<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?> <docID>339415</docID> <postdate>2025-03-01 16:05:05</postdate> <headline>Majura Valley sunflower maze beams into life</headline> <body><p><img class="size-full wp-image-339416" src="https://citynews.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/20250301198576320170-original-resized.jpg" alt="" width="900" height="600" /></p> <caption>The Majura Valley Sunflower Maze has become a magnet for visitors in the ACT. (Mick Tsikas/AAP PHOTOS)</caption> <p><span class="kicker-line">By <strong>Luke Costin</strong></span></p> <p><strong>After years of selling sunflowers the standard way, a friend of Anne McGrath suggested she do something amazing instead.</strong></p> <p>And so began a much-anticipated annual quest to turn a paddock into a maze of towering sunflowers that quickly became a social media highlight and a drawcard for her community's produce.</p> <p>"The smiles are really worth more than anything," Canberra's Majura Valley Farm operator Ms McGrath told AAP.</p> <p>"Last year... a woman with stage-four cancer who loved sunflowers came along and ticked it off her bucket list.</p> <p>"People don't realise there are farms in the ACT.</p> <p>"By us doing what we are doing, it's opened eyes of the community and of government."</p> <p>A lack of spring rain made growing more challenging this year and scuppered hope of the 2.4-metre flowers achieved in recent years.</p> <p>But some hard yakka to irrigate the field in time for Saturday's opening ensured travellers and visiting birds and bees were delighting in the yellow-hued blooms.</p> <p>Ms McGrath, who said the event would not be what it was without her children's involvement, said it also showcased what small farms could do by thinking outside the box.</p> <p>While some tardy flowers were still to bloom, she expected travellers had about a fortnight to take in the sights before the annual buds' lights dimmed.</p> <p>The flower maze is open seven days.</p> </body>