Sunflowers
Rick is a bit of a macho man, a man's man, but he admits that he loves sunflowers. We manage to plant a few in the backyard and try to plant different varieties. We'd like to plant more but the location of our house and yard we get really high winds here off the North Channel, so most have to be along the one fence or hidden in the backyard. Anywhere else they would have to be staked, ya, like I have time for that! LOL
Did you know that sunflowers date back to ancient times? Carbon dating of seeds found in North American clay date back nearly 3,000 years.
Did you ever wonder how sunflowers got their scientific name Helianthus? It comes from two words, Helios meaning sun, and Anthos, meaning flower. The sunflower often follows the sun and this characteristic is how got its name.
Picture below are Italian White, Red Sun, Velvet Queen, Giganteus, Indian Blanket, Giant Double Sungold, Autumn Beauty, Valentine, Mexican Sunflower (Tithonia) and Moonwalker Seeds
What's on Here
- About Sunflowers
- Fun Fact About Sunflowers
- Sunflower Birdfeeders and Birdhouses on Amazon
- Sunflower World Records
- Nutrition Facts
- Sunflower Oil - Your Healthy Choice
- How to Roast In-Shell Sunflower Seeds
- Roasted Salted Sunflower Seeds Recipe
- Vincent van Gogh
- The Latest Google News on Sunflowers
- Sunflower Vids
- Sunflower Photos
- Add your favorite Sunflower Links
- SquidAid
- Guestbook Feedback
- P.S. If you buy something from this page...
About Sunflowers
While the vibrant, strong sunflower is a recognized worldwide for its beauty, it is also an important source of food. Sunflower oil is a valued and healthy vegetable oil and sunflower seeds are enjoyed as a healthy, tasty snack and nutritious ingredient to many foods.Just a few different uses of sunflowers are:
- in all kinds of foods - breads, butters, garnishes in salads
- as a snack - roasted sunflower seeds
- for cooking - sunflower oil
- bird seed
- livestock feed
- ornamental flowers
Fun Fact About Sunflowers
- There are 67 species of sunflowers, growing in the USA, Europe, Japan, and Russia
- Sunflowers are a great choice for planting to attract birds to your yard
- Sunflowers are one of the fastest growing plants. They can grow 8 to 12 feet tall in rich soil within six months.
- It require only 90 to 100 days from planting to maturity
- Russian Czar Peter the Great (1672-1725) liked sunflowers so much that when he saw them in Holland, he took seeds back to Russia. By the 1700s, sunflower seeds were being eaten all over Russia.
- The former Soviet Union grows the most sunflowers. The sunflower is the national flower of Russia.
- 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.
- The sunflower is most at home in Kansas, The Sunflower State
- 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.
- Sunflower stems were used to fill lifejackets before the advent of modern materials
- 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.
- Sunflower seeds are rich in oil, which they store as a source of energy and food. Sunflower seeds are crushed to give us oil. We can use sunflower oil for cooking.
- In Peru, the Aztecs worshiped sunflowers. They placed sunflower images made of gold in their temples, and crowned princesses in the bright yellow flowers.
- In many parts of Europe, sunflowers provide leaves for smoking, flower buds for salads, flowers for dyes and oil for cooking
Sunflower Birdfeeders and Birdhouses on Amazon
Keep your yard bright and active all year long, by inviting the birds back every Spring. They'll come to nest in these delightful sunflower birdhouses. A colorful yard accent, you'll get hours of enjoyment from the comings and goings of your feathered neighbors.
Sunflower World Records
Tallest plant: 25 ft. 5 ½ in. (7.76m) tall grown by M Heijms in Oirschot, Netherlands in 1986.
Largest head: 32 ¼ in. (82 cm) diameter grown by Emily Martin in Maple Ridge, British Columbia, Canada in 1983.
Most flowers: 837 flowers on a single plant grown by Melvin Hemker in Saint Charles, Michigan, USA in 2001.
Previous Sunflower World Records:
Tallest plant: 16 ft. 2 in. tall grown by G. E. Hooking of Kington Langley, Wiltshire, England in 1971 - listed in 1974 Guinness Book of World Records
Tallest plant: 23 ft. 6 ½ in. tall grown by Frank Killand of Exeter, England in 1976 - listed in 1983 Guinness Book of World Records
Nutrition Facts
Sunflower Oil - Your Healthy Choice
Healthy, natural sunflower oil is produced from oil type sunflower seeds. Sunflower oil is light in taste and appearance and supplies more Vitamin E than any other vegetable oil. It is a combination of monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats with low saturated fat levels.The versatility of this healthy oil is recognized by cooks internationally. Sunflower oil is valued for its light taste, frying performance and health benefits.
There are three types of sunflower oil available; NuSun, linoleic and high oleic sunflower oil. All are developed with standard breeding techniques. They differ in oleic levels and each one offers unique properties.
With three types of sunflower oil available, sunflower oil meets the needs of consumer and food manufacturers alike for a healthy and high performance non-transgenic vegetable oil.
