Some friends reached out and let me know about their wonderful visit to Greendale to see the sunflowers. Oh, I had never been to a sunflower farm before and was intrigued. Lavender, tulips, vineyards, orchards, pumpkins, but never sunflowers. Loving a new experience, we decided it would be a great weekend family outing.

The farm in about 80km west of Melbourne and the drive was just under an hour – too easy! Some things to note if you plan to make a trip out to the farm:

• Dogs are welcome but must be kept on lead at all times.
• Closed toed shoes are a must and maybe pants as there are snakes. (We didn’t see any on our visit.)
• Bring your own pruning shears or you’ll have to pay to hire a pair (I believe the cost is $2.)
• Admission is $5 per person which allows you to cut one sunflower each. If you would like to cut more they will cost $2 each. There is a cash only policy, as you are in a field and there is no mobile service.
• There are no facilities or food so plan ahead. Greendale itself has a pub but there are many more options if you drive 6 minutes farther, in Ballan.
• There is parking onsite, just along the road and near the entrance to the farm.

We were pretty well sorted as we set out this morning but completely forgot about the “cash only” rule. We stopped several times, at petrol stations and shops, but no bank machines could be found. Luckily, if you are like us and forget, Ballan has two banks with ATM’s.

There is a 1.3km walking path around the outside of the sunflower field where it is very easy to take photos and choose your perfect flower to cut and take home. They even have hay bales scattered about at prime locations affording fab photo ops. We didn’t venture too far in to the field as we had heard many stories of snakes around. It was not a problem though as there were an abundance of flowers within reach. The ground is uneven and can be muddy so I’m not sure how ideal this outing would be with a pram or wheelchair.

Sunflower fun facts:

• Sunflowers are heliotropic – that is they are solar tracking – the plant moves, following the sun’s movement throughout the day.
• The world’s tallest sunflower is 30 feet tall!
• One sunflower can contain up to 2,000 seeds!
• Sunflowers symbolise loyalty.
• Sunflowers are part of the daisy family.
• There is no other flower with the word “flower” in the name aside from the sunflower. Is this true? I couldn’t think of any other.
• They are the national flower of Ukraine. Ukraine earns nearly 4 billion dollars per year in the sunflower oil industry.