Sunflowers make me happy!

I just love our sunflowers!! I am so glad we planted them! Our red and orange ones are beginning to open up by the house. They are beautiful! Every time I see them, I get in a better mood!

Did you know:
- a sunflower's head can grow to be as big as 2 feet across and the plant itself can be as tall as 18 feet?

- the sunflower is the state flower of Kansas and the national flower of Russia?

- the sunflower is not just one flower, but a cluster of tiny flowers called florets? The yellow petals are actually protective leaves that cover the center of the head while it is growing, and the brown center is composed of a mass of hundreds of flowers, all growing individually.

- remains of sunflower seeds found in archaeological digs in North America date them as nearly 3,000 years old?

- in the past, stems of sunflowers were used inside life jackets?
(facts taken from http://www.sunflowerguide.com/facts-about-sunflowers.html , http://www.hotfact.com/facts_about_sunflowers.html , and http://sunflowerfestival.tripod.com/sunflower_facts.htm .)

 A few sunflowers have more than one sunflower head coming off the stem.

And this is one of the really big ones. It may not look that big in the picture, but it's the tallest and the biggest sunflower head that we have. I'll have to put a ruler up to it and take a picture so you can tell how big it really is!