Hope you can join us for the first meeting of 2016 of the Yorkton and District Horticultural Society, Wednesday, February 17 at 7:00 p.m. in the Sunshine Room at SIGN on North Street. Our guest speaker from Howland’s Honey will be talking to us about the production of honey and what might be happening to the honey bee. This is a great chance to learn about the amazing honey bee. Everyone is welcome! As we’ve mentioned before, you don’t have to be a member to come to the meetings: if a topic interests you, please come and join us!
Let’s have some tea and talk about sunflowers. Last year we planted some sunflower seeds given to us by some very dear friends, and we had an amazing show! They grew to six feet and more, with blooms in a variety of colors. They were truly a stunning addition to the yard!
So I did a little research about sunflowers, and found some interesting things to share with you. They are an easy care plant, and seeds can be sown outside when danger of frost is past. If you like, you can even start them indoors to give them a head start. They are not bothered by pests, do not have any picky watering requirements, and do not take a lot of space. The row of sunflowers in our garden was only about five feet long, but the plants were not bushy at the base and so they didn’t interfere with neighboring plants.
While we enjoyed these sunny giants, you can find sunflowers in almost any size from sixteen or so inches all the way up to six feet or taller. I counted 11 varieties in the Lindenberg catalogue, so there is a sunflower for everyone! For container gardeners, try “Teddy Bear” which grows to about three feet tall, but has a very densely packed, showy head that almost looks like a huge marigold. Or for something a little smaller, try “Pacino Cola” which grows only to twelve to sixteen inches tall, can tolerate dry conditions, and will even perform in partial shade. Looking for something unusual for your garden? A dear friend had dark red sunflowers in her garden one year, and they were stunning; look for “Moulin Rouge”; or go for an elegant white sunflower with dark centres by planting “Moonshadow”.
And some interesting little factoids: did you know that sunflowers are the flower chosen as the City of Yorkton’s flower? Every year, I enjoy seeing the cheery sunflower mixed in with the delightful displays in the city’s public planters. Also, the sunflower is the national flower of Ukraine, one of almost thirty thousand types of vegetation in that country. The sunflower, sonyashnyk, is respected as the symbol of the sun that gives light and life. The sunflower represents unity, fertility and well-being in Ukrainian folklore. I also read that sunflowers should be planted either before sunrise or after sunset to increase yield. There could be a practical reason for this legend: at those times, the birds will not pick out the seeds! There’s something to everything, isn’t there!
But let’s mark the cheery sunflower on our list of “things to plant” this year: they will be a bright and beautiful addition to our gardens!
Just a reminder: Saturday, March 12 is the day of the 6th Annual “Yorkton Seedy Saturday — Prairie Sun Seed Festival” from 12:30 p.m. till 4:00 p.m. at Yorkdale School. There are many things to see: local organic and heirloom seeds, seed swap, kids interactive station, and of course, interesting speakers. Mark it down on your calendar!
Please check our website www.yorktonhort.ca to see what’s new. Have a great week!
