Sunflowers are a unique and wonderful plant. With the genus name of Helianthus annuus, a member of the Asteraceae family, they were cultivated by native Americans over 3000 years ago as a food source, which has been verified by carbon dating of seeds found in ancient dwellings. Little known fact is that the sunflower gets its name from the way that the head can usually follow the track of the sun itself, with the name helianthus coming from Helios (sun) and anthos (flower), hence sunflower.

With Lewis and Clark mentioning them in the journals of their travels through the plains and other areas, its little wonder that today these versatile plants are used for everything from decoration to cooking oil production, from snacks too ..well, you name it.

Presently, sunflower production is big business in Argentina having vast numbers of acres, followed by Russia and the United States. The US, Dakota, Texas, and Kansas have miles of sunflower farms, their bright yellow petals silently worshiping the sun. You can watch for miles as you drive past the plains. The production of sunflowers is United States second largest agricultural produce, after soy beans, and is valued for its oil.

Right now, sunflowers are at the heart of the great debate as to what’s happening with the reduction in the bee population on the planet, and this is not good news for farmers and gardeners world wide, as without bees there is no pollination.

The seeds of the sunflower provide a rich source of nutrients. It is packed with phytochemicals, minerals and vitamins essential for lowering blood pressure and other ailments. It is also great for cardiovascular health. It is hard to beat sunflowers as an important source of nutrients for the bodys needs.

Sunflowers have sturdy stems and grow up to fifteen feet. It does not take much trouble to tend to the plants what with modern farming methods available. Farmers can harvest a thousand pounds of sunflower seeds from an acre per single crop. Van Goghs painting of sunflowers gives another reason for loving the flowers; they are a sight to behold.

Unfortunately many sunflower farmers are no longer into community farming or most have transported themselves to places where it is not conducive for sunflower farming. It is therefore impractical to even wish to have sunflowers at any time.

Despite the skyrocketing cost of transporting and farming the plant, it still becomes a pleasure for sunflower lovers like us to receive the flowers as gifts or use the flowers as decoration for special occasions. But this is impractical in the light of the present economy.

Still there is an option, thanks to modern technology in design and in the manufacturing processes. You can still have your beautiful sunflowers at all times and for posterity. Of course, this is taking the second best, the artificial sunflower. The artificial sunflowers look so real and are made with quality materials to give that realistic look and feel. No one would ever guess you are showing off artificial blooms; but that wouldnt matter. You will have your sunflowers all year round.

Tags: artificial flowers, flowers for home, gardening, home-improvement, office plants, sunflowers

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This entry was posted on Saturday, April 25th, 2009 at 3:56 am and is filed under gardening, home decor. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.