Gavin Sims transforms a field on the highway just south of Manakau.five kilograms of sunflower seeds late last year. A few months later, the field is a mass of yellow, delighting passersby and stopping many of them as they pull over to take photographs.

The field is part of The Greenery, a garden centre and nursery at Manakau. It was a scrubby paddock before The Greenery’s Grant  Irving hit on the idea of creating a sunflower garden. He got Gavin to plough in the paddock and sow the seeds.

“I walked around with a hand-held seed spreader and as soon as I was done a big flock of birds swooped in and had a feed,” Gavin says. “I wasn’t sure if much would come up, but now look at it.”

In the late summer sun, the flowers have been on full display. Grant says he’s seen up to 11 cars at a time parked at the gate.

“We’ve made it an open field  so people can go in, have a look around and get some photos.”

The field will be sown in sunflowers again next year.