Flower Power

You’ve placed your seed order, set up a plan for where to grow the basil, tomatoes and kale. Now what? Order more sunflowers.

It’s been hard to know what to write these past 10 days, immersed in the news and the sorrow that is deeply felt around the world. Last week, when I learned that sunflowers are the national flower of Ukraine, it seemed okay to share a few synchronized photos of a sunflower that grew in my garden last year.

Sunflowers are a symbol of peace, a source of food, and a gift from nature.  Because photos speak more than words, I’ve added only a short narrative. Sunflowers are easy to grow, add late summer color and provide nourishment for our senses on many levels. Let the power of a sunflower opening each day communicate a sense of solidarity around the world.

1.     Sunflower Houses

For the first years as a new gardener, it was all about finding the tallest sunflowers. The Giant Gray Stripe (Helianthus annuus) sunflowers which children love, make the ideal playhouse set inside a family garden. Inspired by Sharon Lovejoy’s book, Sunflower Houses, the huge flower heads grow up to 14 inches across, made up of many tiny flowers each turning individually into seeds.

2.     Pollenless vs Pollen

Pollenless sunflowers are great for cut flower growers since the pollen won’t shed when set in an arrangement. Yet bad for pollinators. Bees need pollen for protein and to feed their larvae. Plant breeders consider this progress, yet I say NO to messing with the environment in this way. To support the common eastern bumblebee and the European honeybee, plant only open-pollinated sunflower varieties.

3.     Open-pollinated sunflowers

Heirloom sunflowers are open-pollinated, and every year I plant Lemon Gem, Autumn Beauty, Evening Sun, Ring of Fire, and Arikara. Last year, marauding chipmunks ruined every attempt to grow from seed, so I’ve doubled up my efforts this year and ordered two packets of each. Sources include Fruition Seed and Seed Savers Exchange. Another bonus of heirlooms, you can save your own seed from year to year.

4.     Free sunflower seeds

The summer I was finishing my book on heirloom gardens, a volunteer sunflower grew in my kitchen garden. Seed dropped by a chickadee from a nearby feeder, it grew with a vigor unmatched by any sunflower grown from a seed packet. It was a reminder that seeds are free. By late summer, the 10-foot tall stem towered above me, and the seed head grew heavier each day and nodding towards the earth. (see Instagram post) From a single seed, over 500 seeds formed. Plenty to share with friends and the birds.

5.     Sunflowers as Earth cleanser.

Researchers cleaning up the Fukushima site in Japan put sunflowers to the test when scientists discovered that sunflowers can pull radioactive contaminants out of the soil. The idea was tried back in the mid-1990s near the Chernobyl power plant meltdown.  Breathing deeply, I trust that sunflowers will not be grown for this purpose in Ukraine or anywhere else in the world.

Sunflowers bring us beauty, peace and the power to heal. This week, I’m offering a free seed packet of sunflower seeds from my garden to yours. Subscribe, or simply send me a note. Tell me about your favorite sunflowers in the comments.