Many months ago, I noticed that some seedlings had appeared. I had a hunch as to what they would turn out to be. Here we are in the third week of September and the seedlings have grown (albeit only to about 2ft tall) and are now in flower.

These Sunflowers grew when their seeds fell from a fat ball bird feeder that hung in the Forsythia bush which reaches upwards above them. I only once witnessed any birds feeding on the fat ball, but as our typical weather took its toll, the shards of them fell to the ground.

The ground in which they’ve grown is normally very dry and seemed quite poor, so i tipped some spare compost on it to help give it some extra nutrients. Within a week, the seedlings had sprung into life.

Today, nearly all 6 of the plants are giving a dash of late summer colour in a garden that has almost fallen asleep.

Sometimes it’s the opportunistic self-sown stuff that really shines.