MORE
Most Recent Entries
- From the garden formerly known as summer; I get by with a little help from my friends
- More from Monica's garden (nothin' but stuff to love there!)
- My lawn is more of a ... meadow
- Chapter 12 - In which we visit the other Tribune garden writer's garden
- I'm about to save you $16 -- here's the highlights from Epcot's Behind the Seeds tour
- Boots gets the bronze and other winners of the recycled yard art contest
- Money? Who needs money for great yard art? (Not you!)
- Hungry? Let's trip on over to Eric's house
- Miracle-Crack -- it's a hard habit to break
- Picture yourself here: More photos from The Dirt's Dirty, Dirty Tour
- The 1st Dirty Dirty (hot and sweaty but wonderful) Dirt Tour!
- Glamour shots make us all want to hug a tree
- Dracaena teepee insists: "I'm more than a garden prop!"
- Willy the Garden Cat -- Adventures of a Horti-feline
- Fall bloomers? We got fall bloomers! ("I see trees of green, red roses too. I see them bloom ...")
Monthly Archives
 Twitter: Follow The Dirt On TwitterDrought: Watering Restrictions And Tips
|
George Ball, chair of the Burpee seed company, has an Independence Day proposition: Change our national flower from the rose to the sunflower.
Roses, he argues on his blog, are nearly all immigrants (let’s just disregard that whole melting pot thing, George). He says they seem “strikingly out of place amid Independence Day’s blaze of red, white and blue.” Red roses? That clashes?
And, he says, they’d never, ever feel comfortable at a good old-fashioned beer-swilling, flip-floppin’ July 4th picnic.
I beg to differ. I can totally see a rose at this picnic.
I have problems with George’s logic, but I do think we can do better than the rose. Roses say love, and love and revolution mix best in a John Jakes novel. I love sunflowers, but they’re not the answer. Yes, they’re cheerful, optimistic and big cash cows – all reflective of our red-white-and-blue values. But it seems as soon as they bloom, they nod their big heads like heroin addicts and then crash in a stupor.
Sure that’s a societal trait, but one we want to celebrate?
How about the dandelion, instead?
Oh yeah, I hear the Yanks: “They’re weeds!” But not if you subscribe to the theory that weeds are just flowers growing where they’re not invited. I, for one, would love those bright yellow blooms in my “lawn.”
As for symbolism, is it not the American way to pop up where we’re not welcome? When they turn to fuzz balls, we make a wish and blow. I do believe that’s horti-talk for “seeking the American dream.”
OK, I know dandelions will splat alongside Ben Franklin’s bid for the turkey as national bird. So I’m officially casting my ballot for the apple blossom.
It’s beautiful, it fruits, and if you know someone who bakes, it becomes apple pie. The whole “American as apple pie” is, of course, a misnomer. But it did come from the mother country and it’s fun to think we told England, “You go. The pie stays.”
After much deliberation, Kim is nominating the daisy.
Like Americans, it respects the pursuit of happiness – it loves full sun and rich soil, she says. But also like Americans, it will tolerate poor conditions without withering.
The daisy is simple but beautiful, and versatile. You can grow it in almost any garden, and it’s a staple for just about any bouquet. You can grow your own from seed or adopt a plant and bring it home knowing it will almost always thrive.
Anyone have a better idea? I’m sure George is just itching for us to weigh in.
Posted by Becca, on 07/06 at 03:35 PM
I considered the apple blossom too, but disregarded it for the same reasons.
And Penny - starting the seeds outside for sunflowers? THAT’S why they failed. Sunflowers have broken my heart too many times.
Posted by Penny L. Carnathan, on 07/04 at 03:43 PM
There is a national everything! I’m sure if we look hard enough, we’ll find a national bug and a national fertlizer, too.
I have a soft spot (no pun!) for apples because I’m from Vermont. Apple orchards all over the place and nothing as sweet as a fresh McIntosh (except maybe maple syrup.) I’m not so into daisies for no good reason.
Janna, most of my first batch of sunflowers are in bloom and gorgeous! One mammoth bloomed and then fell over the next day. One is very shy—looks at the ground all the time. The best mammoths are growing in the worst dirt.
For the record sunflower growers, the plants from seeds started outside were much hardier and grew faster than those started in cups indoors.
Posted by Susan Gillespie, on 07/04 at 11:32 AM
Hmm—-so many choices, really, for national flower. Like the rest I did not even know the rose was our national flower. But I can see how it would appeal to everyone. Since all of mine made it through the freezes they are now my garden fave.
The apple blossom truly is beautiful but since we can’t grow it here how can it be called “national”.
I’m leaning towards Kim’s choice of daisies. Reliable, dependable, national—-Daisies.
But I am open to that Tuscany sunflower trip.
Posted by Janna, on 07/04 at 09:01 AM
I’m with Becca in not knowing until this blog that the rose is the national flower. I have never had good luck growing them! As for dandelions,if that or any weed has a pretty bloom, it stays in my yard. I love sunflowers, but they are very short lived. By the way, Penny - how are yours doing?
Posted by Penny L. Carnathan, on 07/02 at 05:21 PM
I do believe that strikes the fatal blow for sunflowers as national flower! (For us anyway.) I’m adding Tuscany to my to-do list.
Posted by RickBrown, on 07/02 at 05:16 PM
Everytime I see sunflowers I think of the rolling hills of Tuscany. That is where all those calendar and screensaver images come from. I would love to go to Tuscany and see fields of what I think of as Italy’s national flower in full bloom. We have ceramics from Tuscany adorned with sunflowers. It just seems to be theirs and they truly do sunflowers justice.
Posted by Penny L. Carnathan, on 07/02 at 04:40 PM
Apparently (according to George’s blog) the rose became our official flower back in the ‘80s, but people had been pushing for one for years and years.
The daisy is a good choice. Poor dandelion is so maligned.
Posted by Becca, on 07/02 at 02:56 PM
I’m in full support of the non-rose idea, I honestly didn’t even know it was our national flower until I read this. With the premise of the daffodil pulling a close second, my vote goes to the daisy. I really wouldn’t enjoy a national flower that had a nickname of a weed, but it does still hold up what I think it is to be american!
Advertisement
Send Us Your Comments |
Terms & Conditions |
* Comments Must Include Full Name And Location
Posted by Penny L. Carnathan, on 07/06 at 03:53 PM
No Becca, the ones I sowed straight into the ground outside are doing great ... well, except for the one that promptly keeled over after blooming. It was the ones I started inside that struggled, although the survivors are now little beauties.
The problem is, I’m just a perennial girl. Good thing I’m not living in an annuals world! They’ll always break your heart eventually.