17
@HazySue No poop in the pool or the walkway around it!!!!!
2 people like this
@AbbyGreenhill (45494)
• United States
28 Jun 17
LOL - she is leading and guiding them upward !!!! We had one under the feeder last year. But this spring we took it down - too much bird poop near the pool
3 people like this
@HazySue (39268)
• Gouverneur, New York
28 Jun 17
@AbbyGreenhill It sounds like it was a good idea to remove it. poop and pool don't go together well.
3 people like this
@TiarasOceanView (70022)
• United States
28 Jun 17
That is so nice..never heard of the volunteer state.
It is nice you have that sunflower..is it the wild tall one?
4 people like this
@AbbyGreenhill (45494)
• United States
28 Jun 17
Yes it's the tall one....several weeks ahead of those I planted.
3 people like this
@AbbyGreenhill (45494)
• United States
28 Jun 17
@TiarasOceanView very hardy - a little skinny but that's ok.
2 people like this
@FourWalls (68120)
• United States
28 Jun 17
Go Volunteers! Of course, I remember that they told me "Navy" is an acronym meaning Never Again Volunteer Yourself. Guess I'll just be content with visiting the Volunteer state and seeing the volunteer tomatoes and sunflowers....
3 people like this
@AbbyGreenhill (45494)
• United States
28 Jun 17
LOL, come on down - when are you going to PF again?
2 people like this
@FourWalls (68120)
• United States
28 Jun 17
@AbbyGreenhill -- sometime next month, I hope.
1 person likes this
@AbbyGreenhill (45494)
• United States
28 Jun 17
@FourWalls we are going August.
1 person likes this
@Hate2Iron (15727)
• Canada
28 Jun 17
I have never heard that expression before. I will have to go out this afternoon and see if we have one??
2 people like this
@LadyDuck (471456)
• Switzerland
29 Jun 17
@AbbyGreenhill Most of the time the volunteers are healthier, I also have volunteers tomatoes and plenty of volunteers 4 o'clock plants, they are spreading everywhere.
1 person likes this
@AbbyGreenhill (45494)
• United States
29 Jun 17
@LadyDuck We pull up the vol tomato plants since we only want two plants total. My husband gets volunteer dill every year.
1 person likes this
@AbbyGreenhill (45494)
• United States
28 Jun 17
Yes, that's pretty much where yours came from. Sometimes the volunteers are healthier than the brand new ones!
2 people like this
@AbbyGreenhill (45494)
• United States
28 Jun 17
It stays warm through Oct. but I think they would die over winter. Maybe I'll try to see what happens LOL
2 people like this
@AbbyGreenhill (45494)
• United States
28 Jun 17
@paigea Down here they plant some kind of greens on the field and in gardens in winter - I think mostly to keep the weeds down. Potatoes grow underground and it's a constant temperature all year long.
2 people like this
@paigea (36317)
• Canada
28 Jun 17
@AbbyGreenhill I always wonder because though our winter is so harsh some things come up the next year. LIke sunflowers. Each year an onion or two seems to come up in the garden, sometimes potatoes. Those seem to be the main things that come up even after winter, and the tilling of the garden!
Even here there are some fields that farmers seed in the fall. The seeds just don't germinate until spring.
1 person likes this
@snowy22315 (180870)
• United States
28 Jun 17
I guess the tall plant is the sunflower volunteer.
2 people like this
@celticeagle (167071)
• Boise, Idaho
29 Jun 17
Well, to me, a volunteer is just that. I must be there cause it likes the area and all. Hehe
1 person likes this
@celticeagle (167071)
• Boise, Idaho
29 Jun 17
@AbbyGreenhill .......That is nice, to have plants that will do that for you.
@AbbyGreenhill (45494)
• United States
29 Jun 17
It think it knows how much I hate winter and it came early to cheer me up LOL
1 person likes this
@infatuatedbby (94914)
• United States
28 Jun 17
Looks beautiful
The volunteer is showing off ! 
1 person likes this
@infatuatedbby (94914)
• United States
28 Jun 17
@AbbyGreenhill Center of attention!
1 person likes this
@AbbyGreenhill (45494)
• United States
28 Jun 17
Me too - last year since it was so dry they didn't grow. This year I made sure they got lots of water!
1 person likes this
@Marilynda1225 (82789)
• United States
28 Jun 17
Your sunflower volunteer looks like it's heads above the rest. I bet it will look nice when they are all blooming along your fence
2 people like this
@AbbyGreenhill (45494)
• United States
28 Jun 17
Yes, I plant them there because it's so windy and at least they have the fence to lean against instead of snapping off. It gets extremely windy here.
Photo here is a few years ago.
1 person likes this
@JohnRoberts (109846)
• Los Angeles, California
28 Jun 17
I guess we know which college football team they support.
2 people like this
@AbbyGreenhill (45494)
• United States
28 Jun 17
Yes, the orange and white team of course.
1 person likes this
@TheRamblingMan (309)
• United Kingdom
28 Jun 17
Love that story. Never knew about the volunteer thing before, bieng a limey and all that, thanks for sharing this.
1 person likes this
@manikarnika (3236)
• India
29 Jun 17
Yeah...That's really great to hear and it was a wonderful photography...l like sunflower much.I have doubt because I never saw big sunflower on field...Do sunflower always face east? I have heared that sunflower always face the sun and it will help people to identify direction
1 person likes this
@AbbyGreenhill (45494)
• United States
29 Jun 17
Right now it is facing east, but I will pay attention to it to see if it changes.
1 person likes this
.Also inform me, l am eagerly waiting 
@AbbyGreenhill (45494)
• United States
29 Jun 17
@manikarnika Right not there is no sun, cloudy and rain and the flower is still facing east?????
1 person likes this
