Russian Mammoth Sunflower

I planted one of these in a pot at the end of April (Oxfam had sent me some seeds in 2010).  It finally started to open it's flower last week. I had to cover it with a garbage bag to protect it from a -5°C freeze on September 14.  Samuel got 2 others at Lakeridge School (a gift from Agrium).  I didn't know his were Russian mammoth sunflowers until they got big.  They planted those in June, so they are more than a month behind the one I planted.  I had planted some last year, but the flowers didn't get very big because of the short Saskatoon growing season.  We are going have Indian summer the next few days, so I hope Samuel's 2 sunflowers will open up soon before the killer frost comes!  Notice how it bent over to get maximum sunlight!  A weird looking, but beautiful sunflower indeed. Tomorrow is Michael Faraday's 220th birthday (born the year Mozart died, 1791).