The Great Sunflower Project

Welcome to the Great Sunflower Project Garden Leader Program!

At long last, we’re ready to launch the first-ever Great Sunflower Project Garden Leader Program. We're excited to have you on board and want to let you know about some important details about getting started. Let's dig in!

Setting Up Your Group:

Setting up a Garden Leader Group is easy. Start by logging into your normal account. You can do that with this link.. If it takes you straight to your account you are logged in. If not, log in and then click on the Login/Join button again to get to your account.

Next, click on the word groups.

Then, click on lead a garden group of your own. This leads you to the page for setting up your group. You will want to be prepared with:

1. Your group name

2. A short description of your group.

3. The address to mail seed

4. User names of the members of your group. Before they can join your group, they have to have joined the Great Sunflower Project and give you their user name. This is a way we can ensure everyone's privacy.

On the Groups page, you will be asked to name the group – please make it as specific as you can such as “Garden Gals of Corte Madera”. Once you have named your group and added a short description. You’ll see two options: Open or Invite Only. Please choose Invite Only.

Then add the address you wish to have seeds mailed to and check the box for your own garden to be included in the group. Click Save!

Now, you will see the homepage for your group. This is where you can add new members. To do that, look to the right side of your screen below the map. You’ll see something that says “1 member”. Once you click on this, you will be taken to the page that give a list of members. You should see yourself listed there. To add a member, click on add members. To add members, type the user name or email address for each of the members of the garden group in the box. If you are doing more than one name, separate them by a comma.

Your group will have its own page on the Great Sunflower web site. Your group’s page will show your members, the number of observations your group made, and a map of where your group's gardens are.

If you lose track of your group's page while you're browsing the Great Sunflower site, you can find it again by going to "My account" (http:://www.greatsunflower.com/user) then clicking "Groups".

Important Dates

You will be able to create your Garden Group on the Great Sunflower web site starting on April 4.

Please get all your gardens registered by April 11, so we'll be able to send your 'Lemon Queen’ sunflower seeds to get you started! Let us know via email (sfbee@sfsu.edu) if you will need a second mailing of seed.

We'll keep you posted as the season progresses, and of course will be around to answer your questions and track your progress.

And, just to keep things exciting, we are awarding one cash prize of $500 to the group with observations from the most gardens this year, and dozens of other prizes from gardening equipment to textbooks, to calendars and note cards.

We're excited about launching this program this year and are incredibly grateful to you for agreeing to participate. Again, this is a work in progress, so please be patient. Send us your questions and give us your feedback so we can improve it to meet your needs and keep it growing for many seasons to come.

Looking forward to a wonderful 2012 garden!