Don Jaquish of Wisconsin knew how much his wife loved sunflowers. When she passed away at age 66 last November of cancer, he decided to honor her memory.
“She got to be known as the sunflower lady of the community,” Jaquish told ABC News. “So after she passed away, I thought it would be a tribute to her to plant 4.5 miles of sunflowers on each side of Highway 85.”
Babbette’s Seeds of Hope/Facebook
He used his own land and rented his neighbors’ land to complete the project. It took him a week to plant the flowers and 75 days for them to grow. After Babbette Jaquish’s diagnosis, the couple thought about planting sunflowers and selling the seeds. Portions of the money earned they’d planned on donating to cancer research. Unfortunately, Babbette’s health declined and she was unable to follow through on their plan. Don, however, did. He and Babbette’s daughter, Jenny White, started Babbette’s Seeds of Hope, according to ABC News. Bags of sunflower seeds will be available for purchase, and a portion of the proceeds will be donated.
