Sunflower Season is Here!
Posted by Helen Halloran on Aug 24th 2016
Oh sunflower! The queen of all flowers,
No other with you can compare,
The roadside and fields are made golden
Because of your bright presence there.
"An Ode to the Kansas Sunflower," Ed Blair, 1901
Sunflowers are in season now and all around Concord you can see the fields of them growing. We have specials on farm fresh sunflowers for the summer and feature them in many of our summer bouquets. The botanical name for the sunflower is Helianthus and it's tendency to turn towards the sun is called heliotropism. Native to North America, it was a common crop of the American Indians. Seeds were ground for flour, and the oil from the seeds was used for cooking. The sunflower was also used for making dye used on fabrics as well as body paint.
Today the sunflower is so popular it's even the state flower of Kansas. The tallest one on record was over 30 feet! Once the flower goes by, its fun to hang it outside so the birds can eat the seeds. Each flower head has from 1,000 -2,000 seeds. Or you can roast the seeds as a snack for yourself, too.
Because the sunflower is known to absorb toxins, in Japan they planted millions after the tsunami that destroyed nuclear reactors. Nature is pretty amazing isn't it? So many uses for the common sunflower that we take fro granted. Their cheery presence will brighten up a room in addition to all their other attributes. Although most people think of them as golden yellow, we also have some other colors as shown here. Why not treat yourself to some today?