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South Austin resident Gina Daniel walks past the intersection of Curlew Drive and Crownspoint Drive each day with her dog to admire the rows of sunflowers growing along the sidewalks. For the past year and a half, she said the sunflowers have been a bright spot amid the coronavirus pandemic. Then, the City of Austin’s code enforcement department issued a notice last week, requiring the property owners to remove the sunflowers. The notice cited right-of-way mobility concerns and an ordinance prohibiting weeds and grasses over 12 inches tall from growing on a property.

KARST, Germany, - A German gardener broke his own Guinness World Record by growing a sunflower plant measuring 30 feet and 1 inch high. Hans-Peter Schiffer of Karst first held the record for tallest sunflower plant in 2009 with a 26-foot, 4-inch sunflower and he broke his own record in 2012 with a 27-foot plant. Schiffer again broke his record in 2013 with a plant measuring 28 feet and 8 inches tall. "Some sunflowers are already so unbelievable tall, that it could be very possible to get even a taller one," Schiffer told Guinness World Records. "I am already very...

Omega-6-rich oils don't have same benefits as canola, soybean and olive oils, studies show The Canadian Press Posted: Nov 11, 2013 1:46 PM ET Last Updated: Nov 11, 2013 2:10 PM ET In 2012, Health Canada agreed to let manufacturers of cooking oils containing either omega-6 or omega-3 fatty acids claim on their product labels that these oils help reduce the risk of heart disease by lowering cholesterol. (iStock) A pair of Canadian scientists are challenging the fact that manufacturers of some cooking oils are entitled to make health claims about the products. They argue that new evidence suggests oils...

On the morning of last year's annual Sunflower Fair in La Porte, Indiana, a family, appearing a little lost, walked up and down a crowded street, looking in vain for the table to sign up their entry. They carried a large sunflower with them. If no one noticed the exhausted, grieving look in the family's eyes, that was understandable. The Sunflower Fair is a place of happy noise: rides and music and food booths. It is La Porte's fall festival, and people from across northwest Indiana come to spend a Saturday in the midst of the milling, chattering crowds....

Please help me out! My daughter grew a massive sunflower from seed in a wildflower garden that we planted late this spring. This flower was MAGNIFICENT, it had eight blooms and 3 or 4 more on the way! Neighbor boys cut it down with a tent pole this morning and Bachman's has told us that it will likely die. We are in MN (twin cities area), so I'm trying to find somewhere, anywhere, that has sunflowers (mature ones preferably). Bachman's told us no dice - they don't have any. My 2.5 year old is going to be crushed, and Mom...

I have had a few people comment on my homepage and the censoring of the Disney classic "Fantasia". I have found a link to this blog which reveals "Sunflower" in all her glory. Andrea, the owner, took a recording from "The Wonderful World of Color" aired in the 50's and spliced the character back into the original film.For a long time, Disney denied this character existed and released the 40th aniversary addition of Fantasia "uncut" but without Sunflower in the Pastoral Symphony.Enjoy!

Heated debate over who planted first sunflower 22:00 28 April 2008 NewScientist.com news service Colin Barras Could raking over the ashes of past civilisations help tackle the current food crisis? David Lentz at the University of Cincinnati, Ohio, thinks so. Genetic information from wild strains of domestic crops could help to improve crop yield, he says, making it important to identify the point of domestication. That makes his controversial theory that the sunflower was domesticated in Mexico at least 4000 years ago more than just a matter of ancient history. "If we are to improve the sunflower crop, we need...

Plastic problems Smooth, shiny plastic covers may make our mobiles look good - but they last for hundreds of years in landfill sites. Producing plastics creates a lot of nasty waste and products that can be difficult to get rid of or recycle. But Kerry Kirwan, an engineer at Warwick University, may have come up with an answer to our plastic problems. Plant power Kerry has been working with plastics manufacturer PVAXX Research to develop a new type of phone cover made from biodegradable plastics. These covers are created from a mixture of plastics and minerals. They break down into...

What?" says Los Angeles Angels equipment manager Ken Higdon. "There's always enough of those." Correction: There always was enough of those. This summer, producers are squeezing together all of their resources -- and still plan to ration what they have to make it through the season. There is a chance some players and coaches actually will be forced to play the game this summer with no seeds at all in their mouths. "It's a possibility," says John Sandbakken, director of international marketing at the National Sunflower Assn. in Bismarck, N.D. "Our farmers didn't have a very good crop last year,...

The purpose of FreeRepublic.com's multiple message boards is to limit the topics for each board to particular topics. Posting the same message on all the boards defeats the purpose of multiple-boards for special topics. It is very annoying to see the same message on every bulletin board. PLEASE! DO THE READERS A FAVOR. STOP CROSS-POSTING YOUR MESSAGES!

OKLAHOMA CITY -- An Oklahoma City woman was still angry Thursday after she received a hefty fine for discarding a sunflower seed. Woman Fined $185 For Tossing Sunflower Seed On Ground Police cited Tricia Morgan for littering after she dropped the seed at an intersection about five months ago. The Oklahoma City Municipal Court upheld the fine after she challenged it. Morgan told KOCO-TV in Oklahoma City that she's still angry about the citation. She said she couldn't believe that a single seed could cost her so much. "I didn't drop a whole handful at all because I only had...

A Greenville police officer has been suspended from duty after being charged with driving under the influence. Police Chief Lon Pepper Jr. would not name the officer, but the Sunflower County Sheriff's Department identified him as Joseph Chillus. Chillus was pulled over by the Mississippi Highway Patrol on Mississippi 448 in Sunflower County on Aug. 30. He was taken to the sheriff's department, where he failed a DUI test. Pepper said the Greenville Police Department did not learn about the incident until Friday. Pepper said the officer has "been placed on suspension until the final disposition of the case."