Pope Goes Sunflowers

The stone fence, sunflower field, and
Pope's barn.  8/6/2019 dwm photo

After a year without sunflowers at the Pope Farm Conservancy, they returned, but with a twist.

In an effort to handle a large amount of traffic - parking was not allowed at the park and a fee was established which included a shuttle ride to the park.

Our cold and wet spring impacted this crop like others across Wisconsin and the sunflowers were a week behind schedule.

I wasn't able to get to the park during the 10 day run (7/26 - 8/4/2019) of Sunflower Days, but stopped by early August 6.

The flowers were there.  The skies cleared soon after I arrived, and I found dozens of great pictures waiting to be shot.

Twice Monarch Butterflies danced from one bright yellow flower to another, stopping long enough for me to shoot before they moved to another further from view.

The north edge of the sunflower field. 
8/6/2019 dwm photo

Like soldiers lined up for roll call, these tall blooms proudly face east.  A few heads were drooping under the weight of the large faces, but the yellow hues were still bright as the sun.

However, what we think of as a 'sunflower' is actually many flowers. 

The outer ring is called 'ray florets,' and inside the head of the sunflower is a round center of 'disc florets.'  The disc florets mature (notice photo at left and then below right) into what we recognize as sunflower seeds - which is the fruit of the flower.

A Monarch pauses to stretch its wings on a mature plant.
8/6/2019 dwm photo

I roamed the north and east edges of the field for 30 minutes and went home with more than 300 pictures.

The four on this page are four favorites.  I'll share more in this space tomorrow.

There was some controversy about how this year's Sunflower Days were handled.  The founders of the conservancy intended it to be a park with no entrance fee required.

Many, if not all, of the Friends of Pope Farm Conservancy didn't want the park to charge admission since many guests and volunteers visit the space daily for reasons other than the flowers.

Hello, Sunshine.
8/6/2019  dwm photo

My thought, after looking at the website for the 10-day run was that taking pictures at sunrise wasn't an option since the park wasn't open that early.  Sunrise is the best time of day to shoot and would have been open any other morning.

Just lucky for me was that August 6 when the park returned to its normal hours and free to all admission was a perfect day. 

I believe something needed to be done to handle the bumper crop of sunflower tourists more efficiently, but I hope a middle ground can be found.

It is incredible to look out over a field of brilliant battalion of sunflowers, and I hope everyone gets that opportunity next year.