Sunflowers

Thought I'd share

Velvet Queen

Janis

With the flash

Love the colors

Love sunflowers, it feels like summer finally has reached its peak when we start seeing sunflowers.Great photos.

Sure does. This is my first year growing sunflowers, it has been really neat watching them grow and open

Thanks!

Janis

This volunteer popped up in march and I have never seen anything like it. The height to the main flower is over 8 feet and get a load of the halo of flowers around it. They're all from the same plant and not sure what kind this is. I grew a ton of grey-striped mammoth sunflowers last year. Is this monster one of them?

Hey emily it looks to me like it could be Kong. Kong is a multi headed Monster that can get up to 14 feet. I have 6 growing and my tallest is already 10 feet. It wont be Grey Striped Mammoth though as thats a single headed one but the height of a grey strip is normally 8 feet. You could have a cross between the two as both are easily crossed. Anyways This is my first year growing a garden and I am growing over 20 types of sunflowers. Am 22 years old so spent all our mild BC winter digging up a huge Garden at my parents and have got 213 Sunflowers growing. =P I really love them and there are quite a few really nice ones. The only one I have just hated is called Jade.

Thank you for the id. I think you are right about it being a Kong. I can't wait to grow more of these next year. This one showed up in one of my side beds and I was able to successfully transplant it.

Do you have any pics of your sunflower garden? I'd love to see them.

Emily, if you get seeds I would love to trade for some, those are awesome :)

Janis

I'll definitely have some as the bees have been very busy on all of the flowers.

Thanks keep me in mind please!!
Janis

It's raining and I dont have any Distance pictures of it. This is from my cutting section though. There is Ruby Eclipse, Magic Roundabout, Autumn Beauty and Indian Blanket in this picture. Moulin Rouge and Vanilla ice are in the background but you cant really make them out as the other sunflowers block them. These were spaced closer together as I read that gives longer stems for cutting ( it does). This section has already given me about 25 cut flowers. All in All I have had about 150 flowers that I have cut and given to people. I also have a yellow patio section which has a planting of Big Smile (1 foot ) Music Box (2 foot) Jade (3 foot) Valentine (5 to 6 feet) Tarahumara ( 6 to 8 feet) And Lastly Moonwalker (7 to 10 feet) Which makes a beautiful patio for my parents. Dont cut any flowers from it though. If you want to see pics of most of the flowers you can check my user profile and check my images as since I joined its about all I have uploaded =P.

As for your Kong. Glad I could help. I could be wrong as there are a few other types of multi headed talls but to me they look like Kong or some cross of it. Kong isnt a hybrid so the seeds will come true to whomever you give them to so long as they dont cross with another sunflower in yours or a neighbours yard. Sunflowers can cross quite easily so chances are a few of the seeds will come out very different . I also planted Giganteus and Early Russian. Giganteus is hit or miss. Some plants are huge and strong others not. Early Russian is a disaster. Small heads on barely 6 foot tall plants. So as far as Giants go I think the Kongs are the nicest. Strong and grow very well.

I would love to also give you seeds Woofens but otherside of the border. Either of you have any favourite sunflower I would love to hear about it as I plan to grow more again next year and wouldnt mind any thoughts on good ones to try. I will run down the list of what I grew this year and my feelings briefly on each.

Autumn Beauty - Pretty and a decent grower. Bigger than expected flowerheads on it and didnt do as well as a cut flower.

Big Smile - Cute single headed yellow dwarf. Is very nice grown in a small 4 or 6 inch pot and given as a gift just as the bud opens.

Chianti - Weak growth. Was pretty but overall a Dissappointment.

Earthwalker - Nice rich earth tones. Nice Growth. Short stems and tons of pollen not good for cutting.


Florenza - Beautiful midsized sunflower. Short stems made it a bad cut flower but I absolutely loved its colour so its one of my top 5 for sure.

Giant Sungold - Not sure yet as its been a late bloomer.

Giganteus - Hit or miss. Strong stems.

Indian Blanket - Not sure as it just started blooming. Colour is nice though. Also ones i am growing in 9 hours of sun have become massive. 11 feet tall with 4 inch thick stems. amazing considering the ones in full sun are 5 to 6 feet with 2 inch thick stems.

Italian White - Pretty white flower on a bushy smaller sunflower. Real cute Top 5

Kong - Strong growth.

Magic Roundabout - Very nice flowers on thin long stems. Cuts very well and is pollenless hybrid. Top 5

Mammoth - Not sure

Moonwalker - Was an after thought to buy it but it has become a top 5. The flowers are very pretty and fade to such a soft yellow. It cuts well. It grows strong and branches well.

Moulin Rouge - Strong stems. Cuts very well and lasts the longest. Very pretty Top 5

Music Box - Cute bushy sunflowers. Dwarf and comes in many shades of yellow and orange all with a halo effect.

Ruby Eclipse - Beautiful tall sturdy plants. Cuts Well and looks great. Top 5

Tarahumara - Beautiful and my favourite of the single headed.

Teddy Bear - Slugs loved it and I didnt like the blooms so much.

