From children’s forts to cleaning up radioactive waste, sunflowers are a very versatile and beautiful plant.
Floating
rafts of sunflowers were used to clean up water contaminated as a
result of the 1986 accident at the Chernobyl nuclear plant in the former
Soviet Union. The roots of the sunflower plants remove 95% of the
radioactivity in the water by pulling contaminants out of the water.
There are even giant sunflower competitions just as there are giant pumpkin competitions.
All
the gardens that I have created for either myself or others have all
had at least one sunflower; this includes balcony gardens. Mind you the
ones that I grew on the balcony where a miniature hybrid not the up to
twenty foot tall monster that grabs your attention in later summer.
Sunflower (Helianthus annuus ) is an annual herb that can withstand mild frost as a seedling, but requires at least 100 frost free days for normal development. Intolerant of shade, sunflowers can be successfully cultivated in many countries.
No comments:
Post a Comment