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Entry bubble I Dream of Sunflowers

By: Joanne | February 05, 2008 | Category: Home and Family

Each February I tire of clouds and ice and snow, and I long for warmth and sunshine and lush green leaves everywhere. But Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow, and it looks like I’m in for 6 more weeks of dreaming of my garden. Lately I can’t stop thinking of sunflowers. I can’t wait to plant sunflowers – and not just the big, tall yellow ones. I’ll plant the yellow polyheads, the velvety maroons, the vibrant oranges and the supermanes. I’ve got the space and I’m always looking for a new variety to plant. What’s your favorite?

Joanne standing in her garden surrounded by sunflowers

There are lots of different kind of sunflowers, just like there are so many varieties of apples and tomatoes and lettuce. We’re used to seeing the few varieties found in the grocery store or in the seed packages in the stores, but there’s really an amazing variety of garden plants out there. I like to do my little part to support biodiversity on this planet, and sunflowers are such a fun way to pitch in.

I found this nice quote attributed to Helen Keller: “Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see the shadow. It's what sunflowers do.”

| View Comments [5] | envelope E-mail This Entry | Tags: biodiversity   flower   garden   joanne   sunflower  

Comments (5):

blue comment bubble Posted by Sara Zoe on February 05, 2008 at 08:02 AM EST

Have you ever tried planting sunflowers for food? I am very interested in how easy/hard this is - I imagine battles with birds and squirrels, but would it be worth it?

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blue comment bubble Posted by Joanne on February 05, 2008 at 09:06 AM EST

Hi Sarah Zoe,
One year we did harvest the sunflower heads, put them in the warm, dry barn to dry...and then the mice ate all the seeds! Another try yeilded moldy seeds. I've got enough to keep me (too) busy that I've let it go and I'm satisfied with looking at the pretty flowers from the kitchen window and treating the birds to the seed. I also like to plant heirloom seeds so I often get "volunteers" the following summer! If anyone knows how to sucessfully dry seeds to eat, I'd be interested. One day I may try again.

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blue comment bubble Posted by robibrk on February 06, 2008 at 06:53 AM EST

Hi,

I want only thanks for this nice article! Keep up the good work.



Regards,
Robert www.bidladder.com admin

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blue comment bubble Posted by Fetch Boy on February 11, 2008 at 09:52 AM EST

Loved reading this, there's nothing quite like a sunflower on a summers day.
Thanks
www.fetch-boy.com

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blue comment bubble Posted by Joanne on February 11, 2008 at 09:57 AM EST

Thanks - hopefully thoughts of sunny flowers will get us through a long, cold February!

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