As the Sunflowers Grow (around the world, show us?)

[cogdog]

I adore taking photos of and growing sunflowers, which I did perviously when living in Arizona and now in Saskatchewan. They seem to grow almost everywhere-- I am curious to see photos of where else in the world you see them.

I ventured to Wikipedia and noted that Ukraine is one of the worlds leading suppliers of sunflower seeds (along with Russia, maybe they should stop fighting and grow sunflowers). On checking distribution I followed the link to the Kew Gardens Plants of the World Online entry for the common sunflower to learn they originated in the southwest US (where I lived before) and Mexico but as their map shows they are found all around the world.

There is a symbolic and human connection reason for this sunflower post, and this has to do with a powerful connection enabled by colleagues @paola and @Mira that connected me with Tetiana Kolesnykova, an open education librarian at the Ukrainian State University of Science and Technologies.

Tetiana and her colleagues performed heroic tasks during the Russian invasion of Ukraine recognized in 2022 with an OE Award for Open Resilience.. This story was retold in OEG Voices Podcast Episode 51.

Okay, I am getting to the sunflowers! I was kindly invited by Tetiana to record a short video talk for an online conference organized last year at her University in Dnipro. I planned some storytelling around connection in times of crisis and I had noticed in one of her videos to promote the conference, she sat before a vase of sunflowers. The photos I saw of fields in Ukraine reminded me of where I live now, and also, that my wife and I and grown some huge tall sunflowers here.

So we have been sharing photos of sunflowers. These are my giant 2024 sunflowers outside my home in Canada:

And these are ones Tetiana sent from her home in Ukraine:

And she writes:

For some reason, I was thinking now, using the example of this large flower, about the spiritual (perhaps) closeness of preferences of creative people from different continents who can motivate other people with thought, word and deed, turn them to the bright side of goodness and openness, as the sunflower turns for the sun.

We need to plant more sunflowers, symbols of invincibility and love of light!!

So if you have planted sunflowers or just notice them in your part of the world, how about sharing a photo here so Tetiana and I can see more of these “symbols of invincibility”.

[OERIDEAL]

Sunflowers are my favorite because I have allergies and they do not trigger them. Plus, they represent resilience for me.

[warwicklanguage]

Sending one of our pandemic grown sunflowers from the UK https://photos.app.goo.gl/A64kSwQnQUDvms936

[cogdog]

Indeed! I am looking at one out my window today that is higher than the 11 foot ceilings of our living room. It says so much about potential that this giant came from a single seed I pushed into the ground in June.

[cogdog]

That sunflower looks familiar especially the upward angle of the photo indicating its height? Do yours reseed each year?

[clintlalonde]

Well, Alan, you have hit upon a plant near and dear to a number of us Canadian west coast edtech types, thanks to our friend Jason Toal. Just over a decade ago, Jason blogged about sharing sunflower seeds to anyone in his network, inspired by our other colleague Brian Lamb’s son Harry.

I took Jason up on the offer of free sunflower seeds and planted them in a small sunny south facing stretch of yard along the side of our house. Year after year they have come back stronger and healthier than ever.

This spring we had some pretty major yard work done putting in new sewer and water lines for a backyard house we have been building and, as a result, the patch where the sunflowers have grown for the past 10 years was to be dug up by some heavy equipment. Just before the dig I quickly dug up the fledgling sunflowers hoping that I might be able to transplant them back in the same spot after the work was done.

I wasn’t sure the transplant had been successful as the fledgling plants were very droopy for the first week after the transplant. But they have survived and live on. Not quite as big and vibrant as they have been in the past. But they survived and will hopefully continue blooming in that same spot for another decade.

[cogdog]

Thanks Clint! I fully intended to lure Jason on here, seeing his ginormous sunflowers this year on his H5P timeline.

How fun was the Seed it Forward thing Jason started in 2013? I think I was one of the first to raise my hands I had a few generations at my place in Strawberry, Arizona, though like you, each year they seemed to get smaller.

Seed It Forward

I ended up harvesting and sending those seeds out to my sisters in Baltimore and Florida, and many more places I forget, but notably, to a blog colleague in New Zealand. I was surprised Michael got them through inspection but he did (and later he mailed me some Pohutukawa seeds I have yet to plant.

I am also pretty sure Scott Leslie still grows descendants of Jason’s original lot, and some of the tall ones at my place this year I think came from an envelope Scott mailed me.

I am going to try to ping Jason ASAP.

[warwicklanguage]

No, we grew some fresh m seed in the lockdown and then when they have gone to seed we feed the birds with the seeds. We tried to grow some this year but they didn’t do so well thanks to our weather. I love the way they turn their heads to the sun, a great reminder to us all to look for the things in life that nourish us.

[Moortooza]

Here are some sunflower pictures from London:

[cogdog]

Looking tall and proud in London, thanks Moortooza. Large heads full of seeds to feed birds and spread.