The sunflower is such an epic flower, so big and beautiful. There are so many varieties of sunflowers available now. Within our local community, farmers have started to plant fields of sunflowers in mazes that they then invite the public to enjoy. These fields provide a great opportunity for people to come and learn all about sunflowers!

I have done the ‘Sunflower Experience’ at Pingle’s Farm Market every summer for the past few years. The tractor ride to the field allows you to see it from a different perspective. It certainly builds the anticipation of its beauty. At this farm they have done such a good job of setting up props for photo ops throughout the sunflower field.

Bees buzz from one flower to another collecting pollen, busy at work. The giant sunflowers tower tall above your head while others are more petite in size. It is incredible to think about each tiny seed growing into this grand flower. Then the middle of each sunflower is filled with hundreds more seeds. These seeds can then be dried and ready to grow next year to start the cycle all over again.

This year we created a pollinator and bee garden in our front lawn. We hand planted about 30 to 40 sunflower seeds of different varieties in the soil. Today, we have one sunflower that survived, and it’s almost ready to bloom. Needless to say the bunnies thought sunflower sprouts were a delicacy and they enjoyed them very much! This gives me a much deeper appreciation for all the hard work involved in growing acres of sunflowers, and being able to provide this wonderful experience.

If you get the opportunity to visit a sunflower field, I strongly recommend it. What could be better than soaking up some sunshine among the sunflowers?