You are my sunshine My only sunshine. You make me happy When skies are grey. You'll never know, dear, How much I love you. Please don't take my sunshine away The other nite, dear, As I lay sleeping I dreamed I held you in my arms. When I awoke, dear, I was mistaken And I hung my head and cried. You are my sunshine, My only sunshine. You make me happy When skys are grey. You'll never know, dear, How much I love you. Please don't take my sunshine away. Please don't take my sunshine away.

With the increasing interest in ornamental sunflowers and several million acres of land devoted to oilseed production, it's hard to imagine sunflowers as an unpopular plant. The sunflower is one of only four major crops of global importance native to the United States (blueberry, cranberry, and pecan are the other three).

Native Americans in the U.S. have been using wild sunflower for food and medicine for at least 8,000 years. Archeological evidence suggests that Native Americans began cultivating and improving the sunflower as early as 2300 B.C. Thus, sunflower cultivation may predate cultivation of the "Three Sisters" of corn, beans and squash. The seeds of sunflower were usually roasted and ground into a fine meal for baking or used to thicken soups and stews. "Seed-balls", similar to peanut butter, made from sunflower butter made a convenient carry-along food for traveling. Roasted sunflower hulls were steeped in boiling water to make a coffee-like beverage. Dye was extracted from hulls and petals. Face paint was made from dried petals and pollen. Oil, extracted from the ground seeds by boiling, provided many tribes with cooking oil and hair treatment. Medicinal uses included everything from wart removal to snake bite treatment to sunstroke treatment.

When the colonists and explorers sent seed from the New World back to Europe, the sunflower was treated mainly as a curiosity and a garden flower. It was not used as an edible crop again until it reached Russia. In Russia, the Holy Orthodox Church forbade the use of many foods, including many rich in oil, during Lent and Advent. The Russians eagerly accepted the sunflower as an oil source that could be eaten without breaking the laws of the church. Russians also enjoyed sunflowers as a snack food. In the past 50 years, Russians have bred sunflowers for high oil content and improved disease resistance. In 1966, an open pollinated Russian bred cultivar was introduced into the U.S. This and other cultivars began the first sustained U.S. commercial production of the oil seed type of sunflower.

Hybrid sunflowers now dominate commercial production as well as ornamental sunflower varieties. Two researchers stand out as responsible for saving several open pollinated sunflowers. Charles Heiser, a retired botanist at Indiana University, is often referred to as "Mr. Sunflower" for his lifelong research on sunflower. His 1951 article is perhaps the most complete coverage of varieties cultivated by Native Americans. The seed he collected during his research career has been deposited in the USDA-Agricultural Research Service Plant Introduction Station at Iowa State University. This repository has over 2,000 sunflower varieties from around the world. Another individual, Gary Nabhan, was contracted by the USDA-ARS in the 1970's to obtain Native American sunflower varieties. Thanks to him, the USDA-ARS collection now has over 20 sunflower varieties from Southwestern tribes. He subsequently founded Native Seeds/SEARCH, a nonprofit seed conservation organization which makes Native American crop seeds available to the public. At least 30 Native American sunflower varieties have been preserved through the USDA-ARS, Native Seeds/SEARCH, Seed Savers Exchange (in Decorah, IA), or private seed companies.

Unfortunately, many varieties have not yet been located and may be extinct. One variety that has survived over time is 'Mammoth Russian'. It has been offered by seed companies for at least 120 years. It is known by many names such as 'Russian Giant', 'Tall Russian', 'Russian Greystripe', or simply 'Mammoth'. An ornamental variety that has survived is Helianthus debilis 'Italian White'. The sunflower gets its name from the Greek words helios meaning sun and anthos meaning flower. There are some 67 species within the Helianthus genus. Most oilseed and ornamental sunflowers are Helianthus annuus. In the last 10 years, three new types of sunflowers have been introduced into the North American market. The first new type has a sturdy central stem that produces multiple branches with many flowers. The result is a showy garden plant that is excellent for cutting. Staking is not required. The second type is a dwarf plant that reaches only 1 to 2 feet tall. These dwarf varieties are wonderful for use in small gardens and containers. The third type is the "pollenless" varieties bred for their use as cutflowers. Sunflower pollen stains just about anything the pollen contacts thus limiting their use as a cut flower. The pollenless types are cleaner and have a longer shelf life making them excellent cut flowers. Though seed may be produced on these new types, it is not large enough to bother saving.

