Why Sunflowers Keep Spirals — Under the rafters of the seed loft, where dry husks ticked softly in paper sacks, Brenna pressed her thumb to a blank sunflower disk. Read the full story →
Under the rafters of the seed loft, where dry husks ticked softly in paper sacks, Brenna pressed her thumb to a blank sunflower disk. She wanted to place the very first seed exactly in the middle before the morning carts rattled away. Her hand shook a little. The center looked smaller than a raindrop and twice as important.
Then a dust-gray moth landed on her pencil. “Psst,” it said, smelling faintly of flour and night air. “The middle is too crowded for everyone.” Brenna nearly dropped the tray, but she did not run. She made one tiny mark beside the center, then another beside that, turning the tray as the moth tapped: tick, turn, tick, turn.
The seeds tucked themselves into a secret whirl, each with room to breathe. By sunrise, every sunflower in the loft had copied the twist. Ever since, sunflowers keep their seeds in spirals; if you follow the little center squares with your eyes, you may find Brenna’s first brave mark.
