You know sometimes you get free seed packets with your magazine or newspaper.  I don't usually get round to sowing them as I invariably have more than enough seeds of my own.  This summer though I was seduced into trying these small reddish brown fellas.

They have been ok, but I realise now that our farmyard really needs the blaze of late summer yellow that traditional sunflowers bring.  These would look grand in a luxurious border at Great Dixter, but next year I think I will return to the more familiar yellow flowers, which is what our favourite garden bird food is made from.