Young sunflowers really do follow the sun. In the morning they face east; by afternoon they have slowly turned to face west. Then, in the night, they slowly swivel back, ready to greet the sunrise again. Scientists call this 'heliotropism' - 'turning towards the sun'. Once a sunflower is fully grown, it usually stops moving and just faces east.
Each sunflower head looks like one big flower but is actually hundreds of tiny flowers packed together in a beautiful spiral. The seeds in the middle are arranged in patterns that mathematicians find fascinating - the same patterns appear in pinecones, pineapples and even spiral galaxies.
Ukrainians use sunflowers for almost everything. The seeds are roasted and eaten as a snack - children crack them open with their teeth and spit out the shells. Oil pressed from the seeds is used for cooking. Even the leftover bits of the plant feed animals on farms.
Ukraine is sometimes called the 'breadbasket of Europe' because of how much food it grows - especially wheat, corn and sunflowers. The country's flag is blue and yellow, and one common explanation is that it shows a blue sky above a yellow field - perhaps a field of wheat, perhaps a field of sunflowers.