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| Doesn't look like much... |
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My nephews and I planted sunflower seeds in April. My youngest nephew
put a few too many seeds in this spot. haha |
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| Look at my sprouts! |
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| Look how tall! 6 Weeks. |
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| The first bloom. |
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| This one is ready to bloom |
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| Check it out! |
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| Pretty! |
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| My sunflowers! |
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| Can you see my hand? I'm holding a yard stick. |
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Sunflowers aren't tall blooms for long. When they start
growing seeds, their heads droop, their petals fall off, and their leaves turn
brown. They look pathetic, but it's what they do. I tied them to dowels to keep
them upright and put a mesh around the heads to keep critters from stealing the
seeds.
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| One of my big sunflower has babies growing off it! |
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| This is the first sunflower I harvested. Check out all of the sunflower seeds. |
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| The flower head after the seeds were removed. |
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All of the seeds from just one sunflower. See how big they are?
Now I can plant these seeds and grow even more, bigger sunflowers! |
QUESTION: Have you ever tried to grow sunflowers?
I
live in Florida and found it very easy.
I grow Sunflowers every year. The yellow finches eat the seeds. I really enjoyed your pictures. I had not thought about growing them in a circle. A picket fence would be pretty too in a little square. I could also build a fairy garden (Made with home made twig furniture and huts with moss!)!
ReplyDeleteA fairy garden would be lovely. :) Thanks for visiting, Charlotte!
DeleteThey are so pretty.
ReplyDeleteMy father was really good at growing sunflowers and we always harvested the seeds. I've never tried one though.
It was an interesting process. This was my first time and I really enjoyed it. I'm ready to plant more seeds to harvest in the fall. :)
DeleteWhat awesome sun flower pictures. It was lovely to look at.
ReplyDeleteI'm not very good at garening but my late husband grew some sun flowers which was very pleasant to the eye.
Yvonne.
Sunflowers are so bright and happy. I love seeing them...when their heads aren't drooping. lol
DeleteLove this, Chrys! I'm going to give it a try, but I don't really have a yard so maybe I'll use a big planter.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was a kid growing up in the city, my father and grandfather planted sunflowers in our little patch of dirt. The flowers grew so tall! Love that memory. :)
That would be nice, Madeline! In a big planter, you might get a lot of smaller ones good for a boutique.
DeleteI hope my sunflowers grow to be VERY tall! :D
Glad yours were so successful. Sunflowers have come to mean so much since it was Tina Downey's favourite flower. Never tried growing them myself and these days I don't have anywhere to do so.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Jo! Like Madeline said, you can try growing some in a big planter. They just won't get so tall.
DeleteThose sunflowers were so pretty! If I had a yard I would probably try to grow something.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Sarah! When I moved into this house with a nice yard, I've been having fun gardening. :)
DeleteYou and your nephew rocked it!! They're gorgeous! I grow sunflowers with my Urchins. We save the seed heads for winter (in PA) and hang them out for the birds.
ReplyDeleteYou're more industrious than I am by tying them to dowels. Go you! :)
Saving the heads for the birds is an idea I'll have to do when I get more seeds. HAHA! Thanks! :)
DeleteI love sunflowers so much, so I did attempt to grow them one summer when I still lived in New England. It did not go all that well, but truth be told—I am a terrible gardener.
ReplyDeleteAw, shucks! Sorry they didn't grow well for you then. Maybe you can give it a shot again?
DeleteBeautiful flowers, I buy bag of sunflower seeds for the birds. They love them, good for you saving them for future plantings.Congrats on your success! I feel the same way after something I've planted actually grows - such an achievement to be celebrated!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Yolanda! I was so proud of myself while watching them grow and now being able to harvest the seeds.
DeleteThey're lovely.
ReplyDeleteYes, I've grown them over here. I cut the heads and store them so I can put them out for the birds in the winter.
Ava said she does the same thing. I'll do that once I get more sunflower seeds. :)
DeleteThey sure sprung up and turned out great. Will have plenty more with all those seeds too.
ReplyDeleteI know! I'll be planting more soon. :D
DeleteThey look great. I grew sunflowers my first time in this house more than 20 years ago. I was overrun by chipmunks and have had a problem with them ever since. But I love how pretty they are.
