Sunflower from Tomohon

The sunflower (helianthus anuus) photograph which you see on this blog post was taken several years ago in Tomohon, a trading hub or commercial town in the mountainous Minahasan regency. It looked weird to see that these sun flower plants were growing just beside a busy street near Tomohon traditional market. I haven't visited this town for four years and I wonder if these sunflower plants still exist. Now, Tomohon has become a major town in Minahasa. Years ago it was a famous flower town.

In Minahasan towns and villages, people usually grow flowers in front of their home yards. City dwellers from Manado and Bitung often come to buy flowers from them. So, beside they function as decorative plants, the flowers that are growing in front of the villagers homes are important agricultural commodity.  Sun flowers that they grow are not meant to be used for their oil as an alternative energy but to beautify the landscape. If you are interested in visiting Minahasa to see various flowers there then I should recommend a small village named Tincep. There you can see a lot of species of flowers from roses, to orchids.