After six days of more than 100 degree daytime weather, relief came at the end of the week with a much needed rain and cooler temperatures. A drive along the country back roads showed a display of native sunflowers and how showy they are now. Sunflowers are bright and cheery. Every year I look forward to seeing them show up. After all, sunflowers are Kansas’ state flower and I can see why they were chosen for that honor.
Sunflowers have become popular in interior decorating, featured on clothing and included by professional florists in many of their flower arrangements. Sunflowers have even been in outer space with Don Pettit,NASA astronaut, as he took some seeds to plant on the International Space Station as part of his biology experiment in 2012. The famous artist Van Goph included sunflowers in his famous painting titled “12 Sunflowers.” Many photographers have stopped at a sunflower field to take photos of the lovely flowers. Glass artists have used the sunflower in many of their creations. This year there was a Kansas farmer who surprised his wife on their 50th wedding anniversary with 80 acres planted to sunflowers.
The sunflower symbolizes brightness, cheer, warmth, adoration, loyalty and longevity, according to some sunflower experts. The stocks on the sunflowers are tall with large leaves, but the bloom is a stand out when it opens, facing the sun in the east and then following the path of the sunshine until the sun goes down. At sunset, the blooms nod downward and remain that way until the sun once again comes up. Thus, that is probably where the name sunflower originated.
Birds love sunflowers as when the blooms mature and lose their yellow pedals, the brown seeds in the middle remain or fall on the ground. Birds flock around the sunflowers and dine on the seeds. Some of the seeds fall and, if not eaten by the birds, can again grow the next summer, seeding themselves. Each sunflower bloom contains 1,000 to 2,000 seeds. The world’s tallest reported sunflower measured 30 feet and one inch high.
Sunflowers are native to America and are a member of the daisy family. The smaller blooms that look like the larger sunflower blooms, with many on the stock, are called Maximilians. Those are commonly viewed currently in Kansas and Nebraska.
Most farmers in past years have viewed sunflowers as weeds and worked to get them out of the fields. Now the sunflowers don’t seem to be found in the crop fields as they once were, and some farmers even planting them as a fall crop. Usually there are several sunflower fields in the county but this year I have spotted only one or two. It’s hard to find a local market for the harvested sunflower seeds.
So if you’re driving along a dirt country road or looking down into a draw, you will surely find the bright, cheery sunflowers.
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