I lost two of my tallest sunflowers over the weekend.

Both of them were volunteers, meaning I did not sow their seeds but nature did. There was a sunflower in its place the previous year and dropped its seeds. Volunteers are typically a lot stronger and healthier than those sowed by human. All of the sunflowers are multi-branched, meaning it branches ou t to form more than one flower head.

I watched both of them grow taller and taller each day. One of them probably got to around 9 feet (almost 3 meter) while the other one probably got to 6 or 7 feet.

On Saturday evening, a violent wind storm suddenly swept across followed by a measly 10 minutes of light drizzle. It was like trying to squeeze water out of a semi-dry towel.

I was more concerned about the structures in the back garden. Earlier that day, while my mom and aunt were on an errand, I spent the precious time installing a middle support in all of my recently-erected PVC structures. Although it was a little more steady than before, the wind still blew it like it was nothing. I have a feeling the weight in the back was propelling the structure forward.

When the wind and rain finally died down, I went out to survey for casualties and there it was, my super tall sunflower was on the ground, its trunk broke at about 2 inches from the ground. It was like someone came and chopped it off. The other tall sunflower’s trunk didn’t appear to be broken but it looked like it got uprooted.

I couldn’t believe it, this extreme wind had killed my sunflowers. The wind has been very damaging to the garden this year and it’s made gardening very difficult. The thing is, I don’t live in a windy place. The wind feels like one of those “end of world” weather phemenons.

Anyway, after clearing the giant sunflower, my arms began to itch. Some of the sunflower’s furry spikes had made its way into my skin and caused irritation. I decided to take an anti-histamine prescribed by my doctor to not only stop the itch but also to help me sleep since I have trouble sleeping these days.

I drifted in and out of sleep for 12 hours and left me sleepy along with a headache all day on Sunday. I swear I’m never taking that pill no matter how much I want to sleep.