F6101

Sunflower Bouquet

Designed by Ethel Kessler

Cover Announcement 

My hand painted cachet is set in the "Sunflower State" of Kansas. A field of the flowers provides abackdrop to a vintage postal vehicle pulled up to the three rural mail boxes. The National Postal Museum in Washington, DC has an amazing collection of early mail delivery vehicles that are fun and informative to look at.

Each plant can grow up to three meters high, and the circular flower head can be up to 30 centimeters wide. They are very easily seen by insects and birds which pollinate them. The flowers can produce thousands of seeds, and the flower petals are always in a spiral pattern. The outer petals can be yellow, orange: red, or other colors. Yellow is by far the most common. During a sunny day the heads of the plant will point to the sun and follow it across the sky.

The seeds are sold as snack food with or without salt added. The flowers can be processed into a peanut butter alternative called "sunbutter." ln Europe. whole seed bread is popular and is produced by mixing the seeds with rye flour. Some Native American tribes planted sunflowers as a "fourth sister'' to their standard three-sister crop combination of corn, beans. and squash.

The stamp is tied to the envelope with a bullseye first day of issue postmark from Lawrence, Kansas. The Sunflower Bouquet is now ready. Collins # F6101 at $18.50.