ReplyDeleteSusan Says
Chipmunks! Awww! lol I'm sure they're a pain but so cute. :P
DeleteGorgeous! We grow sunflowers every year and my husband likes to harvest the seeds.
ReplyDeleteWow! I had no idea so many of my blogging friends grew sunflowers. I'm glad I started. Now I feel like part of the Sunflower Club. :P
DeleteOh, they're gorgeous, Chrys! I love sunflowers. What a great project to do with your nephews :)
ReplyDeleteI gave my mother in law a packet of sunflowers with new gardening gloves for Christmas. She is the gardener at her house and takes care of all the flowers, so I thought this was a perfect idea. But when she opened it no sooner did she declare that I was to plant the seeds. Wait. What? LOL. In April when I was over she said "next time you're here, dear, you can plant those seeds." I said "Sure." So, next time came and I was ready to plant them (a simple task, for the most part). However I couldn't because my BIL had fertilized all the soil and it was contaminated. Anyway, they never got planted. I thought when you gave a gardener seeds they would plant them, not the gift giver. Am I wrong?
Nice share today, Chrys. Your pictures are great! Maybe I'll send this post to my mother in law. ;)
That is a lovely gift to give a mother-in-law. But it's unfortunate that you weren't able to plant the seeds. Maybe she wanted to share something with you...teach you how to garden. Planting sunflowers seeds is quite the experience. That would be nice, Lisa. Thanks! :)
DeleteAw that's a great point Chrys. I know, I feel guilty that I wasn't able to do it so suffice to say, I won't buy her seeds in the future LOL.
DeleteLOL! It is odd that she wouldn't plant seeds being a gardener. Perhaps she's a picky planter. :P
DeleteAwesome! I haven't attempted to grow anything in years, partially because of moving around so much, secondly because of allergies. Working in the yard sets me back a good day or two. So sad. Still, it's nice to enjoy your sunny patch of happiness.
ReplyDeleteAllergies are terrible, especially if you are a gardener.
DeleteMy dad planted sunflowers a few times in his garden, but he hasn't done it in a few years. I always liked them and thought they were pretty.
ReplyDeleteMaybe you should tempt him to plant some this year. There's still time. :)
DeleteI've only been really successful with them once. Usually the squirrels dig up the seeds before they really get going. That makes me irritable, though I don't really mind it when they steal the seeds at the end. I walked past a squirrel once that was dragging an entire sunflower up a tree backward--tugging it up to safety. Funniest thing ever.
ReplyDeleteThe squirrels here are tricky little dudes. If they dug up my sunflower seeds I'd be mad!
Deleteooohh SO pretty. I LOVE sunflowers!! I can't grow much, I do not have a green thumb at all lol
ReplyDeleteI found these extremely easy to grow. I didn't do anything special. I added a bit of soil to the sandy patch of land where I planted the seeds and watched them about every other day unless it rained. The only time I did anything special was when I used the netting and dowels. I bet you'd be able to grow them. :)
DeleteI liked the pictures on how you chronicled the growing of your sunflowers, Chrys. Very nice job you and your nephews did :) I have not tried to grow sunflowers. A house we used to live in always had one sunflower that grew from year to year while we were there, so obviously someone threw at least a seed or two in that area for it to grow :)
ReplyDeletebetty
That is cool! And for it to grow year-after-year is special. :)
DeleteI love sunflowers, but I don't think my immediate family has ever grown them. My late paternal grandparents might've grown some, but their main thing was a vegetable garden.
ReplyDeleteAt the moment, the only thing I'm growing is my 15-year-old spider plant Kalanit. It's been awhile since one of her babies sprouted a little white flower, but every so often she still sprouts a baby.
Spider plants? Hmm. I'll have to look those up.
DeleteWe've grown sunflowers in the past! I even got a nice picture of them. Of course, I tend to kill anything I try to grow. Yours turned out very nice!
ReplyDeleteThanks! I'll check out the picture. :)
DeleteThis is my first year attempting to grow sunflowers! We started ours off indoors though and I think that's stunted their growth a bit, poor things. My partner's sunflower got eaten by rabbits the day after we planted them out, so he wasn't too happy (especially since he was winning the 'tallest sunflower' competition we were having! Guess I win that one by default ;)). I love watching my sunflower grow and change - it's one of the only things I've managed to grow from seed without completely killing it off...yet.