Sunflowers are easy to grow provided they have direct sun. Well-prepared, fertile soil will yield large flower heads and the meatiest seeds. Young seedlings can withstand light frosts so seeds can be planted before May 1. Tall growing varieties should be thinned to stand 2 to 2 1/2 feet apart in the garden and staked to help support the seedhead under windy conditions. With the wide assortment of old and new sunflower varieties available, surely one or more will find a way into your garden this spring.

SUNFLOWER POEMS

Poem lyrics of Ah Sunflower by William Blake.

Ah Sunflower, weary of time, Who countest the steps of the sun; Seeking after that sweet golden clime Where the traveller's journey is done; Where the youth pined away with desire, And the pale virgin shrouded in snow, Arise from their graves, and aspire Where my Sunflower wishes to go!

Sunflower, Deep-Rooted...A Poem Orange, yellow petals halo dark circles, seek the flaming sun from which they take their name, their lives. Who can understand what the golden flower knows; how soundly grounded, rooted, fixed in place it is. All see its cheery face consorting with the wind, turning toward the light, while hundreds of white roots cluster in a large, hidden ball bigger than its bloom, buried in the darkness away from casual eyes. Each separate strand, a serpentine hand, clasping nourishment, anchors tall stalk and heaven-reaching, seeded head, rock-solid in the nurturing soil. This subtle, unseen rootedness, melding firmly with earthy planet's flesh, while seeking highest sky... metaphor of the life of man, what might, should be; the union of transcendence, earth's reality.

Copyright by Don Gray

SUNFLOWER May 17, 2004 One cold November morning I noticed a sunflower coming into bloom on my patio. It was growing up from a crack between the house and the paving stones underneath the birdfeeder.

The little flower stood straight up. It had a thin stem with mottled green leaves and a small, round burst of bright yellow on top. It would never have made it into any flower shows, that's for sure. It was stunted, its bloom a crush of petals squashed together around its centre. They stuck up and out like a spikey hair-do, the biggest one no more than three-quarters of an inch long. It was a scrawny, misshapen little flower, and to me it was beautiful.

Beside it stood its much larger, and at one time, much grander sibling. A big, broad, perfectly formed flower once adorned the main stem. Five perfectly formed miniature versions of itself branched out below like accessories accentuating its beauty. But now, its leaves were crinkled and brown, the stalk yellowed like hay, the dry wilted flowers hanging down in petrified stillness. It had a different beauty now.

I sat and looked at these two flowers, and I wondered why I enjoyed them so much. I asked myself what they meant to me. The answer was very clear. They were a reminder to me of the mighty, unstoppable power of the life force. I looked at the little flower standing so proud and thought about will and determination, the carriers of that force. I remembered that struggles can be won and great things can be achieved against all odds... summer sunflowers do grow outside in the cold, dark days of early winter.

Looking at the splendor of each flower, I saw the glory of life past and the promise of life now, and I was reminded that renewal is a necessary part of life. It is what keeps life on this planet vibrant and alive. I was reminded renewal is a constant. Life never stops. And as I watched the bright splash of yellow dancing with abandon against the gray, windy skies, I remembered that renewal carries with it the seeds of hope and great joy.

In this world there is strife. There is hardship, and there is suffering. There is inequity. There is injustice. There is also abundant beauty amidst it all. And within that beauty there are reminders tucked away everywhere, encouraging us to persist, to strive, and to bring our dreams for a better world to life. We have only to open our hearts and look, and we will see them.

--- Copyright © 2001 Sally Scott