TUPI, South Cotabato (MindaNews/10 June) – Visitors have been flocking to a new tourist attraction here that features a sunflower field, the first of its kind in Region 12.
Arturo “Tol” Mariano, co-owner of the family-run Blooming Petals Agri-Tourism /Park, said they imported the sunflower seeds from Japan.
“We have five varieties of sunflowers that tourists have come to admire,” he told MindaNews on Friday.
Mariano said they also sell the sunflowers along with the other cutflowers they produce at the park located at Purok 3-A, which is just less than 10 minutes away from the main highway.
They sell cut sunflowers for P100 or less, depending on the size.
Blooming Petals also produces chrysanthemums, anthuriums and roses in their various farms in town.
The family-owned business sells cutflowers at their display center in the town’s poblacion and also distributes them to different parts of the country. The company maintains a flower shop in Dangwa, Sampaloc, Manila.
The family opened the agritourism park on May 27.
Since then, hundreds of visitors have flocked daily to marvel and take their photographs with the blooming sunflowers, said Mariano.
Entrance to the agritourism park, where various vegetables are also planted, is P30 for adults and P20 for children.
It is open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily until June 16, the company said.
After June 16, the park will be opened only on weekends.
Blooming petals explained that they will be needing the time on weekdays to replant and prepare the park for its next flowering season tentatively in September.
Sunflowers have a three-week lifespan only, after which they will start to wilt.
Tagaytay City in Luzon is known as the country’s major producer of sunflowers, Mariano said.
In Tayug, Pangasinan, “A-Maze-ing Sunflowers,” launched in February this year, has been drawing tourists from different parts of the country. (Bong S. Sarmiento/MindaNews)
