Moxie Gardener

A self-seeded sunflower.

Sunflowers are native to the Americas and have been cultivated for over 4,000 years. They were a major food source for the indigenous population and were even used medicinally.

Botanically called Helianthus from the Greek helios, meaning sun and anthus, meaning flower, sunflowers were adopted as a major crop by the Russians. Sunflower oil stays liquid at lower temperatures than animal fats, which was advantageous in their cold climate.

Victorians fell madly for sunflowers and used their likeness in art and architecture. Early American pioneers pounded the stalks to extract the fibers. The stalks were also used as kindling and the seedless hulls were compressed into fire logs.

Plant sunflowers in mid spring about 1 to 2 weeks before the date of your average last frost. They need full sun and aren’t overly fussy about soil fertility, although they benefit from a side dressing of compost.

Thin the seedlings so the plants stand 12 to 18 inches apart, depending on the size of the variety at maturity. Many varieties will first produce a large basal flower and then branch out to produce many smaller blooms after the basal flower is cut. Some varieties naturally branch out, producing many smaller flowers.

Hybridizers have been busy and sunflowers now come in a wide variety of sizes and many colors in the yellow/gold/orange/rust family. They are spectacular planted in various heights and colors as a theme garden.

Sunflowers reseed themselves prolifically and will come up every year, even if you don’t want them to. It goes without saying that small wildlife, such as birds and squirrels, find them irresistible.

If you want to harvest the seeds for snacks or for planting next year, cover the flowers with a paper lunch bag when the seeds begin to ripen. Otherwise the local livestock will completely devour your sunflower crop.

The blooms of sunflowers turn to follow the path of the sun, beginning in the east in the morning and continuing throughout the day. They are one of the few flowers that follow this peculiar practice.

By all means cut them and use them in bouquets. Their bright, cheery colors look good in any decor.

This entry was posted on Saturday, August 8th, 2009 at 11:46 PM and is filed under Flowers. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.