Sunflowers! ~ Montrose, Colorado

​Sunflowers in full bloom certainly do have a way of brightening up a day. An uplifted feeling naturally occurs when viewing an endless sea of bright yellow sunflowers in farm country. It takes a lot of sunflower seeds to make one snack size portion, so when sunflowers are farmed they sure do dominate the landscape with their beauty. Thousands upon thousands of tightly packed rows of big bright pie plate size yellow flowers all facing the same direction is quite an impressive sight to see, so be sure to take the time to enjoy the moment when passing through!

There are many places to view endless sunflower fields from early to mid summer out in farm country. Word of mouth is the traditional resource for finding out where a big sunflower field may be located, but the internet has become the best reference guide in recent years. By just typing the name of any flower in a search engine, a wealth of information can be found. When doing a sunflower word search during the summer season, pictures and videos of sunflower fields will dominated the search result list and by looking at the locations, it is easy to find a place where this crop is farmed.

The only problem with using a methodical approach for locating where sunflowers are being grown is the element of surprise will be lost. When vast fields of sunflowers are unexpectedly encountered, the overwhelming beauty is enough to leave a viewer in a state of jaw dropping awe. For this intangible reason, it is better to encounter sunflower fields by chance, rather than to knowingly seek them out!

The sunflower fields in the photos came as a total surprise while I was on my way to the Gunnison Gorge National Conservation Area during the summer season. The Gunnison Gorge access roads intersect with Highway 550 in an agricultural area just north of Montrose, Colorado. On the west side of the highway is where vast fields of sunflowers are grown. These farm fields stretch from the highway all the way to the hills in the distance, so there are millions of bright yellow flowers to view in this area when they are in the crop rotation.

Sunflowers are native to the Americas and they have always been an important natural resource for indigenous people. Sunflower seeds are one of the healthiest food items on earth and these seeds definitely are a top pick for a highly nutritious hiking snack. It takes plenty of time for sunflower seeds to fully develop, so this plant has a unique adaptation that causes the flowers to always face the sun. A time lapse movie of a field of sunflowers will reveal how these giant flowers follow the sun through the day, which is quite intriguing to see. Because sunflowers follow the sun, the time of day must be figured into the touring plan, so the sunflowers face toward where you stand.

Sunflowers do brighten up the day and the sight of vast fields of sunflowers can definitely elevate the dreariest of moods. Going for a cruise through farm country during the summer sunflower season is well worth taking the time to do, just for the sake of capturing the beautiful moment. Viewing a sea of summer season bright yellow sunflowers will create memories that will put a smile on the face for many years to come and this is more than reason enough to get up and go!