Ceramic Tile - Sunflower Summer Sky

The history, stories, legends and myths about sunflowers, all combined, would be a pretty impressive volume. Most folks are familiar with what a sunflower looks like and most can identify the more common varieties. There are, however, a number of fun facts that many don't know: Sunflowers and Black-Eyed Susans are "cousins", related but NOT the same flower. The tallest RECORDED sunflower was a seemingly impossible 27 feet tall! Most folks know that sunflowers are a growing agricultural product, giving us the yummy sunflower seeds to snack on, but also providing oil that some believe will one day be a viable, renewable energy source. It is also a common misconception that sunflower heads or blooms "follow the sun". This is true only while the flower is in the bud stage. Once the fully developed flower has emerged, the lovely bloom usually adopts an easterly orientation, as though waiting to greet the morning sun. It doesn't, however, follow it through to western skies as the day progresses. The artist, Van Gogh, honored these beautiful plants in a series of paintings he called, "Sunflowers". In addition, the sunflower has the distinction of being the State Flower for Kansas, is the symbol of the Vegan Society, and they are also the International Symbol of Peace. According to the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, "Sunflowers have become the symbol of a world free of nuclear weapons. After Ukraine gave up its last nuclear warhead, the Defense Ministers of the US, Russia and Ukraine met on a former Ukrainian missile base on June 4, 1996. They celebrated by scattering sunflower seeds and planting sunflowers." This, of course, is why June 4th is Sunflower Peace Day and may also be why the lovely Sunflower is the National Flower of Ukraine. Then, there is the story of the water nymph, Clytie, who turned into a sunflower grieving of the loss of her love, Apollo. This magnificent flower is featured on this lovely, ceramic tile. A beautiful accent tile in your kitchen or bath, it also makes a terrific trivet.