Sunflower

Bright, bold, and radiant as the sun over the vast, empty frontiers, sunflowers are one of the quintessential elements of Wild West scenery. Towering Stalks supporting enormous yellow heads that seem to follow the sun provided settlers with not just a pretty sight but an emblem of pride and promise in the dusty plains.

Much like the hardy people who called the West home, sunflowers grew in grim soils against the blaze of the blazing sun. The seeds were used by the hardy to snatch their share of food and oil, and the sturdy stalks occasionally became fencing or, sometimes, even building material for an ingenious homestead.

Aside from the practical uses of these flowers, the tall sunflowers offered welcome splashes of bright color against the barren landscape, raising the spirits of the pioneers, giving them inspiration that life could prosper amid adversity. They also attracted pollinators like bees and butterflies, aiding the pollination and growth of nearby crops.

Either lining the edge of any farmstead or swaying softly in the breeze, sunflowers remind us cheerfully of nature's stubborn desire to bloom wherever it gets planted and, likewise, of the gallant spirits who planted life in the Wild West.