Sunflowers

Sunflowers are an intentional choice of motif for my website. They are not native to Australia (well, neither am I). Nevertheless, they are full of energy, vibrance and goodness! Sunflowers are incredibly resilient and are used around the world to repair soil damaged by compaction or pollution. They are even effective in removing radioactive contamination! This astounding power is proven nowhere better than their contribution to the healing of land around Chernobyl.

When I want to boost biodiversity rapidly in a depleted urban yard, sunflowers are one of my ‘magic’ tools. They attract diverse pollinators like butterflies, beetles and bees. Never far behind are the beneficial garden predators, like mantis and dragon flies.

Sunflowers are a good, rapid recovery food source after extreme weather events, supporting native wildlife including possums and parrots. As for human wellbeing, nothing is quite as cheerful as the giant, tousled head of a sunflower!

Sunflowers are native to Central America, originally cultivated by First Nations across that region. The Spanish introduced them to Europe in the 16th Century and by the 18th they had been selectively bread to produce more oil. They are now a hardy staple around the world.

It’s special to me that Vincent Van Gogh was enamoured with sunflowers. I love working in oil pastels and he, along with Picasso, are Demi-gods to me. I can see how sunflowers may have given him joy amid his often dark and difficult inner life.

When sunflowers are young they track the sun, but as they get older, they usually settle in position facing east. To me this is emblematic of life's journey, from a youthful mind reliant on external factors to be happy. With the growth of wisdom, we become stronger and more able to wait patiently for the light that inevitably follows the darkness.