|Photo by: Stig Nygaard|
My grandfather’s sister taught me how to draw flowers. She also taught me how to appreciate flowers, even the flowers that most people call weeds – like dandelions and clover. I can still see her cupping a dandelion in her hand and saying, “Now, isn’t that just beautiful.”
Her name was Lilly, but all of us kids called her “Nanny.”
Nanny loved ALL flowers, but she did have a favorite, which would become my favorite flower, too.
|Nanny with a very young Professor Watermelon|
Nanny believed that everyone with a yard should plant at least one sunflower a year. For most of my adult life, I have lived in an apartment, but I still buy sunflower seeds every year and give them to my students.
Creative Writers, we’ve found our MUSE! Let’s take a closer look at this garden majesty and see what we can learn.
Sunflowers grow very tall. Normally they reach 5 to 12 feet, but some grow even taller than that. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the tallest recorded sunflower grew 27 feet. This giant was grown in Germany in 2012.
Sunflowers are an American plant. Native Americans harvested sunflowers thousands of years ago. Today, sunflowers are still harvested here in America. Take a look at this video and see how sunflowers are farmed in North Dakota.
While sunflowers may be native to the Americas, they are now grown all over the world. In fact, Russia grows more sunflowers than any other country. Maybe that is why the sunflower is Russia’s national flower.
As you noticed in the video, farmers grow sunflowers for their seeds. One sunflower head can produce over 2,000 seeds. These seeds are used mostly for making sunflower oil, but the rest are eaten by people and… BIRDS!
Take a look at this video of some birds nibbling away at some wild sunflower heads.
Sunflower seeds are also ground into delicious sun-butter. For those of you who are allergic to peanut butter, sun-butter is a tasty alterative.
Growing sunflowers are very easy. Just follow the directions on the back of the seed packet, and you will do just fine. If you would like to see a video on planting sunflowers, I have provided one for you below…
Sunflowers grow very quickly. And when they form a flower bud, watch how it follows the sun in the sky. This is called heliotropism. Once the bud blooms, the sunflower stops following the sun, leaving its blossom facing the East.
|"Sunflower" by Professor Watermelon|
Like I mentioned before, Nanny taught me how to draw all kinds of different flowers. This is something I still do to this day. Here is picture of a sunflower I drew this morning.
With that new knowledge, what kind of story could you write? Maybe these “what if” questions will help you get started.
WHAT IF Jack planted a magic sunflower seed instead of a magic bean?
WHAT IF found crop circles were found in Russia’s sunflower fields?
WHAT IF little elves built a city in your main character’s sunflower garden?
The possibilities are endless! And please leave your own “WHAT IF” questions in the comment section below. I’d love to see what you come up with.
Grab a cup of hot cocoa, a piece of paper and a pencil, and let’s begin. With your imagination, we can go anywhere! I look forward to seeing where you take us!
P.S. The word of the week is "Heliotropism". Here is the definition: The growth of plants or plant parts (especially flowers) in response to the stimulus of sunlight, so that they turn to face the sun.