Miles Stevens at the Sunflowers

MARICOPA SUNFLOWERS

My sister Becky and my nephew Jonathan and I decided to drive out to Maricopa to see the sunflowers last month, June 2023. It’s kind of hard to believe now, as hot as it is now in July, but the weather was beautiful in June, especially in the evenings and early mornings. It never got all that hot in June.

Frequently, my sister and I take my 4 year old nephew somewhere fun on Wednesday evenings after work. And we always bring his strider bike wherever we go, because he loves riding it.

I spent some time looking at Google maps and Yelp to decide where to get dinner before we made it out to the flower farm. I wanted to go somewhere fun, tasty, and somewhere Jonathan would like. I found this place called Roots Eatery and so we went there for dinner. It was fantastic. It’s a little hipster spot in Maricopa with tasty food and a great ambience.

After dinner, we drove out to the sunflowers. Jonathan rode his strider bike around and Becky and I took photos of the sunflowers. There were a few groups of people out there, all admiring the sunflowers together. Next to us was this group a folks videoing each other. My sister and I started talking with them and found out they are a music group. I asked them if I could take a group portrait of them. They said yes, right as this train was barreling down the tracks, just north of the sunflower field. So I quickly started taking photos of them in front of the train, because I thought it would be a cool background. It was good to meet you Miles Stevens !! You can find them on Facebook and their music online too.

As long as sunflowers keep getting planted in Maricopa and blooming in June, I will keep going back to see them! Want a photo shoot there? Fill out this form and we can make plans!

Maricopa Sunflowers

My dear sweet little nephew Jonathan and I took off on an adventure to find sunflowers. I had seen people on Facebook post that there were sunflowers in Maricopa. So I did some internet searching and figured out where they might be.

First Jon and I went to In N Out, because this growing boy is always a little hungry. Usually the In N Out near us doesn’t take too long, but oh boy was it a long wait this time, so we got on the road to Maricopa a little later than I wanted to.

We made it to Maricopa and then I just had to guess which direction to drive on Ralston Road, which is where I thought maybe the sunflower fields were located. I drove south and drove all the way to where Ralston Road ends, but we didn’t find any fields of sunflowers. We did however find orchards of pecan trees, and a super overgrown abandoned plant nursery with huge palm trees in rows (the place looked haunted in the waning light of the day - I wish badly that I could wander through it -all the coolest places have No Trespassing signs, those signs are the bane of photographers everywhere.) We came across the Maha Ganapati Temple and fields of corn surrounded by wild sunflowers - those smaller sunflowers that grow more like bushes. The wild sunflowers were a good find, and I could see going back to use them as a photography backdrop.

When we couldn’t find the sunflowers, I turned around and went north on Ralston Road and just a few minutes before the sun disappeared behind the Palo Verde Mountains, we found the thick jungle of sunflowers. There were a few other people there taking photos. Jonathan and I got out of the car and started exploring. He was so curious and I think he looks so cute wandering around the rows. I’m so glad it was a long summer day and the sun sets so late and that we found the flowers just in time! Jon really did not want to go back to the car after it was too dark to see very well. I’d love to go back and see the sunflowers before they are harvested.

When these sunflowers are in bloom again, I am thinking of taking photos here. If you would like a sunflower portrait session here with me, fill out this form and I will email you to let you know of session times.