Sunny Summer Sunflowers

There are a lot of great things about summer, but one of our favorites is the sunflower! We love using sunflowers in our floral designs because their warm, inviting beauty is a great way to express feelings of happiness and energy. Traditionally, sunflowers are known to symbolize longevity, loyalty, and adoration, but we just love how they make people smile. 

We like to believe that you can never have too many sunflowers! We even offer a special sunflower blossom table lamp to let you enjoy these magnificent yellow flowers all year long. If you're looking for something a little more realistic, check out our sunflower bird feeder which is sure to brighten up you garden while attracting some beautiful birds. You can even lay back and watch it all with your very own indoor/outdoor sunflower pillow!

While admired for their simplistic beauty, sunflowers are also some of the world’s most versatile agricultural crops. In addition to the large daisy-like petals that add excitement and intrigue to fresh-cut floral arrangements, they are an excellent source of food and edible oil. Along with its nutritional seeds, sunflowers are commonly used for industrial applications such as biofuel and livestock feed.

Here are some fun facts that will make you take a closer look the next time you see a sunflower:

- Sunflowers are primarily native to North America and were a common crop among Native Americans who not only used the ground seeds for food but also the flower for textile dyes and the stalks for kindling.

- Sunflowers are rugged flowers that are tolerant of both high and low temperatures making them easy to grow.

- Sunflowers can grow up to 16 feet in height and some varieties can produce over 2,000 seeds per flower.

-Among their many industrial applications, sunflowers are used to extract toxins from contaminated soil and were used to aid in the cleanup from the Chernobyl and Fukushima nuclear disasters.

- There are over 70 different varieties of sunflowers in a wide range of sizes with petal colors ranging from vibrant yellow to deep oranges and browns.

- Sunflowers are among the fastest growing plants and can reach maturity and heights of 8 to 12 feet in 90-100 days.

- Sunflowers are often associated with renowned Dutch artist Vincent van Gogh who depicted the flowers in two series of still life paintings. One of those paintings was purchased for $53.9 million in 1987.

Be sure to take a second look the next time you see one of these magnificently versatile flowers and consider including some of these cheerful favorites the next time you send flowers. Click here to check out some of Soderberg's Floral & Gift's other designs featuring sunflowers.