Eyebright sells packets of Sunflowers seeds.   These packets make great gifts.  In Nelson, they perform beautifully if sown anytime in December.  Sunflowers are the seeds of happiness; a highly effective antidepressant.

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If you’ve got a sunny location, and are happy to pull a few weeds, then you should be able to grow sunflowers.  December is a particularly good time for sowing because slugs and snails should have finished their spring rampage.  They like sunflowers even more than you, and come out on damp nights to feast on emerging plants.  You won’t even know they’ve done their dastardly work until you notice that very few, if any, of your plants have emerged.  Actually they have, but have been mowed off at ground level.  Apart from freedom from slugs and snails, sunflowers don’t ask much.  They don’t require a lot of fertiliser or water.  They work hard to please you even in tough situations, by like anything will do even better given a bit of love, most particularly a drink if it gets really hot and dry.