SUNFLOWERS

Sunflowers brighten our day with their beauty and graceful upturned faces.  Use of the sunflower dates back more than 3000 years to Native American peoples.  Sunflowers are native to North America and have been used for centuries for food, fiber, dyes and oils all across the globe.  

Sunflowers are easily grown from seed in the spring. Make sure the soil has plenty of compost then bury the seed about 1-2 times its size into the soil. Water regularly til sprouted then once or twice a week depending on how hot it is. The Mammoth sunflowers are truly remarkable to behold. 

It is amazing to capture a photo of a sunflower with the sun behind it. Sunflowers are heliotropic plants which mean the flowers track the sun as it moves through the sky. The sunflower genus is named Helianthus for this reason: HELIOS after the Greek Sun God and ANTHOS meaning flower.  

 

Sunflower seed is one among very few North American native plants grown for its global importance. The seed grew in popularity in the last century mainly through it's favor in Russia; it had importance to religious activities so was grown to become the 'Mammoth' sizes we see today.  

 

Birds love to eat sunflowers seeds but did you know that the Goldfinch loves the leaves even more? So do our dogs and parakeet! The leaves contain a high amount of essential vitamins and minerals essential for good health. Though they make a skeleton of the leave the plants never seem to fail.

ECHINACEA

This amazing herb comes from east of Rocky's originally.  Echinacea purpurea is from the far eastern U.S. while the species Echinacea angustifolia is from the central U.S. east.  Though this plant is not native to California its benefits far outweigh its origin. 

The uses for this herb are recorded in history from the Dakota, Cheyenne, Lakota and more Native American peoples.  Most often the root was chewed for toothaches and mouth sores while the leaves and stems were infused for tonics and headaches. 

Echinacea is widely known today to aid the immune system in a battle over the common cold.  Cultivated easily this herb deserves its grace in our gardens.

CRAB SPIDER FEEDING

This underrepresented beneficial arachnid from the Family Thomisidae is eating a plant feeding insect we don't want in our gardens!  These particular families of spiders also have members the same color yellow as the Rose pictured here and can really be a remarkable discovery.

ALOE

Though these images are not of Aloe vera it still contains the same soothing quality for burns and scrapes.  The flowers are filled with nectar drawing hummingbirds to its graceful flowers.

This particular Aloe plant has been in a container and with our family/company since we began in Paradise, CA 8 years ago.  Traveling down to San Luis Obispo, CA and back up to the Sacramento Valley doesn't seem to have harmed it a bit.  Keeping this container plant healthy with organic fertilizers and compost as well as transplanting him into larger containers has been very important to this long lived and useful plant!