- Share This Post
- Pin It
- 0
- 2
-
Sparkle (0)
The scientific name for sunflowers is 'Helianthus annuus', and they have been around for thousands of years. Nearly 3,000 years ago, Native Americans used sunflower seeds for food. Lewis and Clark mentioned sunflowers being used by the plains Indians in their journals.
Sunflower colors are vibrant. In the early stages of a sunflower, the colors are bright yellow. As they mature, the yellow turns bronze, and then from bronze to deep brown. There are eleven species of sunflowers, and most are perennials.
The artist, Vincent van Gogh, decorated his friend Paul Gauguin's bedroom with paintings of sunflowers. Most of van Gogh's sunflowers in vases were painted in Arles, France. Those he painted in Paris were sunflower clippings.
Farmers grow sunflowers for the seed, which they sell. On a drive through my state of Maryland, I found field-after-field of sunflowers. It was a bright sunny day and parents were taking photographs of their children and the sunflowers.
I grow sunflowers, too. I love their bright yellow petals and large brown centers. The heads get so heavy they droop, and that's when their petals resemble tears.
Poets write about sunflowers. The following poems were written by a group of seniors who are members of my message board. Seniors Link - Home#general
Sunflowers inspire the poet, the artist, the farmer, and the gardener. Sunflowers inspire me!
A Poem by Sharon, who lives in Arizona
Large yellow head on stalk of green
Posing beautiful as a regal queen
Orioles dine on its seed
Makes for a marvelous feed
Sunflowers are beauty to bee seen
*****
A Poem By Amy, who also lives in Arizona
out in the west
the sunflowers grow best
they grow so high
they seem to touch the sky
you walk down any avenue
or through a church and you will see a few
growning golden in the sunlight
they look like they are smiling, I think they are right
they make me smile when I see them
their seeds inside and the petals that bend
bright yellow with green inside
ive photographed many sunflowers with pride
If i had a scanner I'd scan one to you
I watched at the church when the seeds were just a few
I watched them grow babies at first
Then I watched them growing with an unsatiated thirst
They grew so high
I gave a big sigh
then they started to die
and then I did cry
*****
A Poem by Doreen, who lives in Great Britain
Sunflowers
I remember when I planted your seed so small
Wondering if you would ever grow at all.
Then as sun did shine and rain did pour
You then became the flower we all adore.
If your seed dropped to the ground
squirrels collected them, scampering around
Your petals of yellow, with leaves of green
Even from far away, you can be seen.
I know you are such a happy flower
For you like to be seen and have great power.
Holding your head high, looking to the light
Especially when the sun does shine so bright.
Dear sunflower, you are elegant and tall
You are certainly the tallest flower of all
You just stand there swaying in the breeze
For you were planted close to the trees.
So, Mr sunflower, as you grow so tall
Higher and higher, looking over the wall.
For you I am full of admiration
As you have such determination.
*****
A poem by Phyllis, who lives in Tennessee
Lots of gardeners grow sunflowers as home-grown bird feeders. It’s great fun to watch little birds hanging upside down on the heads as they peck out one seed at a time. After the seeds are gone, chop up the stalks with a shredder or a machete and add that organic matter to your compost pile.
The Sunflower
The garden needs Sunflowers to keep the bugs at bay.
They are beautiful and provide shade on a hot summer day.
Plant them with your vining crops; your squash, pumpkins and pole- beans.
The sunflowers shade the viners, and provide support for climbing bean plants it seems.
Sunflowers bring a smile
