This article was written by Andy Brew, and first appeared in The Post on 22nd January 2025. Thankyou to Charlotte Kloeg Visuals for the photos.
Always a favourite location for people seeking the perfect Instagram photo, Wairarapa’s sunflower fields are proving to be hugely popular destinations to locals, Wellingtonians and tourists alike this summer.
Sunflower growers across the region have been opening their fields to the public to help add a bit of colour to people’s lives while raising money for good causes.
Elise Stolte, who runs the Stolte Ag dairy farm, nursery and garden centre in Carterton along with husband Clarence, said they opened their sunflower field to the public in January to help raise money for local pregnancy and baby loss support service Hōkai Tahi.
Entry to the field was free, she said, while pick-your-own sunflowers cost $2 a stem.
“I think the sunflowers match the [fundraising] purpose really nicely,” she said.
“It’s a sunny flower, it’s a family thing you can do, and it just seems to marry up really nicely.
“It’s a charity that’s really dear to our hearts, and as a fundraiser, it’s been just fabulous. It’s been a real privilege to be able to do it.”
Rebecca Vergunst, a service manager at Hōkai Tahi, said the money raised from the Stolte’s fundraiser was a “massive help” to the charity.
“The sunflower fundraiser has been a really fun, low-cost event for families,” she said.
“We’ve had heaps of people coming from around the region and lots from Wellington, so it’s really helped us raise money and also raise awareness about our service and what we do. It’s ticked a lot of boxes.”
Stolte said she and Clarence came up with the idea when they saw how popular sunflower fields were after planting a small trial patch last year “just for fun”.
“We thought we’d put some sunflowers along the fenceline that would be nice for the public to drive past and see,” she said.
“And then when they flowered, we thought we’d put it on Facebook and open it up to the public for an hour, to see if anyone wanted to come and pick some. Within an hour, we had like a hundred people come.
“We thought, ‘Oh people are pretty keen for this kind of thing.’ So we thought we’d do it on our home farm this year, and just do it a little bit bigger.”
Stolte said this year the sunflower field on the farm covered about 0.2 hectares and was home to about 16,000 plants that were “well over two metres tall”.
“For the kids, it’s a bit of a sunflower forest and a bit of a maze,” she said.
“The birds and the bees are having a ball of a time in there, so it’s fantastic for the environment. It’s like a little micro-climate.
“It’s got lots of tracks through it, so people can just go and explore.”
And while the cold, wet weather of late may have put a dampener on many people’s summer holiday plans, Stolte said it had been “great” for the region’s dairy farmers.
“It’s amazing. We’ve got so much green grass, so we’re not complaining at all. The growing season’s been fantastic for all our crops, including the sunflowers,” she said.
“For the public open days, we’ve had howling southerlies, rain and sleet — so it hasn’t been the greatest touristy get-out-and-have-a-picnic weather. But, as farmers, we’re stoked.”