"There is but one way to celebrate a plump ripe plum - polish it on your shirt sleeve, see your face in the silvery black shine then open wide, lock your lips on the skin, sink your teeth into the sensuous center, suck in the flesh, slurp up the juices. Ah! The purple of it all."
Although the former Soviet Union grows the most sunflowers, it is native to North America and remains of its seeds have been found in North American, 3000-year- old archaeological digs. Kansas has adopted the sunflower as its state flower. Sunflower seeds are used to produce cooking oil, medicine, paint, animal feed and biodiesel. Spanish Conquistadors introduced the sunflower to Europe around 1510. The tallest sunflower was grown in the Netherlands by M. Heimjf in 1984 and stood over 25 ft. tall with a flower head over 32-inches in diameter.
