First planted by the City of Raleigh's public utilities department in 2010 along the Neuse River Greenway Trail, acres upon acres of sunflowers bloomed each year between mid-June and early July. Beginning in 2018, they began to call Dorothea Dix Park home.
The sunflowers serve a purpose beyond just acting as a fun summer Instagram hot-spot—the City harvests the sunflowers to create thousands of gallons of biodiesel, which are then processed into fuel to run tractors, trailers and farm equipment. The field of tall, golden flowers is expected to be in peak bloom in mid-July, and then possibly still in viewable condition for another week or so depending on weather. Note: there are designated paths to walk between the sunflowers—please use them!
