The Fun of Growing Sunflowers

, written by Barbara Pleasant us flag

Sunflower in the vegetable garden

When the first Europeans arrived in America, they were surprised and delighted to see sunflowers growing near settlements everywhere they went. Some were perennial species of Helianthus, while others were the same annual species I grow in my garden. Actually, the sunflowers grow themselves. All I do is provide them with space.

Plant historians think sunflowers have been domesticating themselves by pleasing gardeners for more than 4,000 years. Annual sunflowers quickly make themselves at home in disturbed soil, and because of their fast growth rate and impressive height, they can often rise above competing weeds. They are also natural self-sowers. As the seed heads mature, seeds break off a few at a time and fall to the ground. Others are dropped in unexpected places by birds, which consider sunflowers seeds a great delicacy.

Growing sunflowers for bees

Upright or Branching?

Like many plants native to America, sunflowers did a bit of traveling before plant breeders discovered them and made them better. In the case of sunflowers, it was Russian botanists who took up the cause after discovering that oil pressed from the seeds could be consumed during Lent, when butter and lard were forbidden by the Russian Orthodox Church. Today, sunflower oil is an essential ingredient in potato chips and other snack foods. In the kitchen, it can make a nice change of pace from olive oil.

Most sunflowers grown for their edible seeds are upright plants that produce one huge flower. The blossom often turns toward the sun during the course of a day, at least until it becomes heavy with seeds. Then there are branching varieties that develop several lateral branches, so they produce flowers over a period of several weeks.

Sunflowers in the vegetable garden

Some are small enough to grow in containers, but I like the really big ones that tower over my head. Tall branching varieties like 'Moonwalker' form a wall of bright blossoms, and the popular 'Lemon Queen' variety is being used by the Great Sunflower Project, which would like to see bee-friendly sunflowers growing in every garden. Bees of all types love sunflowers, so they are a great crop for pollinators and butterflies, too.

Harvesting Sunflowers

Despite my lifelong love of sunflowers, I could not justify making space for them in the veggie garden until invasive brown marmorated stink bugs appeared in my area. Supposedly the bugs will go to sunflowers before they approach other garden crops, which at least gives you some warning. So far, no stink bugs. I think they are waiting for fall so they can come into my house.

I allow the weighty heads to ripen on the plants so I can offer them as treats to wild birds and my chickens during the cold winter months. If you pay attention, seed-eating birds like goldfinches will make a great party of telling tell you when to harvest sunflowers – usually about a week after the last petals wither. The heads often contain between one and two thousand seeds, and need to be thoroughly dried before storage. After harvesting sunflowers, I dry them outdoors in covered shade for a couple of weeks, and then finish them with an hour or two in a warm oven.

Drying sunflowers

Of course, this time of year I mostly admire my sunflowers, and cut huge Van Gogh bouquets for anyone who wants them. Perfect individual flowers get displayed on my table, and so many wild bees visit the flowers that cutting must be done early or late or I end up with bees in my hair or in my house.

If you like everything about sunflowers but their tendencies to reseed and shed pollen, you can grow sunflowers that are male-sterile, so they produce no pollen and no viable seeds. Many seed catalogs offer the Procut, Sunrich or Sunbright variety series for cutting, and they won't leave behind seeds that will come to life the following season.

Personally I would find this disappointing because part of the fun of growing sunflowers is seeing where they pop up from year to year. The unwanted ones go into the compost. What more could a gardener want?

By Barbara Pleasant

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Comments

 
"I love this article! I have never had much luck growing sunflowers. I'm in zone 7B near Atlanta, GA. I have a lot of trees, but have sunny spots where I placed them. I am able to get other full sun vegetables to grow. It seems like either the heat or the bugs get to the sunflowers before they become more than 12" high. They just wither up. Any tips?"
Shelby on Friday 1 August 2014
"Shelby, a couple of sunflower farms near you "peak" around the 4th of July, so I think planting early might help. My math suggests planting in mid-March, when it's still cold, but I have often seen volunteer seedlings survive light frosts. Good luck! "
Barbara Pleasant on Friday 1 August 2014
"I also loved this article. For the first time this summer I have chosen to grow sunflowers in my garden. I planted the seeds from last years sunflowers around the edge of certain parts of my garden so they would grow to shade beans, peas, lettuce and kale. I did not know about attraction of stink bugs. I am having problems with June bugs, would you know a flower or natural remedy to deter these pests? I did hang a small bucket of water that seems to attract some of them."
Patty on Tuesday 5 August 2014
"Patty, if you add a half and half molasses-water mixture to the bucket you will trap more beetles. Some people use jars nestled into the ground baited with molasses water. Applying milky spore to lawn areas in fall can help reduce populations. Also turn off all outdoor lights at night. Good luck!"
Barbara Pleasant on Thursday 7 August 2014
"Barbara, I asked about a remedy for June bugs and I did the 50/50 mixture of molasses/water and yesterday I was checking the solution and realized that I said June bugs and should have said Japanese beetles! I did notice a couple Japanese beetles in the molasses mixture but is there a better natural remedy for the beetles? I know that people hang the special traps that attracts them...anything else?"
Patty on Friday 15 August 2014
"Japanese beetles have been out in full force this year, but they will soon head for grassy areas where they will overwinter. Milky spore applied to lawns can help reduce populations. Most people hand pick Japanese beetles early in the morning by knocking them into a broad bowl of soapy water. "
Barbara Pleasant on Saturday 16 August 2014
"There are some attentiongrabbing points in time in this article but I dont know if I see all of them heart to heart. There may be some validity however I will take maintain opinion until I look into it further. Good article , thanks and we would like extra! Added to FeedBurner as properly fckcdcgakdgbbbed"
Smithc16 on Sunday 9 April 2017
"An interesting dialogue is worth comment. I feel that you must write more on this topic, it won't be a taboo subject but typically people are not sufficient to speak on such topics. To the next. Cheers ddgcdeecaceaebed"
Smithe910 on Monday 10 April 2017

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