The Face Of Love

I am not a big flower fan. I like their fragrance, design and pure beauty, but as far as I am concerned, they die too quickly. While I enjoy and appreciate joy that they bring, I wish they lasted longer.

I had a friend who used to be a florist and occasionally when I went into the shop, I would see various people excitedly buying flowers; roses, carnations, tulips, gladiolas and pansies.

Surprisingly the most popular flower was the sunflower. People seemed to be snapping them up like crazy. The shop could never keep them in stock. When the shop closed for the day, I stayed and helped my friend clean up.

On the floor was a sunflower that had gotten trampled in the rush to buy his relatives. When I picked it up, it seem to emanate a warmth, a peaceful presence, a life energy, a spiritual vibration, a love, if you will.

Sunflowers are not petite like roses, or fluffy like carnations, not even particularly attractive, but very alluring. As I stared at it, I got a sense of peace. It was almost like I was holding a live presence in my hand.

I felt drawn into this unusual looking flower. Something had to be inside that flower. The energy pulled me in like a force of nature. As I looked deeper into it’s center, it looked like a face and I’m sure it was winking at me.

I had to know more about these magical flowers. The scientific name of sunflowers is Helianthus, Helia for sun and Anthus for flower.

Sunflowers are one of the fastest growing plants. They can grow 8 to 12 feet tall in rich soil within six months.

The tallest sunflower was grown in The Netherlands (25' 5.5" tall) grown in 1986 by M. Heijmf.

The largest sunflower head on record measured 32 1/2 inches across its widest point and was grown in Canada.

The shortest mature sunflower on record was just over 2 inches tall and was grown in Oregon using the Bonsai technique.

Sunflowers requires only 90 to 100 days from planting to maturity.

The sunflower is native to North America and was used by the Indians for food and oil. Some farmers use it to feed their livestock.

We use sunflower seeds to make oil, bird seed and for snacking. They have lots of calcium and 11 other important minerals. They do have 50% fat, but it is mostly polyunsaturated linoleic acid.

Wild sunflower is highly branched with small heads and small seeds, in contrast to the single-stem and large seed head of domesticated sunflower.

Sunflower heads consist of 1,000 to 2,000 individual flowers joined together by a receptacle base. The large petals around the edge of a sunflower head are individual ray flowers which do not develop into seed.

A well-known sunflower characteristic is that the flowering heads track the sun's movement, a phenomenon known as heliotropism.

The daily orientation of the flower to the sun is a direct result of differential growth of the stem. A plant-growth regulator, or auxin, accumulates on the shaded side of a plant when conditions of unequal light prevail. Because of this accumulation, the darker side grows faster than the sunlit side. Thus, the stem bends toward the sun.

Most people think a sunflower "follows the sun," but that actually happens when sunflower are very young plants, long before they are ready to bloom. A field full of sunflower looks beautiful first thing in the morning, as they point their faces toward the east. By noon they're pointing straight up, and by evening, to the west. If you check back the next morning, they'll be facing east again.

The French word for sunflower is tournesol, which literally means "turn with the sun."

Sunflowers date back to ancient times? Carbon dating of seeds found in North American clay date back nearly 3,000 years.

Early American natives used the sunflower long before corn and beans were brought to America. They ate the seeds, ground the small kernels into flour, extracted oil from seeds for their hair, and used the seeds, flower petals, and pollen to make dyes for face paint, cloths and baskets.

In Peru, the Aztecs worshiped sunflowers, they placed sunflower images made of gold in their temples and crowned princesses in the bright yellow flowers.

Sunflowers made their way to Europe in the early 1500’s. They were used for gifts carried by Spanish settlers returning home.

The great Russian ruler Peter the Great liked sunflowers so much when he saw them in Holland he took seeds back to Russia. By the 1700’s sunflower seeds were being eaten all over Russia. The former Soviet Union grows the most sunflowers and is the national flower of Russia.

Sunflowers are the state flower of Kansas, USA.

Sunflower stems were used to fill lifejackets before the advent of modern materials.

The Sunflower paintings of Vincent Van Gogh show a mental connection not only between the artist's name and the painting, but also between the artist and the influence of Sunflowers on the development of art through these paintings. Van Gogh's Sunflower paintings have altered mankind's perspective of art and life. These Sunflower photos captivate the mind and leave you astounded in their simplistic beauty.

Most of us call them sunflowers with an "s." But according to Mary Lou, whose work in sunflower breeding took her to many parts of the world for 23 years, sunflower never turns into sunflowers - - ever! So, if you have one sunflower or twenty, you still have sunflower. Period.

The large, cheerful heads of sunflowers are associated with goodwill, friendship, and happiness. Beautiful in small groupings in a garden, planted over large plots of land, or growing wild, these flowers native to the Americas give every person who sees them a reason to smile.

So many facts about sunflower(s) that they are making my head spin.
Since that day, I look at sunflowers in a different light. Every time I see one, I look at it with a knowing glance. We have the same goal - we just want to make you smile.

We are like sunflowers. They turn toward the sun for nourishment and growth, while we turn towards love for the same benefits. Let your love turn others into sunflowers.

That day, I took the sunflower home, put it in some water and it lasted much longer than any other flower. I have changed my mind about flowers. They are here for a reason - to give us love - and love changes our perception of love.