Favorite Sunflower Recommendation

[pinksand]

This was my first successful year growing sunflowers!

It might sound ridiculous considering they're known for being easy, but I've been attempting to grow them for the past 3 years without success. The first year in our house my MIL gave me some from the florist department at the grocery store. I put them in the ground in the heat of summer and they quickly died, not surprising! The next year I grew Teddy Bear Sunflowers from seed. I nurtured those babies and they grew healthy and strong, they started to bloom and then immediately got nipped off by some garden visitor. I wasn't able to enjoy a single bloom because they kept getting eaten. The next year I decided a taller variety would be better to prevent flower nipping. Our dog was a puppy at the time and trampled all of them to death when they only had a few sets of true leaves

This year I planted Giant Sungold sunflower seeds and they are huge and beautiful and oh so cheery! They make me want to put sunflowers everywhere next year! I know they're a popular flower on the forum so I was wondering if anyone had some favorite (tall) varieties they could recommend. The Sungold is really pretty, but I'd also like to plant some with black centers.

[imafan26]

I like Mammoth for the seeds, but the birds like them too and you will only get one flower. I have had good luck with lemon queen and Chianti which have multiple flower heads about 5 inches accross. The sunflowers do like to be in full sun to grow tall and I have to stake some of mine because of the wind. My flowers always face east (the rising sun).

[catgrass]

I ditto Mammoth and Lemon Queen. I love those little Teddy Bears-I grow mine in large containers. A twist on regular sunflowers would be Tithonia or Mexican Sunflower. I absolutely love this one. It makes a large bush, and has tons of bright orange flowers that bees and butterflies love. It will bloom until frost.

[pinksand]

I think I have just the spot for some Mammoths next year! Some deeper reds like the Chianti might be nice to throw into the mix as well.

Although it's not quite the type of sunflower I had in mind, I'm definitely adding Mexican Sunflower to my seed list for next year. That Orange is stunning and also happens to be my favorite color!

I'm expanding a bunch of my beds this fall and will have lots of new space to play with. I'm planning to put the sunflowers along my fence where they're nicely supported and get some good sunlight.

[applestar]

I am soooo sleepy... I think I need a nap. I haven't seriously tried the different and numerous varieties available, but Johnny's Selected Seeds has a great selection with detailed info because they target for market growers. Only trouble is they are expensive. I'd like to participate in a sunflower garden growing one year for which we would buy different variety packets of seeds and share.

... Anyway I picked up a couple of packets of Renee's one time -- I'll just leave you with this. I liked the Chocolate Cherry in particular.
Subject: Here's my new sunflower& "house"

Here's Chocolate Cherry Sunflower. It's so dark I had to push the exposure to get any color to show up:



This one, I think, is from the Sun Samba mix. It's a multi-headed sunflower, and the funny thing was that this flower pointed straight up when it first opened:

I'm currently growing out the seeds from the multi headed volunteer from last year. There's a thread about it somewhere with plenty of photos....

[pinksand]

Beautiful applestar! I'll have to hunt down your sunflower thread.

[Susan W]

And this winner. Pot size dwarf with small person. G-son 6 with his garden.