Ginormous Sunflower

Whenever I refer to my "ginormous" sunflower, I generally get a laugh, but I've heard this word in a movie ("Dear Frankie", which I highly recommend) and I've heard other folks use it as well. Anyway, my cousin, Andrea (accent on the "e"), asked me about my work, possibly as a gift for her Mom, my Aunt Jane, for her birthday next month, and I thought this would be perfect for her. (My traditional wedding gift is one of my sunflowers and a note to the effect that I hope the two parties will always be one another's sunshine.) I promised her I would try to upload some info and a pix, so here I am.

This photo was shot by Don, my photographer extraordinaire, back in October. We shoot all of my work in its natural environment; that is, my garden. I loved how he captured the top of the fence, to show it's on a fence. And the combination of the weathered wood, the lush Boston Ivy and the sunflower really are lovely. (This photo, by the way, is featured in the Birmingham Bloomfield Art Center's Spring 2008 Catalog. Don does very good work.)

The sunflowers (or "funslowers"?) come in five different sizes - Tiny, Small, Medium, Large and, of course, Ginormous. (I'm also working on a Mini concept for decorating container gardens.) They can hang (I use plastic-coated wire so it won't rust) and go on stakes; I have custom-made stakes for the two smaller sizes and I make stakes to order for the three largest sizes (or, if you or someone you know can solder, you can make them yourselves from standard 1/2" or 3/4" copper tubing). There are, at last count, over 35 different patterns for the centers and around 19 different colors for the petals.

I've gotten a lot of great feedback on them. They're available at Circare (a great shop in St. Clair Shores, MI), the world-famous Pewabic Pottery in Detroit, the Birmingham Bloomfield Art Center and Goldner Walsh Nursery in Pontiac (check their Flower Shop). They're a lot of fun to make - and folks do seem to like them!