Has anyone successfully planted sunflowers in containers? I would like to plant some in half whiskey barrels. Do you wintersow, or directsow? How many plants per container? Do you grow other plants with the sunflower? I'm zone 4-5. Thanks
Planting sunflowers in containers
A couple of years ago, a nursery that I spend too much money at, had potted sunflowers. They looked great! They weren't for sale however. The nursery just wanted to see how it would work out. I've been wanting to do the same thing ever since.
Sunflowers pop up quite quickly once planted, I would think that popping the seeds in the ground would be the best way to go. I'm not sure about winter-sowing. You might want to check in that forum, but I wouldn't think that it was necessary.
Edited to add: I went to this web-site http://www.wintersown.org/wseo1/DataBase.html and found that sunflowers are candidates for winter sowing in zone 4.
This message was edited Jan 19, 2007 8:23 PM
You might find this link at Containerseeds.com helpful:
http://www.containerseeds.com/products/flowerpage.html#itemFLW107
I can also recommend the Bountiful Container by Rose Nichols Magee and Maggie Stuckey. It's an excellent book for anyone who gardens in containers.
Thankyou johnsonjrbm and marie_ for responding. I have since looked on the net and found that it can be done. I just haven't found out how many plants per barrel.
I would think that number of plants would depend on which varieties you choose. It might be interesting to have a really big/tall one surrounded by a few of a smaller variety and different color.
(I'm giving myself ideas.....I'm so glad that you asked your question.)
That's a great idea Marie. I read somewhere yesterday that someone planted petunias and nastursium's as fillers for the bottom. I think I'm just going to go for it and plant in one barrel, and also plant in ground in some flower gardens and my veggie garden. I really want sunflowers everywhere this year. Let me know if you get any great ideas.
Does anyone mind if I jump in? I would plant shorter ones such as 'Teddy Bear' in the barrel and put the taller ones(maybe red?) in the ground behind the barrel and plant the nastursiums in the barrel around the sides and infront of it. For a real nice nastursium variety that would go well with sunflowers try 'Empress of India'....
You really got me thinking with this............. :D
Steven
DigMontana: I think you should give it a try! I feed the birds in my backyard and end up with sunflowers sprouting all over the lawn! I hate to just mow them down, or throw them in the trash, so I started pulling them up and planting them in some container's that had other sun loving plants growing in them. One of my large planters has ornamental grasses, coleus and trailing purple sweet potato vine. Can't remember what exactly is in the other containers, there are 3 or 4, and the sunflowers do real well!
Good luck in your endeavors ... hope you will try it and post some photo's this summer when they are blooming!
Lin
I ALWAYS grow sunflowers - in containers (I don't have any in-ground plants)
I've had 5ft plants in 12" pots - 1 per pot.
If it's a shorter variety, I can put 2 or 3 (depending on the size) in a 16" pot.
The ones that pop up from the bird seed are usually tall ones.
I'll stick them in a 16" pot by itself.
Winter-sowing isn't necessary in my opinion.
They germinate & pop up so fast, they don't need a head start.
There are some varieties don't like to be transplanted, so I just pop the seeds into the pot I want the plants in.
Nancy
This message was edited Jan 26, 2007 9:15 AM
SW_gardener, thank you for responding and for your ideas. It is always to gleen from others.
Plantladylin, thank you for letting me know what has worked for you. I would like to put a trailing vine in mine also.
gabagoo, thankyou for the picture, that helps me get an eye for how much room I will have for other plants at the base. I also appreciate hearing how you plant them and what works for you. Its nice to know how easy it is to direct sow them. Can you let me know how deep to plant and do you water alot? Do you do any extra fertilizing? I try to stay organic. What soil mix do you use? Thanks again!
DigMontana, I was glad I could help! I just now remembered a few years back I planted dwarf sunflowers in a container and they get very bushy. So if you use dwarf, there might not be much room around the bottom depending on the size of your container. Also, beware of the critters! Mine got attacked by squirrels, they love to bite off the flowers leaving them on the ground. Grr.......
Steven
I guess I stick them about an inch down. {{shrugs}} I don't really think about it. I just stick 'em in. LOL! I think the seed packet says how deep.
When I remember to fertilize - I use Osmocote. I usually do it when I first plant them & forget about it the rest of the time. They are thirsty plants. Luckily, last season when it rained, they were solid drenching rains so I didn't have to do much.
LOL! Steven!
I know what you mean about the squirrels. Some of the sunflowers manage to survive lone enough for the birds (finches, chickadees, etc) to enjoy.
The squirrels sometimes get to them first.
One day I looked out the window and saw a sunflower with a bushy tail running along the top of my fence. It was so funny!
Here's a woodpecker stopping by for a quick bite.
Nancy
That is so neat! I've never seen a woodpecker on a sunflower before.
Yeah, it's funny how the squirrels drag things around as big as they are with such seeming ease....... :D
Steven
I put some dwarf (and larger) sunflowers on my patio in containers every year. I especially like Big Smile, and Pacino is also a favorite. I did Bashful last year too, which did fairly well (I think I needed a bigger container for them, though.)
