Sunflowers!

Sunflowers!

Posted on August 16, 2012 in The New Face of Beauty

I LOVE Sunflowers, they make me so happy. And after peonies, they are may favorite flower…Let’s say they ARE my favorite flowers in the summer and fall! And, I particularly love the Italian name, Girasole which literally means, “turns with the sun”

The sunny sunflower-image via The Mona Lisa tumbler

Their bright shiny faces seem to smile at me and their warm sunny yellow color feels like I am letting the sun shine in. They are just so…perky! No other flower can lift spirits quite like sunflowers can. Bright and cheery, with brilliant yellow petals that surround the flower’s center, sunflowers have an unmistakable sun-like appearance that has made them a favorite for many. Sunflowers come in a number of varieties, ranging from small to large and from daylight yellows to sunset reds.

The heart of the sunflower is an individual expression of each flower-image via Josh Sommers on Flickr

Sunflowers originated in the Americas in 1000B.C., where for centuries they were cultivated as a valuable food source; from sunflower oil, which is a valued and healthy vegetable oil, to sunflower seeds enjoyed as a healthy snack and nutritious ingredient to many foods. Artists throughout history have appreciated the sunflower as a great subject, and those of the Impressionist era were especially fixated. Today, sunflowers continue to provide a resource for commonly used seeds and oil, but they have also become recognized as a floral symbol of great significance.

Great arrangements in almost any home-image via Betty Broccoli on Tumblr

The way they move their massive heads to meet the sun make them a flower of spiritual attainment, flexibility, and opportunity. They are also symbolic of good luck, wealth and ambition, loftiness and sometimes even haughtiness. Beautiful on their own, either one at a time or in fields of joyful sunflowers, they are divine in summer arrangements from bridal bouquets to gay table arrangements on their own or mixed with other seasonal flowers. Each face of a sunflower is an individual expression of that particular flower

Beautiful fields of sunflowers-image via 500 px, a photographers site entitled época de girasoles by Cachin Martin-available for sale, click to find

Here’s hoping you enjoy the glory of the summer sunflower, in your garden, your home and in the video below…and tell me, what are your favorite summer and fall flowers?

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Tags:Flower design, flowers, Language of flowers, Sonoma Style, Sunflowers

About Irene Turner

8 Comments

Lyn Higgs 12 years ago
Reply

AREN’T THEY JUST THE BRIGHTEST HAPPIEST FLOWERS IN EXISTENCE!!–THEY ARE MY VERY FAVORITE FOR AUTUMN –MAYBE WITH A FEW CATTAILS IN THE DISPLAY AND SOME BITTERSWEET TO ROUND OUT THE COLORS!!
Alexandra Brooks 12 years ago
Reply

I’m with ya Irene. I always say; “Ya, can’t be mad and look at a Sunflower at the same time.”