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
![Sad :(](./images/smilies/icon_sad.gif)
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.