Flower Glossary via Design Sponge

designsponge-flower-glossary-sunflower

image credit: Design Sponge– Grace Bonney

I have never had fresh sun flowers in my home, but there’s something about a field full of them in the late summer that is wildly appealing to me. They’re one of my favorite wild flowers. Here is a bit more information on this flower.

Full Name: Helianthus annuus
Growing details: Sunflowers require a lot of sun and water and their peak growing months are in summer, June, July and August. For more detailed growing tips, check out Burpee’s breakdown of techniques.
Varieties: There are dozens of varieties of sunflowers, but I personally love the fluffy heads of Teddy Bear sunflowers. But sunflowers come in a wide range of colors, ranging from yellow and orange to deep reds and chocolate browns. The variety pictured above is a Moulin Rouge sunflower.
Size: An average sunflower can grow 7 feet tall with a 12-inch diameter head. Although some varieties have been known to have heads that measure almost 2 feet in diameter! There are, however, a few dwarf varieties of sunflowers that produce plants that are only 2-4 feet in height with heads measuring 4 inches in diameter.
Cost: Cost varies depending on the type of sunflower and the season, but single stems can range from $2 to $7 a head.
Fun facts: Sunflower stems are incredibly buoyant and, before more modern materials were created, they were used as life vest filling! In decorative objects, sunflowers were commonly used to represent power and importance. For example, in mirrors, sculpture and ceramics, sunflowers would face a person (for example, Louis XIV, the ‘Sun King’) to indicate they were the center of the universe.