Although I grew up, practically in a garden.. I now live on the 10th floor of an appartment in the city of Mumbai. And that notwithstanding I still manage to have plants wherever I go…and birds to feed.
I moved to this appartment a few months ago..It’s been a Gift on many levels…for one, It has a decent sized balcony (for people living in Mumbai ..this is luxury) ..two it has many birds..pigeons, crows, small birds, hawks..mayna….and parrots.
One of the first things I did when I moved here was get my parrot feeder installed… I LOVE parrots..I think they remind me of my days of lying down under our guava tree and watching them just eat the seeds of the fruit.. (hummm..I have to think about this) …for years after that, that is how I used to eat guava also .. much to the annoyance of my mum.
Back to Parrots.
Parrorts..I have learnt, love sunflower seeds, there are two types white and black – For some strange reasons, my parrots prefer black seeds. And so we set this routine.. First one came and then slowly, a few … the parrots created lot of happy and sometime shrill noise as they peeled and ate the ‘insides’ of the seeds.. I was content to just sit many minutes just watching this..
A few weeks later, as I was watering the plants, I noticed in some other flower pots..some new plants had started to sprout ..and soon I saw a few Sunflower plants had grown. I was thrilled since I had not planted them.. and then came the..Sunflowers..And with them ..some bees and some small birds that I don’t know the name of…and butterflies and dragonflies (it’s worth mentioning that since its the10th floor butterflies etc don’t usually come…and yet here they were) ..I could ..almost feel the other flowers perking up little more because of the sunflower ..But then I think my active imagination may be getting carried away..
Anyway…
I felt so full of wonder and joy to watch ..how the “Unintended” consequences of an act of feeding a bird.., had started a whole chain of events….and spreading life..So true in life as well I think to myself …and also wonder what else am I not able to see yet…
I would very easily ..sighed…and wrapped this chapter of Sunflowers here..
But seems like the Sunflowers were not yet done …
I stumbled upon some other facts on the journey of ..“getting to know these Sunflowers”.. since they had showed up in my space..
Sunflowers always turn towards the Sun… (yes ofcourse, that is why the name..Duh!! ) we ALL know that.. Here are a couple of other things..about them that took my breath away…
The Two lessons that Sunflowers have to teach about Light are :
When there is NO light…
Young sunflowers track and move with the sun… from morning to night. And once the sun sets in the west the sunflower slowly turns its head back to the East during the night and waits for the sun to rise again. ..Sigh !!!!!!
When it gets dark..The Sunflowers turn towards the East..and Wait for the sun to rise again..
Wow !!!
The technical term for this phenomena is “heliotropism”. (Dictionary meaning : the Tendency of an organism to continually turn towards the light)
Additional benefits: (Unintended consequences..or maybe not??) Studies have shown sunflowers that mature to a stop in an east facing direction, attract five times as many pollinators as those who don’t. Humm does that mean when we are not attracting “pollinators” we may NOT be facing the light??
When there is less light…
However, on cloudy days, sunflowers still track the sun’s path whether it is shining through the clouds cover or not.
And ..
Sometimes….when they don’t see or get enough sunlight, to nourish them…. …. They turn towards each other…. that is certainly the belief on some tribal cultures (This I understand is contested..and may not be true…But for it’s metaphoric value its still good 🙂 )
Sunflowers turn towards each other for light
In these uncertain times…when there is so much going on in our ecosystem… It may be worth a pause…..
And wonder
How do we dance between Seeing the Light and Being it …
