Sunflower
Availability
Can be seen most of the year but in winter they are few and far between and a lot smaller in size. In peak during summer.
Origin
Native to the Midwest and Western USA. Common relatives include Dahlia, gerbera’s and chrysanthemums
Flower Care
These have a vase life of 5 to 14 days. Sunflowers are happy with either flower food or tap water, as long as any leaves have been removed and the stem has had a good clean cut.
General Info
Sunflowers are also known as helianthus, from the greek meaning helios (sun) and anthos (flower) because they turn their heads towards the sun. They belong to a vast family called compositae of more than 20,000 species. The compositae family are called this as each sunflower head is made up of many individual flowers, so when you pull off a petal it is actually an individual flower. These were originally grown more for their properties such as oil from the seeds, for food, soap and cosmetics. But more recently commercially grown for their beauty. The incas considered the sunflower to be the image of their sun god, and wore golden disks of its likeness, that spanish conquerors coveted.
