Summer's First Sunflower

Sunflowers seem like such happy flowers. They always brighten my day. It has only been in the last few years that I have really decided that I love sunflowers. I didn't take their beauty seriously because I am not a lover of the color orange. I also wasn't impressed with the shape of the giant sunflowers. They just looked like big ugly Frisbees with deformed petals to me. Then I discovered that sunflowers don't have to be the gigantic variety and they do come in many different colors. I plant a variety of sunflowers, but my favorite are the smaller versions. I love the autumn colors or the beautiful yellow ones. I have even come to love the orange ones. The great thing about sunflowers is that they will reseed themselves. If you plant a few this year, you will have many more next year without any effort. Now, how can you beat that?

I also love sunflowers for the simple arrangements that can be made with them. Here I have taken a wine caddy and a vase. I plopped the sunflower in the vase and put the vase in the wine caddy. It adds a pretty country touch in my living room and it took me all of about 30 seconds to put together. How is that for a timely flower arrangement? The sunflower is usually a heavy flower. The sunflower in the above picture would not have stood up in the glass vase alone. It was so heavy that the vase would have fallen. I usually display my sunflowers in heavy containers. I will use an old coffee pot from camping or a heavy pitcher. I also try to leave some of the foliage for added support and beauty. Just remember it is best if you can take off the leaves that will be touching the water. If you remove the leaves that would be down in the water, it will extend the life of your flowers. The leaves that are in the water tend to decay quickly and make the flowers go bad. Along with the decay comes a nasty smell. It is an easy fix to clip the extra leaves, but don't take them all. Leave a few that will be out of the water for some extra beauty.

grace and peace,

julie