Dee
Here is Big Smile, with Bashful in the background (lol, where else would they be?!)
They look great, Dee!
I love sunflowers! They are just so ... well, SUNNY!
They are great for kids to plant because they grow fast - a good thing for those impatient junior gardeners!
I planted Pacino in '05. They really put on a show.
This is one of the Teddy Bears.
Nancy
SW_gardener, thanks again for the info. That's good to know about the dwarf being bushier. I'm thinking I want tall one's this year. I want tall ones for the back of the flower bed. But I change my mind alot when it comes to gardening, so I could want a dwarf one, once I get out their and start working.
DiggerDee, thanks for the pictures! I love to see pictures to give me ideas.
Gabagoo, thanks again for the sharing how you plant yours in a container. I read somewhere that when you plant in the ground you should not water for about 6 day's. Is this true for containers? That sounds so funny to see about the squirrel with the sunflower along your fence. I have a love/hate relationship with squirrels. I love to watch them, but I don't want any theivery or damage from them. We have a lot of snow still and I watch them alot out my big window. I left peanuts out for them and they grab one and take off somewhere as fast as they can. I only have 2 that hang out here.
Thanks again Everyone! Im making alot of plans in my mind. I just hope my containers look like the picture I 've painted in my mind.
I never heard of that not watering thing before.
All's I know is I stick 'em & and water.
LOL!
Nancy
Yeah, the dwarf sunflowers seem to have just as many leaves as the tall ones except they're all jammed on a short stem. I had to take alot of the leaves off mine so the underplants could get some light and they still ended up pretty leggy.......
Steven
Dig, here is a picture of my Moulin Rouge in a 16 in pot. It grows only 4 to 5 ft, so I think it is perfect for a larger pot. Looks like I may have had 3 plants in this pot.
I had it in with various small flowers, I think nictotina and alyssum. Since sunflowers have phytotoxins which inhibit the growth of other plants the other small flowers did not fair well.
Now I just keep the pot in the back of several other pots so the taller sunflowers act as a backdrop and don't plant anything on the bottom. Once the potato vine in the other pots get large enough, I try to make them cover at least part of the sunflower pot. ;o)
Toofewanimals, that is beautiful! Love the color of those sunflowers! Have you tried planting the potatoe vine in with the suns? I have never tried a potato vine, I always thought they were for hot zones. Do you start them from seed?
Thanks for telling me what works for you. DM
DM, Your right about the potato vines being for the warmer zones. I used to buy new ones each year, but at $5 each, I cringed at the price. So in fall of 2005 I had a try at overwintering one along with my cannas. It worked.
I put all the cannas and the potato (it really looks like a potato) in a pot and filled it with peat, thinking I would water it everyonce in a while. I put it near my seed growing area so I would remember to water it. Well, after a while I found out my bad boy cat was watering the pot ... peeing in it! The pot never smelled, that surprised me! I just left it there, and I think the plants processed the urea. Most of them lived and grew once I planted them. He he, when spring came, I put the pot outside for a couple of rainy days to help wash the urine out, then watered the kabeegees out of it, put on gloves and got the canna and potato vine and washed them. LOL No, I'm not doing the same thing this year, this year the pot is in a closet!
There are purple and light green potato vines. Last year I put a purple potato vine in the front pots. Looked fine with the other flowers, but after looking at this picture, I think I like the green potato vine with the purple sunflowers.
No, I've never put the potato vine in with the sunflowers. The potato tuber is big and I know the sunflower roots get huge, I just think one of them would suffer. It may be a 'go' if you use a larger pot.
I do wintersow some of my sunflowers. I usually start these 3 inside because they go in the front of the house, but I try to grow at least 3 more for the back garden and those I WS.
Oh, another thing is, I keep the sunflowers in the back of the house till they bloom, then I bring them to the front of the house. The smaller pot makes it easier to move them.
Here is what is usually blooming along with the sunflowers, but on the other side of the door.
My Rose of Sharon.
Toofewanimals'
Thanks for the response. I don't think I will mess with potato vine this year. I have so many other garden experiments I'am going to do this year, that I don't need another one.
I grew Chianti in a pot that was about one foot tall a few summers ago. I liked them and plant to try it again this year. The pot was either a 10" or 12" one and I direct sowed the seeds so about 6 plants filled it nicely without being too crowded. I liked the Pacino series of Sunflowers and may give that one a try too.
I just planted 10 seeds of Sunrich Orange F1 Hybrid Sunflowers (grows 30" tall) in a 14" pot. Do you think that was too many sunflower seeds? I can pull some out if you do. It's way too early for them here, but I was in the mood and had bought a whole lot of 24-30" sumflowers for containers.
Suzy
I don't think that would be a problem. All of my seeds didn't germinate at the exact same time so I had a couple of different stage of growth plants and it all worked out. You can always thin them if it starts to look to bushy. I tend to try to plant containers a little more crowded since I want it to look full and there is good potting mix and I'm usually feeding and deadheading the heck out of it.
Thanks, dmac!
Suzy