Valentine - Reacted the same as Indian Blanket. In 9 hours of sun the plants are 11 to 12 feet tall with thick massive stems one measuring 5 inches in diameter. Honestly if the flowers werent the same I wouldnt believe they are the same as the 6 to 7 foot plants growing in full sun.

Velvet Queen - Pretty but not my fav. Growth wasnt very strong

Vanilla Ice - Pretty but also growth wasnt very strong.


P.S. Yea more than 5 top 5 lol

Westocast73,your posting is the most informative bit on sunflowers I've read! I have been all over the net,researching them,and BAM! here you are. I grew sunflowers this year for the first time,and realized most were too tall as I wanted them for cutting. Can't seem to find info on whether a particular cultivar is branching or not! Loved the look and size of mini sun from Burpee,but only had one flower per plant. Can you reccommend a branching dwarf or semi-dwarf variety?
P.S. love your guitar.Ever hear of Steve Vai?

Got a pretty pic of one of my sunflowers today :)

Janis

Thank you for posting so much great info about your sunflowers. Definitely going to have to grow a variety next year! It's amazing how much difference just a couple hours of sun can make with these guys. I love your pic and look forward to looking through the pics you've posted to learn more.

Do you stake any of your sunflowers? I lost a few mammoths last year that fell over after it rained. I have a 9ft stake behind the kong, but it's pulling the stake over as it leans toward the sun more.

Dwarfs dont tend to be good for cutting as the flower stems stay to short. I am not sure what size or colours you want but for cutting and not the real big ones my two favourites have been Italian white which is now about 4 feet tall and Magic Roundabout which is about 6 feet but branches heavily and produces a ton of 4 inch pollenless bi-coloured flowers. You should also know that I learned when you cut them to do it just as its opened in the morning and to scald the cut end of the stem in boiling water. Basically cut the flowers in the morning. Bring it inside and cut the stem on an angle underwater and than dip the stem end in a pan of boiling water you got on your stove. This seems to help the cut flower last alot longer. If you dont mind Pollen and a bit taller plants I also Recommend Ruby Eclipse ( 6 to 7 foot Bi-coloured 5 to 8 inch flowers), Moonwalker ( 6 to 9 foot Soft Yellow fading to Pale Yellow 5 to 14 inch flowers and cut the first flower to produce more flowers) and Valentine ( 5 to 10 foot but most closer to 6 foot Yellow flowers with black center produces alot of pollen and range from 3 to 7 inches also I found cutting the first produced more). Also if you want sunflowers for cutting cut of all dead flowers as this will give you nicer blooms instead of devoting energy to seed production. Hope that helps feel free to ask more questions. =)

Guitar isnt mine but my friends. I am not musical just managed his band for him for awhile.


Emily I have staked 3 sunflowers but for the most part most are strong enough as I cut most seedheads of my multiblooms to get more flowers and also cause I dont need 3000 seeds =P. I will probably stake my single headed giants soon though as I am worried about them with the exception of Kong which has massive stems. Also talking about sun you should check out Sunflower " Ruby Eclipse". I grew some in full sun and osme in 9 hours. The difference in appearance is quite amazing.

This message was edited Sep 5, 2005 7:31 PM

Grow sunflowers in rows going north to south and remember Sunflowers typically will face their blooms East when fully opened. They follow the sun as they open but once fully open they dont like the Afternoon sun directly on them and will turn east where they permanetly face (not always but often enough). So plan sunflowers accordingly. I have most of mine on the westside of my garden so they dont face a fence but still some do. Hope that helps you out.

Hey emily my Kong just began flowering. Here is a pic to compare them too. As you can see it does look very similar.

Yes, they look like mine did a month or so ago.

Yea you probably have been getting more sun than us. Our May and June was absolutely terrible for sunflowers. Wet cold and cloudy. All mine are behind a few weeks from where they should be. Glad they match up though.

It was really rainy here through all of May and June as well. I think this guy is ahead of the game since he poked his head up in early April. Good news is I should have a lot of seeds from him this year :)

Kong also makes a pretty decent eating seed I have heard too. Its not as high in oil as some of the other sunflower seeds so not so good for winter bird feeding (although I am sure they would still enjoy them) but great for summer bird feeding. Or just eating them yourself. I am sure once you get the heads all dried up you will have way to many seeds for growing so someone or thing is going to have to eat them. =P

I've counted 13 heads on my kong now and 1 more on the way. No wonder these are called "Kong". I generally chop off the heads after the petals are completely brown and the seeds look ready. Last year I kept all of the seeds from my mammoths and still have hundreds of them.

Many of my grey-striped mammoths haven't bloomed yet, but that's probably my fault since I didn't plant them until May.

