For some, sunflowers are the new roses

Sunflowers have become a popular choice for gifting and decoration among 18- to 25-year-olds in Bengaluru. Although these entered the market about four years ago, interest has grown significantly over the past seven months, say flower sellers.

Sunflowers are gaining ground despite their premium price — between Rs 100 and Rs 180 per stalk, compared to Rs 20 for a rose, Rs 40 for a chrysanthemum, and Rs 100 for a lily. Their appeal is credited to trends in wedding decor, viral images of models posing with them, sunflower emojis, and handmade crafts like crocheted sunflowers.

Mehak Mehta, whose company covers weddings on social media, recalls a recent haldi function in Bengaluru where guests showered sunflower petals on the young couple instead of applying turmeric paste. “To the young, roses feel clichéd. Sunflowers, being slightly premium, make the gesture more meaningful,” she reasons.

Gloria V, a media student in her 20s, agrees. She sees in its bold colours and upright form a metaphor for “resilience”. According to 24-year-old home baker Anchal Jain, sunflowers scream positivity. Not only does she place them in her vase to brighten up a rough day, but she also uses them as a signature decoration on her cakes.

Others are drawn to its striking yellow-and-brown contrast, impressive size, and long vase life of 7–8 days (compared to 3–5 for roses). Some are pleased that the “ happy flower” once seen only in Bollywood movies is available in the city — even at traffic signals.

According to Lakshmi, a hawker on Church Street, young customers started enquiring about sunflowers three months ago. Meena, another vendor on the same lane, picked up on the trend earlier this year after visiting the K R flower market, where sunflowers were being sought for wedding decor. 

From selling 8–10 stems a month last year, Anjali Flowers in Vijayanagar is now selling 80–100. In Koramangala, Eman Florist and Decorators say buyers in their 20s purchase sunflowers in bunches of 2 to 10 stems. S K Flowers and Helmets in Indiranagar has been selling about one sunflower a day for the past year — “enough reason to keep them in stock”. Praveen N Reddy, proprietor of Gowthami Florist, a chain, says sunflowers haven’t broken into his top five best-selling cut flowers, “but interest is steady”. Even with low margins of about Rs 10 per stem, Sanjay, who sets up shop on Hennur Main Road, says sunflowers now bring in his highest sales.

Not the oilseed variety

Srikanth Bollapalli, director, South India Floriculture Association, clarifies these ornamental sunflowers differ from oilseed varieties, and hit the market five years ago after Japanese company Sakata introduced a hybrid known as Vincent.

“These produce flowers with either black and brown, or yellow centres, and can be grown year-round,” he says. Due to the heavy stalks, joint director of horticulture Vishwanath M says these are used domestically rather than imported. Ornamental sunflower farms have come up at Hesaraghatta, Doddaballapur, Chikkaballapur, Hosur and Anekal. Bollapalli's farm in Doddaballapur supplies about a thousand cut sunflowers to Bengaluru at once, and 1,500-2,000 sunflowers from Maluraiah N's farm in Hesaraghatta reach the city every week.

(With inputs from Joshua Anthony and Medha Rajeev).