“Light-enchanted sunflower, thou
Who gazest ever true and tender
On the sun's revolving splendour.”
- Pedro Calderon de la Barca
My sunflowers have bloomed this week and they make me so happy every time I go out to water the garden! Seeing their nodding faces, happily following the sun just makes me smile.
A few fun facts about sunflowers:
Sunflowers belong to the genus “helianthus” - a name that refers to the sun god Helios.
Images of sunflowers have been found in the Andes mountains, in temples. As well, priestesses of the Incan people used to place large sunflower disks of gold on their clothing. Native Americans used sunflower seeds as offerings, and these were placed on the graves on their ancestors. They also used the seeds for blue or black dye, and the petals for yellow dye.
Sunflower seeds are full of protein, fiber, and healthy fats.
Magical uses are said to include happiness, fertility, health, wisdom, confidence, and the elemental correspondence is fire.
4 comments:
They are gorgeous! Wish I could grow them.
Such beautiful flowers ! Thank you for sharing! Those big beautiful sunflower blooms are pure joy !
No flower ever makes me as happy as sunflowers. I live in an old city and people plant them everywhere to help with the removal of lead from the soil. If I had to assign a magical attribute to sunflowers, it would have to be a cure for depression. They brighten even the saddest spaces. A friend of mine recently went to New Orleans and planted sunflowers all over the areas Katrina hit the hardest. There they stand amongst all the rubble a symbol of rebirth. Thanks for sharing the pictures I couldn't help but smile.
"A friend of mine recently went to New Orleans and planted sunflowers all over the areas Katrina hit the hardest. There they stand amongst all the rubble a symbol of rebirth."
What a wonderful thing to do! I've got goosebumps just thinking about all those sunflowers blooming where there was once destruction.
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