Annuals: Got Sunflowers?, 1 by egiap

egiap wrote:
Now this makes a Kansas girl happy: I have sunflowers in June! Last year I did not get any blooms until July. This year I planted quite early, and these babies survived freezes, drought and hail (not to mention squirrels, cats and birds!)!

I don't have a lot of space, so I take extra measures to make sure that my few plants (about 16 total) survive their early vulnerable weeks. I plant two seeds right where I want one to grow, and then (with apologies) yank one if they both germinate (which they usually do---sunflowers are easy as pie). My annual garden has great soil---lots of compost & peat moss, and lots and lots of sun. I make an indentation in the soil where I'm planting, put some vermiculite in the hole to keep the seeds moist, pop the seeds in, and then "plant" a big slurpie dome lid on top (as a cheap mini-cloche) to keep the beasts away until the seedling is up and big enough to hold its own. I then gently remove the dome lid and do very little else other than mulch around them with straw, and water only if it's very very dry. I only stake when necessary (rarely, their stems are so strong).

The first pic will give a sense of height/size. Everything in bloom today is only about 10 inches in diameter or smaller. The mystery giants you can see on the right side of this pic are already over 7 feet tall, and will probably not bloom for a while yet.

Don't ask me to name these; I did not mark them, and the seeds came from several different sources.

And now let me see yours!