Sunflowers Comes In All Sizes

Everywhere you look today there are sunflowers: Sunflower perfume, sunflower shirts, sunflower doormats, sunflower decorations, sunflower cooking oil. They are big and beautiful, small and dainty, trendy, and belong in almost every garden in spite of the fact that everyone on the block may be growing them.

If you haven’t paid a great deal of attention to sunflowers for your garden lately you may think only of the gigantic sunflowers, usually the Russian Giant, that reach for their namesake in the sky and tower to heights of 8 feet or more. The record height is just over 31 feet tall. Other tall varieties include American Giant, Kong and Sunforest.

If you’ve lived in a cave without any magazines for the past 20 years you may also think that they only come in yellow. But today’s gardener has many choices when selecting sunflowers for color, height, decoration, cutting, pot and container culture.

While most are annuals there is also a sunflower that is a native American perennial. Helianthus maximiliani (aka the Maximilian sunflower) is the name to look for. This plant does not have the showy flowers of the ornamental annual types, but it’s an important plant producing seeds that are a food source for wildlife, including birds and mammals, and it attracts honeybees.

I’m no longer surprised when we have unexpected and colorful displays showing up on our property because neighbor Nancy feeds hundreds of pounds of sunflower seeds to her birds, squirrels and other rodents, and the seeds germinate everywhere. At an unexpected spot in the vegetable garden I spied a seedling emerging and left it in place all summer. Like Jack’s beanstalk this plant grew and grew and then grew some more until it was 10 feet tall with a flower head nearly 18 inches in diameter. Now THAT’s a Russian Mammoth. Even more surprising were the plants that “mysteriously” showed up in a bed I’d had set aside for several ornamental sunflower varieties I’d bought seeds for a year ago. Chip and Monk took care of that bed, copiously planting it, and come fall the yellow finches had a ball with the seed heads.

Certainly, children still get a big thrill out of growing giant sunflowers, though adults may find them a bit overwhelming for their gardens. Thankfully, breeders have developed a wide range of sunflower heights as well as flower sizes and you can find varieties that grow anywhere from about 1 foot tall to who knows how high.

For those wanting to grow sunflowers for seeds, either fresh or to save for the birds, there’s Mongolian Giant, Skyscraper, Super Snack Mix and Titan. Entire seed heads can be dried and saved then hung outdoors as instant feeders in the winter. They’ll need to be protected from mice, squirrels and chipmunks, though, while stored.

In addition to a wide range of heights, sunflowers also come in a wide range of colors. While brilliant yellow is still popular, you now have choices ranging from creamy white to bronze, mahogany and even purple to orange shades, with some varieties even offering bicolors. Burpee now offers over 40 varieties.

The center disk on the plant (where the seeds develop) also offers a change of color as the flower matures. Most start out as green-yellow, turn to yellow and then change to a dark brown as the seeds ripen. The change of the color of the disk is due first to pollen.

Those who are gardening with a goal of aiding pollinators might want to stick with the sunflowers that are good pollen producers such as Soraya, Ring of Fire and Valentine as well as the species. If it’s the pollen-free (male sterile) types you want, then Rouge, ProCut, Sunbuzz, Sunrich and the Vincent series are great candidates.

These are among the easiest flowers to grow and as one black thumb put it, “It can’t be too tough if squirrels can do it.” The large seeds and ease of growth are why children are so delighted with the plant. You can start sunflowers indoors in any small container and then transplant them outdoors when they have several true leaves, but they shouldn’t be planted outdoors until mid to late May. You can start to sow a few seeds indoors in mid-April (for transplanting) as many varieties will flower in 55 to 60 days.

For those wanting more instant results (Hamptons style) you can buy a few varieties in cell packs at garden centers, but for variety you’ll need to start yours from seed. You’ll also be able to find several varieties for sale in larger pots later in the spring. As for the largest, Burpee seems to have the winner with Sunforest Mix which tops out at 10 feet with 1-foot-wide flowers in just 60 days.

However, it appears that the best plants are the ones that develop on their own schedule from seeds planted outdoors where they are to bloom. Seeds can be planted outdoors anytime from early April on, but in spite of my experience, they should always be grown in full sun — after all, they are sunflowers. Depending on the variety, blooming will take place anywhere from 45 to 75 days after planting, and for an extended blooming period consider succession plantings at weekly intervals through mid-July.

Water the seeds and plants regularly when young and then less as the season progresses. If you’ve got rabbit problems you may want to screen or fence the seedlings for several weeks so that they don’t become Bugs’s dinner.

Many gardeners want to grow sunflowers solely for cut flowers, and if you are not careful, this can be an awful mess. The pollen can bother some people, and it can permanently stain some clothing, tablecloths and unfinished furniture. The newer hybrid pollenless varieties also offer shorter heights (3 to 5 feet) and a smaller head size for attractive cuts. There are also “regular” varieties that offer shorter heights and a branching habit similar to cut-and-come-again zinnias. These are excellent for cutting but avoid too much fertilizer or else the plants may produce copious foliage instead of flowers.

Cut and arranged in vases right from the garden, sunflowers make great instant cuts, but a few extra steps will give you the best results in cut bouquets. Take your cuttings as early in the morning as possible then trim the stems under water in a bucket in the garden right as you cut them or under running water in your sink after you have brought them inside. Cutting stems under water avoids the development of an air pocket in the stem that can block further water uptake.

Next, immediately place them in a vase of warm water with a commercial cut-flower preservative. Next, cover the flowers with a black plastic bag and place them in a dark corner in a cool location. This will condition them and give them a chance to recover from the shock of cutting and the move indoors.

Some gardeners (both adults and children) enjoy seeing how big a sunflower they can grow. To grow really BIG seed heads, a booster application of fertilizer is helpful when the flower head begins to appear. Remember though, dwarf varieties will never become huge no matter how much you feed them. The fertilizer should be in the approximate ratio of 1-2-1 (as in 15-30-15). Then keep the plant well-watered until harvest.

When growing very tall sunflowers you may also want to provide a tall stake for support. The heads may bow down as they get bigger and heavier, and strong winds can pose a hazard.

The next decision involves sharing the wealth. When growing sunflowers for seed you need to decide if you want them all for yourself or if you are willing to share them with the birds, squirrels and chipmunks. If you don’t want to share you will have to cover the seed heads with cheesecloth to keep the seed thieves at bay. Watch the birds. When they start to visit, it’s time to cover.

Seed heads can be harvested when two-thirds mature, and covered seed heads can be harvested when the back of the seed head is brown and dry with no traces of green. Leave about 1 to 2 feet of stem attached and hang the seed head in a warm well-ventilated place such as a garage or attic. When the backs are entirely brown and papery the seeds can be removed by brushing them out with your hand or a stiff brush.

Do not wash the seeds before storage as this will promote rot or mold. Store in air-tight containers in your refrigerator to maintain flavor and nutrition. If you want to store the seed heads for bird feeding next winter follow the drying directions and simply hang the head in your garage until they are needed.

Keep in mind that sunflower seeds and roots may be allelopathic and can act as a germination inhibitor (herbicide) if left on the ground in the garden.

The perennial varieties of sunflowers (Helianthus) which have smaller flowers on 5-to-8-foot-tall plants. They are extremely hardy, drought and wind resistant and form root clumps harder than brick, but they’re wonderful plants when tame. Keep growing.