Sunflower
by Kathy Bassett
Title
Sunflower
Artist
Kathy Bassett
Medium
Photograph - Photography - Digital Textures
Description
Not another sunflower! Well to my eyes, it isn't! The textures added do set off an element of a sunflower that I believe is to an interesting advantage....To grow best, sunflowers need full sun. They grow best in fertile, moist, well-drained soil with heavy mulch. In commercial planting, seeds are planted 45 cm (1.5 ft.) apart and 2.5 cm (1 in) deep. Sunflower "whole seed" (fruit) are sold as a snack food, raw or after roasting in ovens, with or without salt and/or seasonings added. Sunflowers can be processed into a peanut butter alternative, sunflower butter. In Germany, it is mixed with rye flour to make Sonnenblumenkernbrot (literally: sunflower whole seed bread), which is quite popular in German-speaking Europe. It is also sold as food for birds and can be used directly in cooking and salads. American Indians had multiple uses for sunflowers in the past, such as in bread, medical ointments, dyes and body paints.[Sunflower oil, extracted from the seeds, is used for cooking, as a carrier oil and to produce margarine and biodiesel, as it is cheaper than olive oil. A range of sunflower varieties exist with differing fatty acid compositions; some 'high oleic' types contain a higher level of monounsaturated fats in their oil than even olive oil.The cake remaining after the seeds have been processed for oil is used as a livestock feed. Some recently developed cultivars have drooping heads. These cultivars are less attractive to gardeners growing the flowers as ornamental plants, but appeal to farmers, because they reduce bird damage and losses from some plant diseases. Sunflowers also produce latex, and are the subject of experiments to improve their suitability as an alternative crop for producing nonallergenic rubber.
Traditionally, several Native American groups planted sunflowers on the north edges of their gardens as a "fourth sister" to the better known three sisters combination of corn, beans, and squash. Annual species are often planted for their allelopathic properties.However, for commercial farmers growing commodity crops, the sunflower, like any other unwanted plant, is often considered a weed. Especially in the Midwestern US, wild (perennial) species are often found in corn and soybean fields and can have a negative impact on yields.
Sunflowers can be used in phytoremediation to extract toxic ingredients from soil, such as lead, arsenic and uranium, and used in rhizofiltration to neutralize radionuclides and other toxic ingredients and harmful bacteria from water. They were used to remove caesium-137 and strontium-90 from a nearby pond after the Chernobyl disaster,[2and a similar campaign was mounted in response to the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster
Uploaded
August 11th, 2013
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Viewed 1,336 Times - Last Visitor from New York, NY on 04/19/2024 at 2:30 AM
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Comments (35)
Brian Morefield - Prose Imagery
Beautiful capture, Kathy! Your digital post work gives it a real Americana vibe! L/V/F
Barbie Corbett-Newmin
It's not just another sunflower! We welcome this beauty to The 200 Club, a "rising star" group in which only a select few are featured. It is my pleasure to feature desirable art work like this. Congratulations on your well-deserved feature in our high activity group and elsewhere and on your hundreds of views.
Kathy Bassett
Thank you Roselynne! for featuring Sunflower in your group Graphic Wall Art Photography!
Mindy Sommers
Did you really? That is a coincidence for sure :) And I am glad you enjoyed my comment---it was from the heart. I am glad to meet you, Kathy. :)
Kathy Bassett
I think your kind comment is the best thing I have heard about my art in a long time! Thank you Mindy ..By the way, as coincidence, I went to Green Mountain College back in '74/5 :)