Should the sunflower replace the rose as the national flower?
By Judy Lowe | 07.07.09
Back in the 1980s, there was quite a heated competition to name the national flower. Not surprisingly, the rose won. (You don’t have to be a gardener to love the beauty and fragrance of roses.)
But now, George Ball, chairman of W. Atlee Burpee & Co., has dredged up the issue again – and he wants a recount.
That may sound like sour grapes since Burpee was championing the marigold for national flower back in the ’80s – and it came in second.
But Mr. Ball has decided that we should replace the rose with the sunflower. Here’s his argument:
First, the well-ogled cultivars [of roses] are all foreign from breeding to production to wholesale distribution. Their feet don’t touch our native soil, while the lion’s share of their profits go abroad. This is hardly appropriate for our national flower. Second, the rose has already represented kings, queens, dukes, duchesses, lords, ladies, courts, religious orders and military units of nations of all stripes. Strictly on patriotic grounds, the U.S. should have nothing to do with the rose as its national symbol. Third, there are a great number of native plants that actually originated in our botanically barren land.
I’d have to take issue with “botanically barren land” to describe the United States. But hardly anyone could argue with choosing a native plant.
But then Ball goes on to argue for the tomato as our unofficial national fruit (instead of the apple). His points seem based more in commercialism than in home gardening. “When President Reagan named the Rose as our country’s national flower the seed companies weren’t too happy,” notes Tom Alexander.
Here’s all Ball had to say about the plant he’s championing:
Not only did the sunflower originate in eastern Colorado, it’s been an enormous blessing to the world economy, rivaling the rose in importance abroad, and blowing its petals off here in the U.S.
I’m not sure where the “eastern Colorado” came from. Most sources I’ve seen aren’t that specific. But you could make a good argument for sunflowers as the national flower – much as you could for a number of other plants. We’ll look into that in tomorrow’s post, which will be – naturally – all about sunflowers.
But what do you think about little tempest in a seed packet? If you had to choose a national flower, would it be the rose, the sunflower, or some other plant? And why? Tell us what you think.
Editor’s note: If you enjoy gardening, you’ll find much more on the main Monitor gardening page: at least one new blog post and one new gardening article each weekday. Our RSS feed is here.
You may also want to visit Gardening With the Monitor on Flickr. If you join the group (it’s free), you can upload your garden photos (and possibly win a prize). Join the discussions and get answers to your gardening questions.
And finally, you can now follow us on Twitter.
Comments
2. Keith Malone | 07.08.09
While a native flower would be ideal, which one? Is there a native flower that is indigenous to most parts of this country? I suspect there are few. The effort to change our national flower to a native one would be a great educational opportunity to discuss issues of gardening, water and habitat, but I think it would require input and support from native plant societies and related organizations across the country.
3. Bill Stringer | 07.08.09
I vote for the genus Helianthus (sunflower species). We have many native Helianthus species. See http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=HELIA3 . Most of the sunflower species are perennial (the big-seeded annual species - H. annuus obviously is not). They are very resourceful, grow in poor soils, do not need fertilizers and pesticides to thrive. The native Americans used Helianthus species as food sources. Many songbirds eat sunflower seeds during breeding season and in migration season. Sunflowers exemplify the the best of the American spirit - resourceful, hardworking, self-reliant. The American national flower? It’s got to be Helianthus.
4. John Robinson | 07.08.09
On the appropriateness of the rose as national flower: let the nation of immigrants be represented by an “immigrant” flower. It can serve to remind us of the theft of the land from native peoples, the theft and exploitation. We may be sensitive now to the horror of our origins, as to the foreign beginnings of the rose (Thank you, Mr. Ball), but the damage cannot be undone. And the rose is beautiful. Let its beauty be a haunting reminder.
Trackbacks/Pingbacks
Leave a Comment
We do not publish all comments, and we do not publish comments immediately. The comments feature is a forum to discuss the ideas in our stories. Constructive debate - even pointed disagreement - is welcome, but personal attacks on other commenters are not, and will not be published.
Tip: Do not write a novel. Keep it short. We will not publish lengthy comments. Come up with your own statements. This is not a place to cut and paste an email you received. If we recognize it as such, we won't post it.
Please do not post any comments that are commercial in nature or that violate copyrights.
Finally, we will not publish any comments that we regard as obscene, defamatory, or intended to incite violence.
1. Lynn Hunt | 07.07.09
In 1802, a Charleston, South Carolina rice farmer planted the seed of a chance cross between the China rose ‘Old Blush’ and a musk rose. Seeds from that rose, ‘Champney’s Pink Cluster’ produced the first reblooming climbers. Arguably today’s most famous rose, ‘Knock Out’ was bred here in America, too. These are just two examples of an American influence in the rose world.
Sunflowers are charming, but they come and go rather quickly. On the other hand, I enjoy my roses here in Maryland from May till December, and have sometimes brought blooms indoors on New Year’s Day. In fact, I doubt any flower could provide more pleasure nationwide for a longer period of time than the rose. Then again, I’m The Rose Whisperer, not the Sunflower Whisperer.