At Scenic Isle Farm on Central Whidbey, visitors can walk through a painting, relax and take home a piece of sunshine.
For sisters and fifth generation farmers Alix Roos and Corrie Chamberlin, the workplace has become yellower and more joyful. For the first time in its over 130-year-old history, the family farm is hosting a sunflower patch where visitors can stroll along paths carved through over two acres of yellow and green field, bring a picnic and snip up to three blooms.
“I did not anticipate the kind of peacefulness and happiness sunflowers would bring me,” said Roos, who owns the business.
Inspired by a sunflower patch they visited in Snohomish County last year, the sisters decided to create Ebey’s Landing’s first-ever Sunflower Stroll, which might become a yearly tradition at the farm along with the older pumpkin patch and the production of the famous heirloom variety of squash, the sugar Hubbard squash.
In April, they planted about 96,000 sunflower seeds that are now in full bloom, said Roos.
The sunflowers come in 12 different varieties, including the towering Mammoths (which can reach heights of 12 to 16 feet), the petite dwarf sunflowers, the spiky and messy Just Crazy sunflowers, the yellow and red ombré Autumn Beauty and more. Some of the flowers, Roos said, grow one inch every day — fast enough to kick off the patch on Aug. 10.
According to Chamberlin, the sunflowers have been particularly thriving at the farm, aided by “magic” soil. The relationship between the flowers and the land is mutually beneficial because sunflower roots dig deep, breaking the soil and keeping it healthy, Roos said.
The field offers chairs and hay benches where visitors can sit and read a book, meditate and soak in the sun — sunflower style — lulled by the hum of happy bees and the chirping of a bird rave. The field is particularly ideal for birdwatchers, as flocks of birds dance in the sky and land on the flowers to feast on the seeds.
More chairs can be found in the picnic area, a large space where families and friend groups can feast on a picnic blanket, play darts and find clippers to cut the best-looking sunflowers.
According to Roos, sunflower stems should be cut at a 45 degree angle to allow them to keep growing. By drying the seeds, people can also plant their own sunflowers at home, she said.
Nature enjoyers, photographers, and painters of all ages are invited to the Sunflower Stroll from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Thursdays through Mondays. If the weather is favorable enough, it might continue through Sept. 15.
Children under the age of 5 enter for free, while those ages 6 to 12 pay $10 for admission. Anyone over the age of 13 pays $15. Well-behaved dogs on short leashes are also welcome.