Sunflower Bouquet: Visual Vitamins

Visual Vitamins: when looking at something is good for you.

When I see this bouquet of sunflower blossoms, the word "glorious" comes to mind. I stopped into Blue Boat coffee in Leland for an afternoon latte and was greeted by this magnificent display. 

These are Visual Vitamins are there very best.

When Sunflowers Make a Scene

This field of sunflowers was so dramatic, I noticed it from the highway going 60 miles/hr. I was lucky that it borders a farm road and I had time to slow down and turn off.

A woman pulled off behind me and reached for her camera too. We stood on our running boards and tried to capture the moment. You don't need to be a photographer to take great photos on a day like this!

While this photo is less artistic, it allow you to see just how large this sunflower field is.  Their bright yellow faces are blooming all the way to the forest in the distance.  See how tiny the barn looks when I pull back on the zoom? This is farming at its most beautiful.

Sun is Shining and the Bees Are Buzzing

I was happy to find this sunflower, set against a natural backdrop of sea foam green and blooming within my reach.  I'm only 5'2" and I have many photos at an angle looking up at the flowers face, like a child trying to aim up and take pictures of the bride at a wedding.  I rarely find a sunflower that I can photograph "head on."

I was even more pleased when I uploaded the photo to my computer and noticed the bees all over the sunflower face!  

I have been bothered by the cover of recent Time magazine called "The Plight of the Honeybees."  The article (I read ever word) enumerates the many possible causes for the rise in colony deaths since in 2006.  Seeing bees out and about made me feel better and I found this helpful article about bees pollinating sunflowers online.

While this photo was taken in northern Michigan at a small farm, I have many varieties of flowers and herbs on my own property in the suburbs, because giving bees a variety of pollination options helps.  The more home gardens, the better.

Gasp

What makes you gasp? For me, flowers get me every time. I drive along this country road quite often, but I didn't know that there was a field of sunflowers "lying in wait." Then one beautiful day in late August, I was whirling along when this field of sunflowers came into view. It was a perfect "American farmland" scene and I was startled when it saw it. I had driven by many times, but suddenly it was a completely different view. Simply gorgeous.