Vincent Van Gogh’s painting “Sunflowers” sold in March 1987 for $39 million, but I can enjoy sunflowers in all their natural beauty for the mere price of a package of sunflower seeds and a little work in my backyard garden.
Sunflowers are native to the Americas, where they were cultivated as long ago as 2000 BC and used as a source of food, medicine, dye and fiber. Their seeds were ground into flour to make cakes and to thicken soups and stews.
Sunflowers have come to represent loyalty and longevity and have been revered in some cultures as a religious symbol. This cheery flower that seems to worship the sun has a Latin name, Helianthus, that is derived from Helios, the sun god in Greek mythology. It is the state flower in Kansas and Nebraska.
From their humble beginning in the southwest of our continent, sunflowers are now grown in many other countries and have become one of the major cash crops in the United States, where the seeds are used to produce oil and other products.
The sunflower’s ruggedness and adaptability, along with its radiant charm, make it an excellent flower for children to grow. In addition, the seeds are nutritious, and I always like to leave some for the birds and other wildlife.
The Lady Bird Johnson Wild Flower Center calls the sunflower one of America’s most common flowers. There are 67 species of sunflowers growing in the wild.
My artistic ability can not match a Van Gogh painting, but my garden has become the canvas on which I can create graceful sunflowers in all their brilliant glory as they track the sun across the summer sky. And that is priceless compared to the cost of a few sunflower seeds.
