August 25, 2012
“The pattern of seeds within a sunflower follows the Fibonacci sequence, or 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144… If you remember back to math class, each number in the sequence is the sum of the previous two numbers. In sunflowers, the spirals you see in the center are generated from this sequence — there are two series of curves winding in opposite directions, starting at the center and stretching out to the petals, with each seed sitting at a certain angle from the neighboring seeds to create the spiral.” — Jaymi Heimbuch for Treehugger I’m about as savvy with math as I am with baking, horseback archery, and unassisted telekinetic flight—that being not at all. But making the correlation between math and nature still fascinates. —MN

“The pattern of seeds within a sunflower follows the Fibonacci sequence, or 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144… If you remember back to math class, each number in the sequence is the sum of the previous two numbers. In sunflowers, the spirals you see in the center are generated from this sequence — there are two series of curves winding in opposite directions, starting at the center and stretching out to the petals, with each seed sitting at a certain angle from the neighboring seeds to create the spiral.” — Jaymi Heimbuch for Treehugger

I’m about as savvy with math as I am with baking, horseback archery, and unassisted telekinetic flight—that being not at all. But making the correlation between math and nature still fascinates. —MN

11:14am  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZV1L5yS6UFOc
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(Notes: 106)
  
Filed under: math nature plants sunflower Fibonacci 
May 14, 2012
Shrinking Violets They Aren’t What speaks to you like a sunflower? There’s a cheerfulness to them that can’t be ignored—original garden kitsch, topping plastic flamingos and gnomes any day. And Brooklyn’s urban farmers know the value of those big, bright faces all too well. “They’re a really iconic way to make people notice that you’re trying to make a change in the community,” says Deborah Greig, coordinator at East New York Farms. Along with her fellow gardeners, she’s using sunflowers to make a vacant lot just a little more friendly. —MN

Shrinking Violets They Aren’t

What speaks to you like a sunflower? There’s a cheerfulness to them that can’t be ignored—original garden kitsch, topping plastic flamingos and gnomes any day. And Brooklyn’s urban farmers know the value of those big, bright faces all too well.

“They’re a really iconic way to make people notice that you’re trying to make a change in the community,” says Deborah Greig, coordinator at East New York Farms. Along with her fellow gardeners, she’s using sunflowers to make a vacant lot just a little more friendly. —MN

11:57am  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZV1L5yLTOXLh
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(Notes: 39)
  
Filed under: sunflower urban agriculture gardening Brooklyn New York City NYC 
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