Everything's Coming up Sunflowers

I've decided it would be a good idea to moniter the progress of one of my crops this year, namely the sunflower. The variety I selected for our backyard is named "Russian Mammoth", the seeds of which were ordered online from Burpee seeds, which has a great selection of vegetable, herb and annual flower seeds, as well as some fruit bushes and gardening equipment.

Although capable of reaching a height of 12 feet, Russian Mammoth falls short of some of its sunflower cousins, such as Sunflower Kong (advertised as having a potential height of 14 feet), or Paul Bunyan (which allegedly can grow up to 15 feet!) I think its designation as "mammoth" arises from: a) the fact that burgeoning into a 12-foot organism is still a phenominal accomplishment for a living creature to reach in just one growing season (three or four months); and b) as the Burpee website indicates, the heads of this particular variety are exceptionally large--and friendly looking! :)

Just today I noticed that the tips of my sunflowers are just starting to peak out over the wall that seperates our backyard from the slopes behind it. (I selected this area behind the wall in hopes that the stalks and leaves could provide a respite for the lawn during the hottest part of the summer, and because I thought the sunflowers' happy heads would provide a cheerful backdrop for our yard. It is not hard to imagine the smiles that their faces will elicit from mine as I survey my yard from the kitchen window.) Consequently, I thought it apropos to begin my little photo journal tracing the growth of these Russian Mammoths.

For comparison, also included is a photo with your correspondant (whom at 5'7", estimates the flowers' current height at just above five feet):