Visitors to Ambler Farm this week could be forgiven for thinking they are across the ocean at the famed sunflower fields of Tuscany.
The swath of yellow flowers now in bloom is simply stunning.
Farmer Jonathan, Ambler’s director of agriculture and hands-on farmer, has planted sunflowers in previous years, but this is the first year he has planted such a large area of the back hill with them. The result is a vast sea of yellow, as the flowers turn their faces to the sun.
“Sunflowers attract birds, which in turn help us manage pests. They also attract bees; this helps with pollination,” he said. After they finish blooming, he will plow them under to create biomass that will help nourish the soil.
“Sunflowers are a great cover crop,” he explained, “and by turning them into the soil, they provide a natural way to help with soil depletion.”
He harvests some of the sunflowers to sell at Ambler Farm’s farm stand, open on Saturdays from 9 to 2, at the farmer’s market at the Wilton Historical Society, open from noon to 5 on Wednesdays, and at the Village Market.
Visitors are invited to stroll Ambler Farm’s back hill and photograph the sunflower field in all its splender while the flowers are still in bloom.
“The sunflower season is short,” Farmer Jonathan said, “so anyone wishing to see them in full bloom should stop by in the next two weeks.” The farm is open to the public from dawn until dusk, and it’s a much shorter trip than traveling to Tuscany.