HOMEFRONT : BLOOM BOOM

Just a few years ago, sunflowers were pretty much what they’d always been: tall, rangy heliotropes grown mainly for seeds and oil and the occasional country plot. Beyond that, in florist and garden shops certainly, sunflowers were largely unwanted.

Then they became a hot motif on the fashion and design scene, breaking ground for the sudden popularity of the real thing. The former wallflower is now the belle of the bed.

“When growers first started growing sunflowers,” says Fred Van Wingerden at Pyramid Flowers in Oxnard, “I thought it was a fad. But half a year later, we were into it, too.” Five years ago, Pyramid grew no sunflowers at all; the next year it had but one bed. Last year, it had about 100.

“Requests for sunflowers are nonstop,” says Edgar Iobst at Armstrong’s in West Los Angeles, “and we sell out of all our shipments of them.”

Growers have come up with varieties other than those familiar 10-foot behemoths. There are more than 100 kinds, some small enough to grow in pots. Breeders all over the globe are working on new colors: pastels, blushes, salmons, reds. They already come in varying shades of cream, yellow, gold, orange and rust.

And, of course, yellow.