A summer’s day and lovely flowers go hand in hand. Or hand in bloom. And of all the blooms in Canadians’ gardens, few are as large and majestic as the sunflower.
Domesticated in North America, the common sunflower (scientific name helianthus annuus) is a species of large annual in the daisy family, according to Wikipedia. While wild varieties have multiple flower heads, the common domestic sunflower usually has just one large enormous head perched an unbranched stem.
According to Guinness World Records, the tallest sunflower on record was grown in 2014 by Hans-Peter Schiffer in Karst, Nordrhein Westfalen, Germany. It measured 9.17 m (30 ft, 1 in).
None of the lovely blooms in Sudbury resident Melanie Lalonde’s sunflower garden have grown quite that tall. But this year, one flower in the cheerful bed she has maintained in front of her apartment building on Eyre Street since 2020 grew a little differently than the rest.
“Every year I make a sunflower garden in front of the five-plex I live in,” she said. “This year a very unique sunflower has bloomed.”
By unique, she means the unusual plant’s flower head was conjoined, meaning two joined flowers had sprouted from the single stalk.
According to the website Birds&Blooms, this unique growth is known as “fasciation”.
Quoting gardening expert Melinda Myers, the article explains that fasciation, while unusual, isn’t uncommon and occurs in all sorts of plants.
“I often receive calls from gardeners who see this on lilies, cockscombs, dandelions, asparagus and succulents,” Myers is quoted saying. “The conjoined flowers are a result of fasciation. This phenomenon causes a flattening of stems, proliferation of buds and blooms, and two-headed flowers … . The abnormal growth occurs spontaneously as a result of a hormonal imbalance, genetic mutation or the plant’s response to its environment.”
Plus, it just looks really weird and cool.
Lalonde said her sunflower garden is popular with her neighbours and this year’s unique bloom has attracted attention.
“Most in my neighbourhood really appreciate the sunflower garden each year,” she said. “Even people that aren’t from the neighbourhood and many say that it makes the place look nicer.
“One neighbour says ‘I’ll be keeping my eye on it, I’m so intrigued,’ speaking of the unique sunflower.”
When she started the garden, Lalonde said she used store-bought seeds.
“Every fall, I’d shake the sunflower heads and seeds into a small plot and would cover it with manure. The following years some of the sunflowers from the previous years would grow, but I’d always have to add store bought seeds.
“But this year every single sunflower in the garden are from the previous year’s seeds that I shook in and covered with manure. Soooooo many grew. I pulled out over a hundred plants to give away to family and friends because it was sooo overcrowded. And it’s still extremely overcrowded.”
Lalonde said she grew a couple of unusual flowers in previous years, “but nothing like this beast.”
“It kind of reminds me of my haywire hair the way its petals flow,” she said. “Even this year, there are a few other flowers that have another sunflower growing through its centre but again, nothing like this.”
