How sunflowers and selfies caused a 'zombie apocalypse'

A selection of pictures under the hashtage #bogleseeds which inspired people to visit Bogle Seeds

The pictures look idyllic: women - and men - frolicking in a sea of sunflowers, all captioned with inspirational quotes.

"A sunflower field is like a sky with a thousand suns"; "Travel does not exist without home"; "Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it".

As with much of the photo-sharing platform Instagram, however, the reality was a little less idyllic.

"I've been describing it as a zombie apocalypse," Brad Bogle told Canada's National Post newspaper a few days after Bogle Seeds was overrun with people searching for the perfect picture.

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Mr Bogle estimates 7,000 people turned up at his family's farm in Hamilton, Ontario, on Saturday, quickly overwhelming the 300-space car park the family had put aside for visitors.

The first people had arrived at the farm more than three hours before it opened its gates to visitors. Traffic began to snake down the road. The desperation was such that people were crossing the busy four-lane highway to reach the flowers.

"Some of them were crossing with children," Staff Sgt Chris Hastings told the Hamilton Spectator. "They were putting their hands up in the air [to halt vehicles], but live traffic doesn't stop on that highway."

By 14:00, police had told the Bogles to shut and throw out the crowds, leaving an unknown amount of damage behind.

As to what caused it? Visitor Chelsea Caruso was in little doubt a few days later.

"It's Instagram that brought people here," she told the Globe and Mail newspaper. "It was a top post."

Indeed, there is plenty of inspiration around: the hashtag "bogleseeds" has more than 1,100 posts, while typing in the location brings up many more.

The Bogles, it seems, are still in shock that an idea to make a little extra money - inviting painters and photographers to "admire and capture the flowering spectacle" for $7.50 (£5.70) each - turned the way it did.

The car park had never been full before, they said.

"Everyone was laughing and having fun," father Barry Bogle told the Globe and Mail. "Then all of Toronto showed up."

But it seems, even if they hadn't opened themselves up to visitors, they would have come anyway.

Bruce Stewart's farm near Winnipeg, Manitoba, is closed to the public, and the fields are surrounded by "no trespassing" signs.

Despite this, he estimates 1,000 people per day turned up last weekend to take pictures in the sunflowers.

"Do you know how many sunflowers are knocked down by 1,000 people? Quite a few," he told Canadian broadcaster CBC.

Neither the Bogles or Mr Stewart will know the true cost of the photographs until September, when it will be time to harvest.

In the meantime, the Bogles are making sure no one is in any doubt about where they stand on visitors: the website has a large notice saying sunflower photography on the farm is banned.