Saturday, June 25, 2016

Sunflowers in the Summer!




Sunflowers in Summer! Delightfully Showy!
Tasty seeds to eat as a snack !






The sunflowers or Helianthus are a beauty soaring over 4 ft. Planting them around a bird feeder will keep the birds happy all summer long. The birds will eat the seeds inside the sunflower.  All Helianthus species are native to North America, except for three species in South America.

How to Grow Sunflowers

These hardy, easy-to-grow annuals brighten up any garden with their showy, large, dramatic heads and petals. Sunflowers can grow anywhere from two to fifteen feet tall depending on the variety, and their seeds can even be harvested and enjoyed as a delicious snack. Follow the instructions below to learn how to plant, maintain, and harvest sunflowers.
1. Choose a variety of sunflower that fits your garden needs. While most sunflower varieties grow to be several feet tall, there are some miniature varieties that grow under three feet tall. Look at the  list below of popular varieties, large and small:
  • Mammoth: You can grow your own mammoth, brining them back from the dead!
  • Autumn Beauty: This variety produces huge flowers that produce up to six inches in diameter. It gets its name from the fall-like color of flowers it produces.  The colors bronze and mahogany flowers are not uncommon on these large stalks  growing upwards to seven feet.
  • Sunbeam: Sunbeam is a medium-sized variety, soaring upwards at about five feet tall and producing flowers about five inches in diameter. The flower petals are long and the flower center is often yellow, making for a dramatic show to any bouquet.
  • Teddy Bear: This miniature variety grows upward to three feet tall and is perfect for a tight-fit on space in your garden.
2. Plant in full sun. Sunflowers like warm to hot climates in full sunshine during the day-light hours. Climates with long hot summers are perfect for growing sunflowers.
3. Search for a good spot. It is best to protect sunflowers from the wind. Plant sunflower seeds at a fence, the side of a house, or behind a row of sturdy trees. Plant your sunflowers on the north side of your garden. This keeps the large sunflower stalks from shading other plants in your garden.
4. Check the soil. Sunflowers prefer a slightly acidic to somewhat alkaline soil, however, sunflowers are relatively resilient and can grow in most types of soil.
5. Make sure your soil drains well. Though sunflowers are hard to kill, the one thing that can harm them is flooded soil.
  • proper drainage is a must, or build a simple planter box instead.
  • Build a raised garden box out of cedar boards, which come in 8-foot lengths. Cedar is a good choice for a garden bed because it won’t rot when exposed to water.
6. Allow the soil to warm. Plant sunflower seeds at the beginning of summer after the soil has completely warmed, between mid-April and late May.
If you would like the procedure on planting the seeds goggle in how to for  the info.
These are our beautiful Flowers we are enjoying this summer, with the right product we use the colors are so vibrant and luscious in color. The heads of the flowers are so big, bigger than they have ever been. EMAIL ME ...wolfelinda@hotmail.com


4 comments:

  1. I must say, this is one of the best articles I have seen on growing flowers. Thank you

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    1. Thank You! Glad you enjoyed reading the article. Do come back.

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  2. Replies
    1. Thank You Benedict Mary, Glad you liked my post. :)

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