Maryland Sunflower Fields
The doctor prescribed keeping active and Maryland gave us sunflowers.

One of my last little excursions leaving Camp Zama, Japan was viewing the Zama-shi sunflower (himari) fields as they began to bloom.
Some months later, in Germany, we stopped at a selbst schnitt (cut your own) garden on the roadside and clipped a few late season sunflowers.
Today, mom and I went looking for sunflowers in Maryland. We found them in McKee-Beshers Wildlife Management Area in Montgomery County, Maryland.
According to the official website 9 fields totaling 30 acres of sunflowers were planted for the summer of 2017.
The question neither the website nor recent articles in the Washington Post and Washingtonian answered was “how accessible are the fields?”.
Chemo treatment and late July heat are a draining combination. Fields of sunflowers were enticing enough to get us into the car but not worth dying over. As we left Bethesda I wondered if we’d be able to actually see the multitude of sunflowers or have to go sunflower hunting somewhere else another day.
It was a pleasant drive down MD route 190 and MD 112, River Road, past impressive mansions of Potomac and the historical buildings like the early blacksmith shop and Seneca Schoolhouse. It truly is a scenic byway worth returning to.
Rejuvenating energy of lonely narrow roads and a bright blue sky encouraged us and the outside temperature seemed to cooling off as we left the urban blacktop behind.

Hint #1
Look for the sunflower signs. Not all fields bloom at the same time and there’s some walking involved. Thankfully, the caretakers help out with signage. There are several places to park and wonder. The sunflower signs will point you to the blooming fields and they are visible from the road.
Hint #2
Beware of slippery mud. We visited the day after a rain and the paths were muddy. Great fun for children but super hazardous for my mom. It was only a short distance from parking to the first set of fields we tried and the grade was gentle but the mud made it impassable for the cane wielding balance challenged.
Hint #3
Bring a chair. It’s not far from parking areas to fields but there are no benches or logs to sit on. If your visiting with someone who needs to rest once in a while carry a portable chair to avoid panic and make the experience more enjoyable.
Hint #4
Go during the week. On a Monday in late July we found parking but we had plenty of company. Weekends might be too busy for a drive out. The healthier body can actually hike or bike from Washington D.C. but for me that’s an adventure for another year.
The fewest steps to flowers we found was from the parking area on river road. You can’t see the sunflowers from the road or the car but they were visible from just behind the sign.



McKee-Beshers WMA is great wildlife area to visit any time of year. Miles of hiking and biking trails, wild turkey, lily marshes, green reservoirs that attract wood ducks and over 200 species of songbird mean there’s always something to explore. We saw dragon flies, butter flies, bumble bees and harmless spiders.
The more adventurous naturalist can hunt, trap, and fish in the public hunting area which includes doves, deer, and wild turkey on land or wading in water or training retriever dogs!
