Happy September! I’m happy for September’s arrival and to once again join my blogging friends for another edition of Monday Morning Blooms.
You can find my friends’ links for their beautiful floral inspiration at the bottom of this post.
I’m on the porch in celebration of the sunflower for this week’s edition of Monday Morning Blooms.
Sunflowers are the perfect flower to transition from summer to fall with the sunny yellow rays and warm brown centers! These cheery flowers are instant ‘mood-lifters’ and never fail to make me smile.
I picked up some sunflowers from the grocery store with yellow centers as well as brown. They’re joining some Endless Summer Hydrangeas that have faded to a soft green shade, along with sprigs from the abelia shrubs with little white blooms.
Sunflowers convey warmth and symbolize adoration, loyalty and longevity. They have a cheery sun-like appearance with their open faces framed by yellow petals, also known as “rays”.
Sunflowers make up the genus ‘Helianthus’ which contains almost 70 different species and are made of hundreds of tiny flowers clustered together called the disk, with both male and female components that produce seeds after pollination.
As sunflowers grow, they track the sun’s movement in the sky from east to west. This is caused by the growth pattern of the sunflower, with one side of the stem elongating during the day, followed by the other side elongating during the night. The growth is driven by genes that respond to light and the plant’s circadian rhythm. As the sunflower matures and growth slows as the flower opens up, they stop their daylight tracking movement and face east.
*Bee*cause east-facing flowers warm up quicker, they attract five times as many pollinators as west-facing flowers as bees like warm flowers! 🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝
I gathered my sunflowers from the grocery store earlier in the week, while waiting for on an opportunity to photograph them. I always give my flower stems a good trim, cutting on the diagonal for maximum water uptake and and condition them with some floral preservative until I’m ready to arrange them. When I’m ready to arrange them, I give the stems another good fresh cut and place with in the vase with more floral preservative.
One of the sunflower bundles were not as fresh as the others and starting dropping their yellow petals or “rays”.
I decided to ‘Keep Calm and Sunflower On’ and pluck the remaining petals, including some of the brown disks to add some interest and texture to the arrangement. The bracts frame the sunflower disks like green petals!
Plates and napkins are blooming with sunflowers and paired with sunflower bowls. . .
And my ‘Fleur du Soleil’ watering can is blooming, picked on a Blue Ridge Getaway, several years ago. I uprooted it from the Potting Shed, moving it to the porch for some additional blooms.
Sunflower Details:
Sunflower Plate & Mug / Maxcera, Sunflower Crown, HomeGoods, several years ago
Sunflower Pillow / T.J. Maxx
Sunflower Watering Can / antique mall
Sunflower Bowls, Napkin, Napkin Ring, Urn / Pottery Barn, several years ago
Charger / World Market, several years ago
*Buzz* over to visit my talented blogging friends to see their blooming inspiration this week:
Pam at Everyday Living
Lidy at FrenchGardenHouse
Our fearless leader and sweet friend Shirley at Housepitality Designs is taking a little blog break. We look forward to Shirley joining us next time. ♥
🌻🌻🌻
Thank you for your visit! Sharing with:
Between Naps on the Porch
Just beautiful as usual. You are so creative and talented at flower arranging! I never met an arrangement I didn’t like. Happy Labor Day. 🌻
Mary, you are a great teacher. I loved all the facts about how sunflowers track the sun’s movement and their growth pattern. The explanation was very interesting. Also, how bees like warm flowers. I will need to reread to remember.
Love how you utilized the not so fresh bundle and plucked the petals leaving the center for added texture in your arrangement.
Sunflowers make me smile also and I agree they are cheery and mood lifters. You are so right that they are excellent transition flowers from summer to fall. Your porch makes me happy this morning.
Rays of sunshine from your beautiful arrangement! Thank you for sharing.
When I arrange sunflowers they always seem to droop. Yours looks so fresh and upright .
How Do you do that? Do you use a support of some type?
Hi Emmie, I think the key is a lot of water in the vase, floral preservative and giving your stems a fresh cut every other day so they can drink. Changing the water every other day helps too, to keep the bacteria down. 🌻
Thanks I will try that .
Mary, what a beautiful start to Labor Day by joining you on your lovely porch! You are celebrating September and sunflowers with beautiful style. I agree with Bonnie, you are an excellent teacher. Sunflowers are the perfect transitional flower and your arrangement is beautiful. I love that you plucked the petals leaving the brown disks for texture. The watering can, pillow, plates, napkins, and bowls add more sunflower charm to your porch! I am in sunflower heaven. It is always a pleasure to share Monday Morning Blooms with you. Enjoy Labor Day 🌻❤️🌻
Love the sunflowers! How do you keep them so upright in the arrangement? Mine always seem to droop.
I loved this post. I recently found sunflowers dishes at Home Goods (one of my favorite stores) similar to yours and did a post on my blog called My September Flower Table. This is my favorite time of the year (love Fall weather) and I think you are kicking off fall just perfectly. Thank you for always sharing such amazing and gorgeous pictures and designs. I always look forward to your emails.
Mary, SUNFLOWERS are truly sunshine on a stem!! You have displayed that sunshine beautifully…what a great idea to go ahead and pluck those petals…will try that next time!! I wish sunshine and prayers for all in the south…be safe!! God bless!!