Sunflower Seeds on eBay
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How to Roast In-Shell Sunflower Seeds
Cover unshelled seeds with salted water, using 1/4 to 1/2 cup of salt per two quarts of water.Soak seeds in the salt solution overnight. Drain off the water the next morning and pat the seeds dry to remove excess moisture. (You can also roast the seeds unsalted, by simply skipping the soaking process).
Preheat the oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit.
Spread the sunflower seeds evenly on a cookie sheet or shallow pan and bake for 30 to 40 minutes or until golden brown, stirring occasionally.
The seeds will often develop a small crack down the center as they roast.
Test after each stirring to see if the seeds are completely roasted by tasting.
After roasting, remove seeds from the oven and allow them to cool completely.
Then store the seeds in an airtight container for future snacking.
Variations call for mixing a teaspoon of melted butter with a cup of seeds while they are still warm from the oven; these are for immediate eating. Some also experiment with different seasonings, such as barbecue, Cajun, and taco.
Roasted Salted Sunflower Seeds Recipe
This roasted sunflower seed recipe is a late Summer - Fall favorite. In the past several years, sunflower seeds have become the rage. You find them everywhere, ball games, parties, outdoor activities or just an evening snacks. Such a great taste. It's hard to believe how something this good, can also be good for you.Ingredients
1 cup Sunflower Seeds
2 quarts Water
l /2cup Salt
Note: For salt free sunflower seeds, rinse seeds and go straight to step # 7.
Preparation Directions
Add water and salt in a pot or saucepan.
Rinse sunflower seeds and remove any plant and flowerhead matter.
Add sunflower seeds.
Bring water to a boil, then turn down to simmer.
Simmer 1 to 1/1/2 hours.
Drain on a paper towel until dry. Do not rinse.
Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
Spread seeds on a cookie sheet and bake for 25-30 minutes.
Stir frequently.
Remove from oven when they turn slightly brown.
Sunflowers Stuff from Amazon
Vincent van Gogh
Sunflowers
Sunflowers is a series of still life oil paintings that the Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh painted. Among the Sunflowers paintings are three similar paintings with fifteen sunflowers in a vase, and two similar paintings with twelve sunflowers in a vase.Van Gogh painted the first Vase with Twelve Sunflowers, which is now in the Neue Pinakothek Museum in Munich, Germany, and the first Vase with Fifteen Sunflowers, which is now in National Gallery, London, England, in August 1888 when he was living in Arles southern France. The later similar paintings were painted in January the following year.
The paintings are all painted on about 93 × 72 cm (37" × 28") canvases. An earlier series of four still life using sunflowers were painted in Paris in 1887.
Sunflower Stuff on eBay
Fetching new data from eBay now... please stand byThe Latest Google News on Sunflowers
Fetching RSS feed... please stand bySunflower Vids
Rick would love to plant the field across from us to look just like the first two videos!
Sunflower Photos
sunflowers
to the mounts
All the sunflowers
HowardSunflowers08a
time is amongst us a...
Mr. 3mt. Sunflower
Api&Girasoli
Pallido
Unintended consequen...
megan1
megan1bw
megan4 bw
Picking Blackberries...
Paris Mountain View
Add your favorite Sunflower Links
National Sunflower Association
All About Sunflowers1 point
Growing sunflowers
Late spring is time to sow sunflower seeds indoors more...0 points
Information about Sunflower Seed and Oil
This page describes sunflowerseeds and their uses.0 points
Sunflowers on CafePress
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Guestbook Feedback
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KimGiancaterino
Congratulations on making the Giant Squid 100 Club. I've Blessed your beautiful lens and it's being featured on my Squid Angel Diary. Posted July 14, 2008 |
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ArrowSheds
I never knew there were so many different varieties of sunflower. Very interesting, Thanks Posted January 29, 2008 |
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docwoman
LOL Kathy! Loved reading about Rick and his love for sunflowers. You know what they say -- "real men eat quiche AND plant sunflowers too", lol! Lovely lens! Posted October 15, 2007 |
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rms
I love sunflowers! The seeds, the flowers, everything! Great work on this lens. Posted October 13, 2007 |
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Gatsby
5* Those seeds are so good! Dog Whisper With Rena Posted October 10, 2007 |
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DogWhisperWoman
5* I love sunflower seeds! Aggressive Dog Posted October 10, 2007 |
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clouda9
Sunflowers have to be heaven sent! On my way to work their is a gentleman that plants a field of them every year...what a great start and end to my day when they are in bloom. Note to self: Plant sunflowers next year! Thanks for sharing this awesome lens! 5 stars and an add to my Roomors lense. :) Posted October 08, 2007 |
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Classic
Oh, I love Sunflowers! Thanks for submitting this pretty lens to my group Nature and Environment! If you have time, please visit my lens Chocolate covered fruit (in one word) Thank you! Posted September 28, 2007 |
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KimGiancaterino
I was married in Siena, Italy where sunflowers are the official flower of the region. If it hadn't been for a squirrel who dropped a seed in my garden I wouldn't have had any this year. They're so much fun to grow, especially the giant ones. Great lens! Posted September 19, 2007 |
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fleur_de_lis_rising
Cool lens! I love sunflower seeds --- especially in my bread!!! Posted August 30, 2007 |
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