The name of my website is rooted in how I feel about bees and sunflowers. I was looking through my photo albums and surprised myself at just how many photos I've taken of these stunning flowers. So naturally I felt it was high (no pun intended) time to write a blog article about them!
Sunflowers (Helianthus annuus) are native to North America. There are over 70 different varieties, but my favourites are the ones from the tall category. Attaining heights of up to 15 feet, they stand straight and proud, reaching dramatically up to the sky. You can almost hear them saying to the pollinators: 'Well, what are you waiting for? Come and visit me!' There are also small varieties that grow to around three feet tall, so there is a size of sunflower for every garden and/or planter box.
What's in a name?
My favourite language is French and I think the word for sunflower - tournesol - is particularly beautiful. It comes from the old French word, tournesole, which in turn derives from the Latin verb tornare (to turn around) and sol (sun). Unlike the simple English descriptor, tournesol really communicates the sunflower's special behaviour as a heliotropic plant. Reiman Gardens in Iowa, USA, describe this behaviour beautifully:
'Heliotropic plants slowly track the motion of the sun across the sky during the day, and then drift back during the nighttime. Sunflowers display heliotropic movement even on cloudy days, suggesting that there is a learned diurnal rhythm that is followed in the absence of a strong directional light.'
Isn't that just the most wonderful thing - sunflowers are eternal sunbathers!
How do I look?
Typically, sunflowers tend to be fully open as they bask in the path of the sun all day long. But I've also captured some partially open ones (pictured), looking kind of demure, or as if they're wearing a slightly floppy sunhat!
When sunflowers are fully open though - oh my! Such dramatic beauty, in both the tall and short varieties, as can be seen in the photo gallery below.
Made in pollinator heaven
With their bright yellow flowers and a veritable feast of seeds at their centre, sunflowers are hugely attractive to pollinating insects. In my photos below, the bees are loving the sheer expanse of pollen landscape at their disposal.
The relationship between flowers and the pollinators is a mutually beneficial one. In the case of bees, the sunflower gives the gift of nectar (a sugar-rich source of food) and pollen (protein). Pollen grains are the male sex cells of the flower (see Science Photo for some amazing magnified photos of the grain structure). The exine (spiked outer wall) of the grains sticks to pollinating insects as they move around the surface of the flower. When the insects then fly away from the plant, some of the pollen grains fall off their bodies, effectively helping to spread them to the female parts of other sunflowers. In this close-up photo I took of a solitary bee in London, the dustings of pollen can be clearly seen on her head. These would very likely have fallen off when she took flight.
However, the bees don't simply give all that precious pollen away! If you spend some time watching certain species at work, you'll see 'pollen baskets' on their back legs. This is a compact way of carrying the pollen back to their nest or hive, to feed to the young as a source of protein. This particular bumblebee photographed in London had quite a stash on board!
There's a great description at Honey Bee Suite of the physiology of the honeybee in creating these pollen baskets (or 'pollen pellets').
Strong and resilient
Sunflowers are very hardy, being able to resist both pests and drought. I've been following one particular sunflower in my local area since November. Two feet tall and planted all on its own outside the wonderful EV cafe in SE1, it's living proof of the resilience of this plant. It survived right through the winter, only finally going to sleep forever in the month of January.
Some tall sunflowers take on a fascinating shape when they reach the end of their lives. I think these two in particular, which I photographed in the Queen Elizabeth Rooftop Garden on the South Bank in London, are something of an art form.
Sunflowers in songs
Sunflowers have inspired a number of songs. Here are a few to tune into on YouTube:
Londrelle: Sunflower Soul
Glen Campbell: Sunflower
Nice Peter: SunFlower song
Harry Styles: Sunflower (check out in particular the wonderful comment from Anshu Sharma4, who says: 'This song makes me want to leave my hair open, wear a big yellow dress and run through a field of sunflowers while watching the sun come up early in the morning.')
Links
Origins of the word tournesol on Wiktionary
Pollen structure at Science Photo
Heliotropism as described at Reiman Gardens Friends of the Earth on growing sunflowers for bees, birds and other wildlife
Gardening Know How on why plants have brightly coloured flowers
She Said Sunflower on how sunflowers pollinate
Pollen baskets/pollen pellets formation explained at Honey Bee Suite
Blog copyright Barbara Grehs
Published on 10 January 2021
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