SIBLING duo, Jacko and Madi Whyte have been bringing joy to people’s day with their vibrant, acre crop of sunflowers on Leura Lane, Hamilton.
When Jacko first planted 10 kilos of commercial sunflower seeds in November, he had no idea that he and his sister would soon be selling the feel-good blooms to not only a local florist and health food store, but hosting pick your own days and supplying flowers to a wedding in Melbourne.
Jacko said it was his mum, Vicki who first suggested he plant sunflowers.
“I grew corn and mum said grow some sunflowers as well,” he said.
“It’s a pretty similar crop and (I thought) it would look cool and then this year I got bored and thought it would be fun.
“I didn’t realise anyone was going to buy them, I just thought they’d be nice to look at, but Madi started selling them.”
Through their sales the siblings have given back to the community - donating a portion of the profits to the Western District Health Service (WDHS) MRI Fund.
“Mums involved with it (WDHS MRI Fund) so we thought it would be good to give back a bit,” Jacko said.
Madi said the flowers had inspired generosity throughout the community and provided an immersive experience for all.
“An anonymous donor wanted to buy them for residents at The Grange,” she said.
“… We’ve had a lot of people with special needs come - I think it’s so sensory.
“I was really shocked by the amount of elderly people that have come out … they really enjoy it.
“We’ve donated a heap to the kids vaccination clinic and they love them … they’re more interested in the ladybugs on flowerhead though.”
The pick your own sunflower days at Western District Sunflowers have proven to be a popular weekend activity with people coming from as far as Warrnambool and Halls Gap to walk among the bright blooms and choose their favourites to take home.
Madi said even though she picks hundreds of sunflowers each day the field remains full of ladybug covered yellow heads.
“I think I picked 200 last night (Tuesday) and you couldn’t even tell,” she said.
“They only really started coming up at the start of January - they weren’t a really noticeable flowers and then they all shot up in the last month.”