Sunflowers are one of the most summery flowers. You know it’s August when you drive past a huge sunflower field in Vermont or cruise through a farmers’ market to find hundreds of happy yellow flowers in beautiful 5 stem bunches.
There are some tricks to picking the very best sunflowers so here’s the scoop:
The secret to finding the freshest sunflower stems is in the petals. You want to look for cupped petals, not reflexed petals (i.e. bent or curved back) which are already showing their full glory. Petals should surround the chocolate center of the sunflower in a perfect cup (or bowl if you prefer) shape.
Whether you’re cutting from the field or buying from a farm you’ll get the longest vase-life from cupped sunflowers. When blooms are completely open (or showing signs of yellow pollen in the chocolate centers) they’re still beautiful and probably still fresh, but they will not be the longest lasting of the bunch.
Here are some examples of some absolutely perfect sunflowers I purchased at the Burlington Farmers’ Market.
Have a bright, sunshiney day. xo
