Sunflowers are one of my favorite flowers. Each year I look forward to the time when the sunflowers will be in full bloom. Not too far from where I live, there is an area near the Missouri river and the Katy trail where farmers plant fields of sunflowers each year.
This year my husband and I drove to the area in the spring to see how the sunflowers were coming along. To my dismay there didn't appear to be any sunflowers in the fields. In fact, it didn't even look like anything was planted. In early August I started seeing posts online about the sunflower fields and wondered where they might be planted. As it turns out it was in the same area, the farmer had just rotated the fields and last year's field had corn and soybeans and just a bit further down the road there were several fields of sunflowers. I was delighted and made several trips down there to photograph the sunflowers at various times of the day. The photos on this page are from an early morning trip when the sunflowers were in great light.
Fun Facts about Sunflowers
- Young sunflowers track the sun from sunrise to sunset. This is called heliotropism. Once the flowers are mature they all face east.
- Sunflowers are valuable for growers, both commercially and ornamentally.
- Sunflower oil has an anti-inflammatory effect.
- There are two types of sunflower seed products. The oilseed type are good for birds and they are the most commonly farmed. The non-oilseed are good for human consumption.
- The oils in sunflowers can reduce cholesterol levels.
- Sunflowers are native to the United States but are now planted worldwide.
More Fun Fact about Sunflowers
- To be healthy sunflowers require at least 6 hours of sunlight a day.
- There are thousands of tiny flowers that compose a sunflowers head.
- The tallest sunflower grown was over 30 feet tall.
- Sunflowers started out being grown as a food source.
- Sunflowers can be made into sunbutter.
- Sunflowers are not just yellow. They can be red, brown, and even purple.
In the photo below you can see a bee working on the sunflower and see up close the structure of the sunflower head.
Zazzle Products from my Photos
References and More Sunflower Reviews
Here is the website where I got the information for the sunflower fun facts. www.proflowers.com
Sunflowers are a popular topic on Review This. Here are a few more you may want to check out.
This is one I wrote in 2018. It gives you tips on photographing Sunflowers.
In this review that I wrote in 2021 I share the stages of a sunflower and my photos from that season.
Fellow reviewer, Olivia, shares this review on sunflowers being the flower for the year in 2021.
Missouri River
A bonus to our early morning outing was to catch the sun rising above the Missouri River.
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