Country Chatter

I’m not sure there is anything as striking and colorful as a field of sunflowers. The tall stately plants seem to smile in delight.   Whenever I see a field I just have to stop and take a picture.

In the early stages, the heads turn to face the sun. As the heads mature and they get heavy with seed, the heads droop downward.  Deer can be hard on a field, especially in the early stages, as they love the tender shoots when they first come up. Bees are very attracted to the flowering stage and birds flock in as the seeds mature.  In almost every field of sunflowers unless you spray them, you will find a tangled web of Morning Glories winding around the stalks. The heads are left on the stalk until the are fully ripen and brown.

There are three kinds of sunflowers; decorative, black oil and striped. The decorative are smaller stalks with very small heads and are for looks rather than seed. The striped seeds have huge heads and the seeds are used mostly for human consumption as they have a larger nut, however, they are used in some bird seed mixes as well. But the favorite of our songbird friends is the black oil seed. The seed is smaller and rich in oil.

Sunflowers are known for their beauty and food source, not as a fragrant flower.

The following website, https://www.almanac.com/plant/sunflowers, states the following interesting facts about sunflowers……..

“Sunflowers are one of the most important oil crops in the world, and are a valuable food source in many countries. Just one ounce of sunflower seeds contains about 6 grams of protein and 14 grams of oils. The fats are almost entirely unsaturated with 9 grams of polyunsaturated and 3 grams of monounsaturated fats per ounce (NSA). The oil is high in linoleic acid and is a good source of vitamin E.”

In western Powhatan County at the corner of Route 13 and Ballsville Rd there is a field of sunflowers that a lady has been planting for quite a few years just for her and our enjoyment!  People stop to take pictures and enjoy the beauty. The word on the street is that she wants us to take a bouquet along home.

Thank-you Georgianne Matthews.