Get in the spirit, join in the symphony! 

Therapy Focus' annual awareness campaign, the Symphony of Sunflowers, invites the community to plant sunflowers in support of inclusion and participation of children with special needs.

No flower can lift spirits quite like the humble sunflower. Since 2009, thousands of families, schools, work places and community groups have planted sunflower gardens to show their support for children with disabilities in Western Australia.

The inclusive gardening activity is one people of all abilities can take part in, and aims to teach the community that children with disabilities can participate in the same activities as others  - they may just need a little extra support.

So get in the spirit, join in the Symphony, and help Therapy Focus spread the valuable message of inclusion and participation.

    

How to get the most out of your sunflowers: Our top planting tips!

The better the soil, the better your sunflowers will grow. Sunflowers prefer rich and well drained soil. You can add peat moss or other humus and mix thoroughly before planting. Work the soil thoroughly and plant seeds roughly 1-3 cm deep and about 30cm apart. Give them a good water after planting. Ideally, mulch and hand weed the area until the seedlings are a couple feet tall. This way they can establish their roots. Expect flowers about 10 weeks after planting and they will flower for about 3 weeks. Water regularly and deeply during the 3 weeks of bloom for best results. Especially large flowers may require a stake to prevent them from falling over with the wind. The stakes should be at least a foot in the ground.

Fun Sunflower Facts: Did you know?

The tallest sunflower was 8.03 metres tall when measured in Kaarst-Voorst Germany in August 2009. The shortest sunflower was grown using the Bonsai technique and reached just over 2" tall. Kansas City in the US has been nicknamed as the "Sunflower State" There are more than 2000 different varieties of sunflowers in the world. The most common is bright yellow with a dark brown centre, but there are many other colours including tan, orange, maroon and even striped! A new form of sunflower has recently been created which has low-pollen. This will help hay fever sufferers, reduce the risk of asthma and increase the life of the flower itself.  The seeds can be used for cooking oil, snacks, butter, and animal feed.

And we bet you certainly didn’t know.......

Sunflowers were used to treat a number of medical conditions including treating chest congestion, colds, eye sight, fever, high blood pressure, stomach pain, ulcers, whooping cough and snake bites, just to name a few. Parts of Sunflower stems were used in life jackets due to their extreme lightness and buoyancy before more modern materials were created. Sunflowers can remove toxic waste from the environment. After the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, floating rafts of sunflowers with their roots dragging in the radioactive water were able to extract radioactive material caused by the accident.

Have a few sunflower facts of your own? Send them to us and we will post them online to share with our followers! Just email sunny@therapyfocus.org.au