One for me, two for the birds! *giggle*
...and healthy for us both!
Every garden needs a few sunflowers! They attract birds, squirrels, bees, butterflies, and other beneficial insects, they add huge splashes of warm color, and they are packed with nutrition!It would take a bit to list all the species of garden birds that love to eat sunflower seeds. If you leave a few heads standing overwinter, you are sure to
have lots of feathered company on those chilly days! Some of my favorite sunflower-eating birds are cardinals, chickadees, orioles, and blue jays (east) and mountain jays (west). Oh and don't forget the furry company of fluffy-tailed squirrels and chipmunks!Isn't he cute! ->
Which variety to plant? There are so many to pick from! They come in every shade of white, yellow, orange and red. With flowers as big as a turkey platter or as small as a button. Some grow on huge stalks that would make Jack's bean stalk jealous, while others spread out and grow on short branching bushy-like plants.
Hear are just a couple varieties. From left to right, moonshadow, the joker, and velvet queen.
Sunflowers are nutritional powerhouses! Just a quarter-cup of seeds has over 90% of the US RDA of vitamin E!! Have a look at this link and read all the benefits of adding raw sunflower seeds to your diet! No wonder the birds eat them! (Check out this link)
Here's a question I haven't been able to answer. In my bird raising studies, I have always heard that black- oil
sunflower seeds are better for birds because of higher protein content than other varieties. I cannot find any information on differences between seeds when I look up nutrition facts for humans. But I'm gonna go out on a limb here and suggest that eating black-oil sunflower may be a tad healthier than eating regular sunflower seeds. The birds seem to think so. I think I will listen to them!(See that image of the white sunflower above? Notice the whorl the seeds make? Isn't that a nice fractal?)
Want even more nutrition out of your sunflower seeds? Sprout them! This is a quote from here:
"One can think of the sprouts as pre-digested seeds. Unsprouted sunflower seeds are high in fat and protein. However, sprouting activates the seed, with many changes as it sprouts: dramatic increase in enzyme levels, seed fats are converted to essential fatty acids and carbohydrates, proteins are converted to essential amino acids and/or sugars, and vitamin levels (on a dry basis) increase substantially. Due to their activate enzymes, sprouts are much easier to digest than dry seeds. Further, as the seed sprouts its flavor is enhanced - sunflower sprouts have an earthy flavor and are very popular.
"While the sprouts are pre-digested seeds, the greens [sprouts that are allowed to grow a few days]
are a tender baby vegetable, high in chlorophyll, and a substitute for lettuce. Sunflower greens have a slightly salty taste that some compare to watercress. They are rich in chlorophyll, enzymes, vitamins, proteins, and the most important "nutrient", the life force. Some writers report the greens are a rich source of lecithin and Vitamin D. Additionally, unlike most expensive freeze-dried supplements such as spirulina and algae, sunflower greens that you grow are alive up to the time you eat them."
