My Sunflowers

There are about 70 different species of sunflowers. I chose to plant a small multipack that contained 4 different kinds. I don’t remember exactly what their names are now, but I’m so happy they’re finally blossoming. Sunflowers are gorgeous plants.

Even more delightful than admiring their beauty, is learning about the remarkable abilities of sunflowers.

Sunflowers play impressive roles in cleaning our planet of contaminants, teaching us educational math and science skills, and inspiring artists of all genres.

I’ve included links if you’d like to learn more about sunflowers.

If you just want to look at the pretty blossoms, that’s fine too, no pressure. 🌻😊

“Many sunflowers are heat and drought tolerant, making them easy plants to grow.” https://www.ftd.com/blog/share/sunflower-meaning-and-symbolism

“Scientists have discovered that sunflowers can pull radioactive contaminants out of the soil. Researchers cleaning up the Fukushima site in Japan are putting the flowers to the test.”  https://loe.org/shows/segments.html?programID=11-P13-00030&segmentID=2

“The sunflower is one of many plants that are now known to aid in “phytoremediation,” a process that employs various types of plants to remove, transfer, stabilize, and/or destroy contaminants in the our soil, water and air.” … “Sunflowers are not only able to absorb lead, but other dangerous heavy metals such as arsenic, zinc, chromium, copper, and manganese.” https://www.farmersalmanac.com/sunflowers-to-the-rescue-15614

“Sunflowers are what environmental scientists call hyperaccumulators– plants that have the ability to take up high concentrations of toxic materials in their tissues.” https://gardencollage.com/change/sustainability/scientists-using-sunflowers-clean-nuclear-radiation/

“Mathematical biologists love sunflowers. The giant flowers are one of the most obvious—as well as the prettiest—demonstrations of a hidden mathematical rule shaping the patterns of life: the Fibonacci sequence, a set in which each number is the sum of the previous two (1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144, 233, 377, 610, …), found in everything from pineapples to pine cones.” https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/05/sunflowers-show-complex-fibonacci-sequences

“But how do plants like sunflowers create such perfect floret arrangements, and what does it have to do with Fibonacci numbers? A plant hormone called auxin, which spurs the growth of leaves, flowers, and other plant organs, is the key: Florets grow where auxin flows. Using a mathematical model that describes how auxin and certain proteins interact to transport each other around inside plants, researchers could predict where the hormone would accumulate.” https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2013/06/scienceshot-sunflowers-do-math

“This citizen science study evaluates the occurrence of Fibonacci structure in the spirals of sunflower (Helianthus annuus) seedheads. This phenomenon has competing biomathematical explanations, and our core premise is that observation of both Fibonacci and non-Fibonacci structure is informative for challenging such models. We collected data on 657 sunflowers.” https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rsos.160091

“Some of Vincent van Gogh’s most famous works are his Sunflower series.” … “Van Gogh never painted a single artwork entitled “Sunflowers.”” …  “Van Gogh was not alone in his focus on sunflowers. William Blake in the late 1700s, Claude Monet in 1881 and Allen Ginsberg in 1955 are some of the other well-known artists and poets who evoked the sunflower image.” https://www.vincentvangogh.org/sunflowers.jsp#prettyPhoto

“Helianthus (/ˌhiːliˈænθəs/)[3] is a genus comprising about 70 species of annual and perennial flowering plants in the daisy family Asteraceae.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helianthus