Wisconsin Man Plants 4-Mile Stretch of Sunflowers in Tribute to Wife Who Died of Cancer Sunflowers were his wife Babbette's favorite flowers.

 -- Babbette Jaquish loved a lot of flowers, but sunflowers were her favorite.

So when she passed away from cancer at 66 last November, her husband Don Jaquish planted nearly 400 acres of sunflowers for her.

“She was as beautiful on the inside as she was on the outside,” Jaquish, 65, told ABC News.

It took Jaquish -- who plans to sell the sunflower seeds and donate a portion of the proceeds to hospitals, research and patient advocacy -- a week to plant the sunflowers that line Wisconsin’s Highway 85 in Eau Claire, this past June.

Whatever land wasn’t his, neighbors rented to him for a reasonable price. After a 75-day growing period, the flowers finally bloomed this month.

“She got to be known as the sunflower lady of the community,” Jaquish said, “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.”