Sunflower Fields in Bloom along the Neuse Greenway ~ Summer 2016

This past weekend I ventured out on the Neuse Greenway to see if the sunflowers had started to bloom along the lower portion of the trail near the Wake / Johnston County boarder. To get to the fields I parked my car at the the parking lot along Mial Plantation Road, which is a little past mile 26.25 on the trail. I then ran about 2.5 miles to mile marker 23.75 which is where the fields are located. If you don’t want to run or bike there you can pull off the road along Brown Field Road and sneak a peek at the field (to drive there GPS 2600 Brown Field Road – map).

The fields are beautiful but they do look a little smaller than last year, and I think the sunflowers are a shorter variety. I noticed many of them still have yet to bloom. I suspect they will be in full bloom within the next two weeks so try to get out there by July 10th – after that they will start dying off from the summer heat.

Many don’t realize this, but these fields are actually owned by the City of Raleigh and are used to land apply treated wastewater. The plants are grown on the fields to take up the nutrients from the wastewater, which basically acts like a fertilizer for the flowers. Because it is City of Raleigh property you’ll need to enjoy the view of the field from behind the white fences that line the fields.To learn more about the Neuse Greenway and download a full map of the trail visit the Neuse Greenway website here.