Sunflowers are an annual flowering plant and are a great garden choice for supporting pollinators and wildlife.
You will
need a sunny spot to grow them in. (They don’t call them sunflowers for
nothing!) They are not picky about soils, but make sure it is well-draining as
they do not like wet feet. Seed them about 6 inches apart either in clumps of 3
or in rows. You can start them indoors and plant them out after the last frost,
though they are just as easy to direct-sow.
Keep your
seedlings well-watered. They will grow fast and a touch of liquid fertilizer
will help give them quick energy. Once established, they do not need much
watering unless it has not rained in your area for a few weeks.
Most
sunflowers do not need staking. If you plant them where they get constant wind
or lean out from shade into the sun, then you might want to tie them with soft
cloth strips to a sturdy rod of rebar or metal stake.
Sunflowers
make great trellises for edible climbing plants like beans or ornamental annual
vines. You can also use tall sunflowers to create an almost instant fence and
shade around a portion of your garden.
There are
an amazing variety of sunflowers available in seed catalogs. You can choose
from knee-high to gargantuan. Some produce huge heads full of nutritious seeds,
while others are “teddy bear” style covered in fuzzy petals and are practically
sterile. Then there are the color choices – classic yellow is always in
fashion, but don’t stop there. Check out the chocolate hues, deep reds, and
buttery creams.
Sunflowers
make a terrific cut flower. One caution though, you want to put them in a
bottom-heavy container, so that when they turn to face the sun, they don’t
topple down the vase with them.
Leave up
your sunflower heads at the end of the season to allow the wildlife to enjoy
the seeds and the extra spilled on the ground will grow for you next year. You
can also cut the flowerheads and hang them to dry to harvest them for seeds and
to share with other gardeners.
Once you are ready to take down your plants, you may find the stalks to be quite strong and fibrous. Chop them up before adding them to your compost pile.
Once you are ready to take down your plants, you may find the stalks to be quite strong and fibrous. Chop them up before adding them to your compost pile.
Sunflowers
– you can grow that!
The video was produced by Washington Gardener Magazine.
It was shot and edited by intern Alexandra Marquez.
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