Sunflowers are popping up everywhere, in gardens, Farmers’ Markets, and farm fields. They seem to be more popular this summer than ever.
If you search Sunflowers Central Ohio, there is a Sunflower Festival (Coshocton) and many sunflower fields open to the public. Take an afternoon to enjoy a walk-through or perhaps snip a sunflower bouquet.
Locally, McPhails Farm planted a field of sunflowers on their farm this season and is opening it to visitors. This field is at 21679 Newcastle Road, Gambier, State Route 229 East.
You can walk through the field on paths, but be sure to wear appropriate walking shoes and be careful, as it is a crop field with uneven ground. Sunflowers can be cut for $2 each. Take photos in the sunny field and visit the farm for more information.
While strolling through the farms, note sunflowers' different varieties and history.
Helianthus is a genus comprising about seventy species of annual and perennial flowering plants in the daisy family, Asteraceae, commonly known as sunflowers. The best-known species is the common sunflower, Helianthus annuus.
Sunflowers are native to North and South America, and Native Americans grew sunflower varieties for flour, food and oil. The Spanish explorers took sunflower seeds back to Europe in the 1500s.
By the 1700 and 1800, the Russians grew sunflowers in large quantities. Eventually, the sunflower can come back to North America in the form of new hybrid varieties grown today. The cultivated sunflower is the national flower of Ukraine.
The common sunflower, Helianthus Annuus, is an annual herb with a rough hairy stem depending on variety from three to fifteen feet high with broad, coarsely toothed, rough three to twelve-inch leaves arranged in spirals.
The heads of sunflowers range in size from three to twelve inches wide in wild specimens and often more than twelve inches wide in cultivated types. The disk florets (in the center) are brown, yellow or purple. The petal-like ray flowers outside are yellow, red, brown or a combination, and the fruit is a seed.
The sunflower is very valuable. The leaves are used as fodder for animals, the flowers yield a yellow dye, and the seeds contain a sweet yellow oil for table use. Sunflower oil cakes are used for poultry stock and poultry feeding.
The oil is also used in soap, paints and as a lubricant. The seeds may be eaten dried, roasted or ground into nut butter. Sunflower seeds are also common in birdseed mixtures.
Before blooming, Helianthus plant heads tilt during the day to face the sun. This movement is known as heliotropism. This movement continues briefly when flower buds form, and young heads track the sun.
At night, the heads reorient their position and face east. By the time they mature, the heads generally stop moving. This heliotropic movement is caused by growth on the opposite side of the flower, driven by the accumulation of growth hormones during sun exposure.
Butterflies, beneficial insects, hummingbirds and birds flock to sunflower heads for food (seeds), pollen and nectar. Mexican sunflowers (Tithonia) are good for attacking Monarch butterflies migrating through the country.
For indoor bouquets of sunflowers, cut the mains stem just before the flower bud can open to encourage future side blooms.
Be sure to cut the flower early in the morning because cutting during the middle of the day may cause the flower to wilt. Remove all leaves except those closest to the flower and recut the stem at a forty-five-degree angle.
If handled gently, the flowers should last at least a week in room-temperature water. To support the flowers’ heavy heads, look for taller vases or containers and change the water daily to keep them fresh.
Enjoy the sunflowers this month while they last, and look for the many different varieties!
