Sunflowers create 'wow' in the garden

A regular reader of this column has requested that I write about sunflowers, Helianthus annuus. He is charmed by the habit of young plants whose flower heads gently turn through the day to follow the path of the sun. [Mature plants' flowers face east — it is not known why this happens.]

Other interesting facts: The tallest sunflower on record is 25 feet, 5.4 inches, grown in the Netherlands. And the largest flower head on record is 32 inches across, grown in British Columbia.

In our area, annual sunflowers are visible everywhere now. Many gardeners find them irresistible, with their sunny yellow ray petals, surrounding the central brown disc of developing seeds. This fast-growing plant can reach astonishing heights in one season, often up to 15 feet tall. Some are grown primarily for the giant flower heads full of nutritious seed, edible by people or offered as food for birds through the fall and winter.

If you allow sunflowers to mature their seed in your garden, you are almost guaranteed to have bird visitors. And many of the newer cultivars are grown for flowers of many colors and forms, or branching compact form.

Sunflowers are native to much of the central U.S. and south as far as Central America. Kansas has made it the state flower and if you have driven through the prairie states in late summer, you've seen them growing wild by the roadside. Adaptable and tough, they can be grown in most soils, and are fairly low-water plants.

The species is a coarse, hairy plant with yellow-petaled flowers that are about 3 inches wide. The plant breeders have developed a number of giant forms. Best known are 'Mammoth Russian' and 'Russian Giant'; both are fun to grow at home for the sheer size and rapid growth, as well as the huge crop of seeds. But probably even more cherished for the home garden are the newer compact branching plants in a rich array of colors and forms. A quick check of Renee's Garden Seeds included the following:

Sun Samba: 5-7 feet tall, multi-branching plants. Flowers include ringed and bicolors in both single and double forms. Colors include yellow, gold, lemon, mahogany, bronze and orange with many variations. Excellent for cutting.

Cinnamon Sun: 5-7 feet tall, sturdy branched plants. 6-inch flowers have cinnamon-bronze petals and chocolate centers. Good for cutting, strong seed production.

Bright Bandolier: 5-7 feet tall, with large flowers in sunny yellow and warm mahogany. Good for seed production and cutting. Heat and drought tolerant.

Angel's Halo: Starburst semidouble flowers in lemon yellow are early blooming on 4-6 feet tall plants. Pollen free.

Junior: Dwarf plants to 21/2 feet, have 4- to 5-inch flowers with dark central discs surrounded by bright yellow petals. Suitable for containers or bed edging.

Dwarf sunflower plants can be found now in local garden centers, already budded and blooming. Look for 'Double Dandy' [to 20 inches tall with 5-inch red and yellow flowers], 'Incredible' [18 inches tall with 10 inches single dark yellow flower], 'Pacino Cola' [12 inches with single yellow 4-inch flower] and 'Teddy Bear' [24 inches with puffball golden flowers to 4 inches]. Look also for the perennial Swamp Sunflower [Helianthus angustifolius] that grows tall and willowy, and will be covered with charming yellow flowers later in the fall.

And though it is traditional to plant sunflower seed in spring, for summer flower production, a fellow gardener with an experimental nature one year planted seed in midsummer, just to see what would happen in our benign climate. She was delighted to have sunflowers blooming in her garden at Thanksgiving, ready to grace her holiday table.

-Sharon Hull