@gingerw, I may have a relative of your sunflower standing as a singular proud sentinel in one of my back beds. Like your great pic, mine too looks sturdy, well leafed and happily biding its place among the other much shorter bedding plants. Think of the feast the birds may have later!

When I first started my flower gardening, I thought the idea was to add as many plants of differing types and heights as could be crowded together. The idea was to replicate those marvelous gardens shown on tours and in the pages of the gardening magazines. It took a few years for me to realize that the spaces between plants added interest and more focus for the "showboats". The beauty of flower gardening is that it creates an ever changing palette of things to try.

Earlier in the spring, I had one single sunflower in one of the front beds as well. While it also dwarfed its neighbors, I didn't have the heart to pluck it. The largest hail stone storm I've ever witnessed...some the size of baseballs which the local weatherman held for viewers to see, knocked the front yard flower over and created a 3-4" green leaf carpet covering my entire front. The miracle was that many of the shorter bedding plants survived in both yards.

While I have planted sunflowers in the past, these two were probably the result of some far thinking wise birds who dropped the seeds in the hopes that it would later bear harvest for them, yes? Thanks for sharing the pic of yours!