This message was edited Sep 5, 2005 7:32 PM

Well it happened. I had a feeling it would growing so many sunflowers. I came outside this morning to see them. Squirrels. 2 of them still in the yard and a couple up in trees. They have broken or stripped bare 23 of my sunflowers. Have broken branches of 17 and have nibbled on 5. Worst they ate all my big sunflower disks that were ripening. Didnt touch one that was still flowering. I am so PO that I dont even want to take photos of it. Its terrible. I have a nut tree in my yard and knew I was taking a risk but they didnt touch them all summer and we were all happily co-existing and now they had to go and ruin it all. Tarahumara Early Russian Ruby Eclipse and Magic roundabout took the most damage. Lost all but one of my Tarahumara's. I dont mind losing seeds to them ( cause I dont really eat them ) as long as I get enough to grow again next year so hopefully my last tarahumara will make it. I covered the head in a mesh onion bag just to help. What really angers me though is the ruby eclipse and magic roundabout. Cause they are F1 hybrids and the seeds dont matter at all but they multi-bloom and had dozens of buds or flowers on them and they broke the thinner stems ( probably had 4 or 5 of them on it at once or something) so now I dont get anymore flowers from it. I cut all the nearly deadheads off that I wont need seeds from to keep them off the F1's and bagged my one last sunflower thats ripening for seed collection. Other than that all other seeds that were ripening are either broken plants or eaten bare. I feel stupid for thinking they would leave them alone and not wrapping the ripening seedheads in mesh bags. I am also shocked how quickly they ate and destroyed them all. Ok done venting. Now time to go find out where I can get mesh bags to wrap around the heads so I can save some seeds for next year.

This message was edited Sep 5, 2005 7:32 PM

Oh no!! Those little stinkers! So sorry to hear they ravaged your collection.

Ah well 75 Kilometer an hour winds really wiped out a large chunk of them in the end. Sigh worst winds in the past 20 years and we get them the year I start a garden. =( Anyways the ones that survived and werent pulled out by their roots are all recovering nicely. Spring and growing things was so exciting and I guess I am now getting the bad part about gardening. The attachment to a plant you grew and now is dead. Lol Hope you all are having better luck with your sunflowers. =P

Bummer. Yeah, I picked one of the hottest, dryest summers on record here to start my garden, I guess its dumb luck we got anything to grow at all, LOL. I will be looking for your sunflowers next year, please don't give up. Thanks to DG, we all enjoyed them so much. :8)

Lol It was 6 am this morning when I heard a big crash. So go outside one of my big sunflowers is fallen over and a Raccoon is eating it clean. Went and grabbed my Camera and got this picture. He digs at the roots till they fall over. End of the year and I got most of the seeds I need to grow them again so I dont really mind. Hehe plus he was just a small guy. Here is the pics. ( New Camera dont know how to get great low light shots with it yet, These came out much brighter than it was out though and arent to bad)

For now he is being called Whiskers McSunflower and I have a feeling he is the reason I have had the odd sunflower snapped in half or uprooted in the night all summer long. Oh well mystery solved.

westocast- Great pics! You're much more understanding of the wildlife than me. I have a squirrel getting onto my front porch and digging in the dwarf citrus trees to bury black walnuts that the neighbors have. I'd like to shoot him for the mess he makes. Never seen him, of course, and if I did he might be just too cute like your little raccoon.

Great Pic westocast! Raccoons are real menace here, since I live down the street from a forest preserve, they get into the garbage cans and make a real mess if you don't strap down the lids! Squirrels ate some of my big hostas this year too, it's been so hot and dry, not enough food for all. Mostly they just dig in my potted plants on the patio to hide nuts, in attempt to get me to feel sorry for them and feed them in the winter, LOL. Then they scare away the birds, so I just let them fend for themselves in the woods! Birds are much nicer, which ones enjoy the sunflower seeds?

Right now the Birds that seem to enjoy them are Chickadees and different types of Finches. I saw a small woodpecker eating them a few days ago but mostly its Finches and Chickadee's. They are almost cleaned of by now but there are a few out there eating the Kong's clean in the rain. I decided to leave them up for awhile untill they clean them off even though the plants themselves look awful by now. The raccoon seems to have moved on as I havent seen him or seen any signs he has been around for quite a few weeks now.

Do raccoons hibernate? Or maybe he's afraid of you getting even. ;^)

Your sunflowers have been gorgeous to watch. I'm sorry things didn't go well at the end, but don't get discouraged. There are sprays you can use to keep warm-blooded critters out of your garden. You have to respray after a rain, but worth it. I use it also to keep the neighbors' cat out of my bird nests.

What would you suggest as a good short or dwarf sunflower that I could grow? I have a spot that gets a lot of sun along a brick wall and sunflowers would be pretty there if they could do the humidity.

Diane

So how do you manage sunflowers in, say, a small perennial garden. They are my step-daughter's favorite flower and the more goodwill sown on that one, the better. Around when I've seen people grow them in their little city yards, they seem to take over the entire yard! Visually if not literally, and sometimes even literally.

I want to grow sunflowers next year, and I want those dark ones. ARe they any more difficult than the traditional large sunflowers?

Am I the only person who tries to grow sunflowers and ends up with sunflower borers? I feel like an idiot! I grew Lemon Queen sunflowers and within amonth of the first bloom they were all shriveling form the top down. These bright yellow sunflower flies lay eggs and then the babies crawl down the stem and eat the plant.

Sometimes I feel like I'm not growing flowers, I'm growing pests and diseases.