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THE SAUGUS ADVOCATE – Friday, September 4, 2020 Page 9 GARDENS | from page 8 flowers blooming cheerily in containers outside the Youth and Recreation Building, and some very tall varieties leaning over fences or peeking into windows in neighbors’ gardens. The very tall ones often bow their heads even before they are laden with heavy seeds. In several other languages, the common name of sunflower refers to one of its best known characteristics. Girasole (Italian), girasol (Spanish) and tournesol (French) all refer to the flower heads’ ability to turn toward the sun. The scientific term for this is heliotropism. They can only do this early in their bloom season, before the heads are fully mature. Once fully open, the stems are no longer as flexible, and according to several sources they remain facing eastward when they are fully open, and they stay that way later as the seeds are developing. However, most of the sunflowers I observed didn’t all face east, nor were they uniform in facing any single direction. The varieties which had several flowers on each plant had open flowers facing in different, often opposite, directions at the same time, and even those varieties that had a single flower per stem faced different directions if there were several plants in the garden. Perhaps this is partly because of the fences, trees and houses in the surroundings that give each plant a slightly different sun exposure, because I have seen sunflower fields where most of the blossoms seemed to face the same direction. There are some other plants that exhibit this same tendency to follow the sun, including the annual garden heliotrope (Heliotropium arborescens), which actually got both its scientific and common name for this trait. While most of us in Saugus view sunflowers primarily as a pretty flower, they have long been valued for the oils in the seeds. In some areas of the world you may see acres of fields planted with sunflowers whose seeds are destined to be pressed for oils. Ripe seeds may have black or beige and black striped hulls. Usually varieties with black seeds are used for industrial purposes, such as cooking oil, hair oil or even biofuel, but the striped seeds are more popular for sunflower seeds sold as snacks. Sunflower seeds are also favorites with a wide range of bird species. Those of us with bird feeders in their gardens often discover the grass or and west. As the latter common name suggests, in the wild it is often found in wet areas at the edges of ponds, but it will grow in average garden sites as well as moister ones. The artistically named variety ‘Starry Starry Night’ has the reputation of the darkest foliage among the popular varieties available. ‘Ballet Slippers’ has green foliage, but is a prolific bloomer, with petals that are pale pink on the edges and fade to white just before the red heart or eye at the center. Hardy hibiscus is a larval host for several butterflies and moths. One of these is the colorful Io moth (Automeris io), which used to be common in Massachusetts but is now seen only occasionally on Cape Cod. A DINNER PLATE–SIZED FLOWER: Hardy hibiscus has one of the largest individual flowers of any perennial. (Courtesy photo to The Saugus Advocate by Laura Eisener) other plants under the feeder die off where the birds discard the sunflower seed hulls. This is because there are chemicals in the sunflower that can be harmful to other plants. Birdseed mixes that are friendlier to the garden may contain sunflower seeds which have the hulls removed – that way the plants surrounding the feeder are less likely to be damaged. Another dinner plate–sized flower blooming in local gardens right now is hardy hibiscus (Hibiscus moscheutos). You can’t miss this one, since a single flower can easily be 8 inches across – and unlike the sunflower, this one is really a single flower rather than a head of many flowers. You may immediately see the relationship to hollyhocks, rose of Sharon, mallows and tropical hibiscus, which we talked about in this column a few weeks ago. Like other members of the mallow family, the flowers often have a contrasting reddish “eye” or color pattern near the flower’s center, while the rest of the petals may be white or several variations of pink. In some other varieties, such as ‘Luna Red,’ the entire petal may be deep red to almost burgundy. Earlier in the season, many varieties will have burgundy foliage, but in my experience most of the leaves will have faded to green by the time flowering occurs. While this hibiscus may not quite reach the stature of the tallest sunflowers, they certainly tower over the average perennial, reaching 6-7 feet in our gardens once established. Their height suggests they need to be placed at the back of a perennial border, but it is often fun to plant one or two right next to a walkway where Wishing you a happy and safe Labor Day Weekend! Our branches will be closed on Monday, September 7th . Please remember that you can still access our Online & Mobile Banking platforms and ATMs when the bank is closed. you can’t help but make “eye” contact with them! It almost seems impolite not to say hello. These plants seem more popular than ever this summer and are always a delight for children with their outrageous size. Individual blossoms only last a day or two, and the wilted ones don’t automatically drop off on their own, so they may need the extra attention of deadheading. However, each plant usually produces a rapid succession of blossoms, so the overall bloom time is not very short. Other common names for this plant are eastern rose mallow and swamp rose mallow. It is native to Massachusetts and its range extends south Editor’s Note: Laura Eisener is a landscape design consultant who helps homeowners with landscape design, plant selection and placement of trees and shrubs, as well as perennials. She is a member of the Saugus Garden Club and offered to write a series of articles about “what’s blooming in town, since so many people have taken to walking the streets in their neighborhoods as a way to get some exercise and get out of the house!” RIGHT BY YOU 419 BROADWAY, EVERETT MA 02149 61 7-38 7 - 1 1 10 7 7 1 SALEM ST, LYNNFIELD, MA 01940 7 8 1 - 7 7 6 - 4444 Member FDIC Member DIF

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