Picking the Plants

Day One:

On February 6th, my first day at the Environmental Education Center, I focused on researching plants for the garden. I plan to include a variety of flowers, succulents, and herbs. The first plant I researched, and also the most likely to be included, are sunflowers. They are extremely well-suited for this sensory garden because not only can they survive the Arizona heat, but they also appeal to sight, sound, taste, and touch. Implementing sunflowers will be useful for attracting wildlife (birds, etc.) and providing an opportunity for the EEC to host horticultural classes. Among the existing kinds of sunflowers, I want to utilize mammoth, sunbeam, and either autumn beauty or Mexican. The mammoth sunflowers, are the largest, and probably most well known. They provide the most seeds, but are also difficult to grow because they can reach up to 12 ft. tall. Sunbeams are a beautiful, golden yellow, and they are the variety that inspired Van Gogh's series of sunflower paintings. And lastly, I want to include either the autumn beauty or Mexican sunflowers (ideally both) because they add color. Both varieties are shades of red; the autumn beauties are more burgundy, and the Mexican sunflowers are a bright red-orange. I would like to include both, but I think it would be better to only include one, and leave room for other flowers instead.