CHENNAI: The tulips of Amsterdam, cherry blossoms of Japan, roses of Ooty — when these flowers are in full bloom in their respective seasons, visitors from across the world throng to view them. On the same lines, painting the city yellow is Shefalii Dadabhoy, who wants to make Chennai the sunflower capital. As a first step towards this dream, she has planted sunflowers in her home garden in Rutland Gate, Nungambakkam.
“My father was in the service and we kept travelling very often. But, one thing that hasn’t changed is my love for plants and my admiration for flowers,” she says, walking us through her enclosure of plants. A Chennai resident for the past 17 years, Shefalii has been a passionate urban organic gardener who grows seasonal fruits, vegetables, flowers, and other plants.
“I love flowers and I’ve been growing them for over a decade. I love experimenting with them and knowing my passion, friends and family reach out with various seeds from all around (the world). That’s how I wanted to experience the joy of seeing such a huge flower bloom in my garden,” she adds.
Previous year’s rains loosened up the soil in her garden. Her husband, Ruqshad, came up with the idea of planting sunflowers, as they have deep tap roots that are good for the soil and take away toxicity. They also remove heavy metals and radiation from contaminated soil, a practice famously employed after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster.
“No other place can be perfect for a path of sunflowers other than Chennai, as it needs direct sunlight for 8-10 hours and grows towards the side of light. Sunflowers attract pollinators, promoting biodiversity,” she explains. Her garden entices a lot of bees and butterflies.
In her first batch, she planted nearly 500 flowers, which thrived remarkably despite the intense summer heat in the city. From her balcony, she rejoiced the yellow hues. This experience led to her decision to not cut the sunflowers, opting to harvest organic sunflower seeds once they have dried.
“Friends would pop in and click photos in the garden for their social media pages. Soon, people were bringing in drone cameras,” she says. “Sunflowers bring so much happiness and positive energy,” says Shefalii, who organised a planting week in June.
“My daughter Miraya, along with her friends Arhan and Mira, had a workshop on ‘Everything Sunflower’ on June 23 that brought the community together for a fun and educational experience,” she adds. Participants enjoyed sunflower planting and learned essential care tips. The workshop celebrated these blooms, providing hands-on activities for all ages.
Attendees left with sunflower seeds and a wealth of knowledge on how to care for their flowers. Inspired by the enthusiasm, urban gardeners and schools joined in, and Shefalii started a WhatsApp group. “We have four schools growing sunflowers.
Express Avenue Mall has started a patch near their parking space. We should have tens of thousands of flowers in the city in a month,” she adds, now cultivating purple, maroon, yellow, and giant six-foot-tall sunflower varieties sourced from Mysuru and other parts of Tamil Nadu. In her recent initiative, she is distributing free seeds on request sent to the WhatsApp group and her Instagram page.
From a patch of 1,000 sunflowers in Shefalii’s garden, the golden helianthus has blossomed across the city and its outskirts. This passion project has now transformed into a communal endeavour, celebrating the sunflower’s beauty and ecological benefits. “If a lot more people come in, then I think Chennai will turn into a sunflower city to attract tourists soon,” she wraps up.
To purchase seeds, message @Chennai.sunflowercity on Instagram..
