Flowers

But, first a little science.

Beyond some swaying in the wind, a plant generally doesn’t move during its lifetime. And while this allows it to stay put to enjoy the soil, sun, and water they need to grow, the main drawback of a stationary lifestyle is the eternal evolutionary challenge to find a mate.

Plants have solved this problem in two ways. The first is to just create an exact copy of oneself without needing any other DNA to reproduce. This asexual form of reproduction involves producing a genetically identical copy of oneself before the end of a plant’s life to continue on in the next growing cycle. Bulbs, corms, and tubers are all examples of this approach and in our garden, and our onions and potatoes use this method. There are a few plants that reproduce through fragmentation, meaning that a piece can break off and start a new plant. Wind or animals can even move those pieces to help them move to new areas to grow and spread. If you have ever grown a new plant from a cutting of an existing plant you’ve done this too. You’ve helped a plant reproduce.

Lots of plants use sexual reproduction to reproduce, and those that use this method produce flowers. That’s right, flowers are not just beautiful to look at, but they are also the reproductive organs of their plants! The idea of a flower is to attract pollinators (birds, bats, insects, animals) to its flowers and transfer pollen with another.  You can see why here:

Wikimedia Commons

Once the male and female DNA mixes the plant will set seeds, and the seeds carry all the material to create new plants in the next growing cycle. Some of these seeds are in the fruits and veggies we eat. In our garden that’s the case for tomatoes, cucumbers, pumpkins, and beans. Flowering plants have so much competition to attract those pollinators, they have evolved a multitude of eye-catching ways to grab the attention of the pollinators. Each blossom is a unique way to ensure the parent plant’s best chance at survival. Luckily for us, we get to enjoy the benefits.

Right now in the OCHM Garden our sunflowers are catching the attention of our pollinators.

And in one of the native wildflower beds, we found a bee covered in pollen flying from plant to plant. Each time he settles on a new plant he is mixing up the DNA making sure to make more plants for the future.

Unfortunately, the use of chemicals to keep lawns weed-free and insects at a minimum does great damage to pollinator populations, and ultimately, threatens the flowers and food supply for all of us.  Our garden exhibit website has some tips and ideas for how we all can be more pollinator-friendly at home and hopefully ensure a lot more flowers and food to enjoy in the future!

For a tour of the flowers blooming in our garden in mid-July 2021 check out our Flower video on our YouTube Channel.

Here are some more sunflowers from the garden. Enjoy!

Did you know that sunflowers tend to bloom facing east? It’s true for us, as most are looking east along Dean Street towards Rt. 44. 

Sunflowers are actually native to North America. They were grown by Native Americans up to 5,000 years ago for food, oil, and decoration. It was the Spanish conquistadors who saw them in the New World and brought them to Europe in the 16th century.

The tallest sunflower ever grown was reportedly in Germany and over 30 feet tall!

Sunflower seeds are arranged in spirals. There are normally 34 spirals facing one direction and 55 spirals facing the opposite direction.