So beautiful!! You radiate just as much ☀️ sunshine as your gorgeous sunflowers 🌻thank you so much for sharing all your tips and fabulous photos with all of us!!💛
Mary, sunflowers are definitely my favorite and I just love how you have arranged them especially removing the drooping petals and leaving the brown center surrounded by the green bracts. Thank you for the advice to maintain freshness.
Such a pretty vignette, I love the softness of the pillow and blanket, coupled with the vibrancy of the pot and watering can. You make me yearn to play with dishes, flowers, life again, the property is still to young to feel that abundance of joyful creativity, but one day it will all settle in and I can play to my hearts content!
Thinking of you and dorian, hope everyone is safe in harm’s way, I think you have a wet week ahead!
What a happy and cheery sunflower post, Mary! I love everything that you’ve shared on your porch. The dimensional pillow is so pretty on your bench, and your arrangements are spectacular. I have the absolute worst luck with fresh sunflowers, even with cutting them on the diagonal and using the included floral preservative. I guess I have to stick to faux sunflowers!! Happy Labor Day to you…xxoo
Your porch is so welcoming Mary. Love the added texture of the green bracts. Have you been informed as to whether Dorian will impact you? I know you’re far inland but know the bands of rain can create flooding & spin off storms. Stay safe! Happy Labor Day! Clara♥️
Always one of my favorite flowers Mary! Happy September-enjoy:@)
Mary, what a gorgeous arrangement! Those sunflowers always make me happy, and I secretly adore the ones without their petals “best”!! I love their green crowns. Your setting is perfection, hoping that fall will soon be on its way in your warm weather early September. Thank you for such a lovely visit, dear friend, wish it was in “the real” rather than the virtual world, but so enjoyable. Xoxo Lidy
Thanks. . .such coordination of design. I am still thinking of the east and west-facing flowers. . .the things we never knew.
Gorgeous, gorgeous as ever and love how you plucked the rays and the sunflower took on a total new look and added fun and texture to the arrangement. You have the sweetest watering cans Mary…always one for that special table or occasion. Always great to see happy sunflowers!!! Have a fabulous day and hope you are enjoying your Holiday weekend!
What a wonderful spot to sit and relax. Love your porch sunflowers, blanket and pillow. The watering can is perfect. I find the sunflowers facts totally amazing! Only God can put such rhythm in nature. Thank you for the rays of sunshine, it’s pretty overcast where we are. Praying for safety for our southern states.
Always the prettiest floral arrangements and decor Mary! I love they way you include so many interesting facts. Your vignettes are so inspiring, now I can switch out some pillows on my patio bench with the fall-ish ones (with sunflowers!) that arrived at my Amazon locker yesterday! Just can’t wait for it to cool off – 90 degree temps in SoCal still, rats!
You made my day bright! Thank you Mary! This is the best blog entry yet with my heart’s delight of sunflowers & bees. Beautiful and informative too.
The green bracts are just as pretty as those with their rays intact! What a gorgeously full bouquet with the hydrangeas and abelia mixed in. Of course, all the additionals (the watering can, dishes, napkin, pillow) round out the beauty of your overall porch portrait. Happy September, Mary.
Beautiful pictures of sunflowers. I like your idea of picking off the petals of spent flowers and letting them stay in the bouquet!
HELLO SUNFLOWERS (SEPTEMBER)! BEAUTIFUL display on your porch, Mary! I love Sunflowers…they just say, SMILE! I’m using Sunflowers in my Fall arrangement for the She Shed.
Mary, sunflowers are truly happy flowers. This is another fabulous post full of texture and beautiful sunny color. I hope you are enjoying your Labor Day Weekend and sister time. I also hope that Dorian doesn’t cause you any issues.
This is such a fun post, who can not smile when looking at a sunflower! Really gorgeous and I’m –sunflowering my front porch tomorrow, now that Fall is lurking around the corner!
Boy, did I need this post (watching news) you turned gloom into hallelujah!!
Love it All. Colors, flowers, plates, textures, napkins I want and water can I am
Highjacking and painting for my sisters. We go to lunch and exchange sister gifts
At Christmas, A little something hand made, grown, a sunflower painted h20 can!!!
Thank You for sharing a favorite flower so many ways and and sparking many an idea.
Prayers of safety for you and your loved ones.
Love it all!
this is so refreshing and beautiful. i’m hunkered down on Florida’s Treasure Coast while hurricane Dorian is stalled due east of us and I opened to this cheerful display. I’m reminded to keep turning towards the Son just like a sunflower does. Thank you.
My heart is going pitter pat with sunflower love Mary! I have been in full sunflower mode lately and can’t seem to get enough! I love the “new variety” you created by removing the spent rays and leaving the green ones! Your vintage fleur de soleil watering can makes me swoon! You always have so much fascinating flower info, so interesting to learn and read~ 🌻
Jenna
I LOVED this post! Sunflowers are my favorite flower. They always make me smile. Such interesting information too. I had passed by a field of sunflowers last week and wondered why they were all facing the same way. Thanks to you now I know why.
So colorful and cheerful! I pinned your lovely front porch scene. I just love sunflowers!