ReplyDeleteI know some people use starters for seeds but I've done well without that. I'm sorry about your partner's sunflower. But yay you for winning! ;)
DeleteI have grown sunflowers for bird feed... Are you going to try to cross pollinate and see if you can grow larger and larger ones?
ReplyDeleteI am trying to grow larger and larger ones! Already the seeds are bigger than the ones I used from the packet so I will produce bigger sunflowers this next time.
DeleteFantastic! Your nephews did a great job :-) My daughter especially loves sunflowers and tried to grow them in her yard last year. I'll have to share this post with her, she'll be quite envious as only two of the many seeds she planted actually bloomed. I'll tell her the key is the location!
ReplyDeleteIt has to be a nice sunny spot. And what's funny is that my dirt is mostly sand and they did just fine. They are actually pretty hearty and can grow anywhere.
DeleteYou can do that? I had no idea. And every time I buy sunflower seeds in the store I eat them. I've been doing it wrong all this time!!!!!
ReplyDeleteSeriously though, that is awesome work. I wish I had a yard where I could do some planting. I've always wanted to get into gardening.
HAHA! Well, you can't plant baked sunflower seeds. They have to be raw. If you get a packet from the gardening section and plant them you will have a ton of seeds that you can bake and eat.
DeleteThanks! I've been wanting to garden for years and once I moved into a house in April, I set to it. :)
Sunflowers are my favorite flowers. I grew them back when I lived at a house, but don't have the room for it where I am now. I wish I could. Yours look awesome! Are you going to eat any of those seeds??
ReplyDeleteRight now I am using most of the seeds to grow more sunflowers. I'll be able to do another batch to harvest in the fall and then I will bake the seeds for a nice snack. :)
DeleteI grew sunflowers one summer. They were beautiful. I wish they'd last a bit longer. I grew mainly yellow ones and I'd like to get the other colors--brown and orange, I believe. The giant ones look cool, but I'd definitely have to plant them against something since they're so heavy.
ReplyDeleteI would love to get orange sunflowers too. Mine only grew yellow. I'd have to buy some other sunflower seeds. Maybe one year I'll have a nice mixture. :)
DeleteI've never grown sunflowers though one did come up in the garden one year, probably from bird seed.
ReplyDeleteThat one must've been a nice surprise.
DeleteVery cool! And what a fun thing to do with your nephews. I've never tried to grow sunflowers or really anything else - safe to say I don't have a green thumb LOL.
ReplyDeleteMy nephews had a blast checking on their progress. Every time they say them they'd say, "WHOA!!!!!!!! LOOK!!!!!!!" LOL
DeleteI managed to kill a cactus once. I don't think I'll try sunflowers.
ReplyDeleteVery nice. Congrats.
LOL! That is too funny! :P
DeleteThat is so very cool!!! I've only planted one (1) sunflower in my life. I remember it grew no matter what we did to it. The stalk was so thick. My kids were amazed at its height.
ReplyDeleteIt's amazing how thick and tall they can get.
DeleteHey Chrys,
ReplyDeleteI've grown a few sunflowers in my time. More so back in Vancouver than here in England. I always thought the sunflowers escaped out of some surreal. alternate reality cartoon.
Gary :)
Sunflowers are cool. I love how they follow the sun and what they do when they start to grow their seeds.
DeleteOh, I love your sunflowers. My girls tried to grow some a few years ago, and we did get some. Yours look great inside the white fence.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Rhonda! I had to get something to keep little critters back.
DeleteOh wow, they're gorgeous! I love sunflowers - they're such a burst of light. And good for you for saving the seeds to plant; I'd probably eat them :)
ReplyDeleteThanks, Liz! When I get more sunflowers I do plant on eating some. :)
DeleteThey look beautiful! Obviously your yard is a great place for them!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Sherry!
DeletePretty! My husband has been getting rid of the plants that are coming up beneath the birdfeeder. Birds are messy eaters! But I feed them sunflower seeds...so sunflowers will come up eventually, I assume?
ReplyDeleteA couple of people have mentioned they might get one sunflower from bird seed. So maybe. :)
DeleteSo beautiful. Once I saw a field of sunflowers. It was so pretty to look at...acres and acres of sunflower blooming.
ReplyDeleteI would love to see a field of sunflowers!
DeleteThose flowers are beautiful! I'd like to have my own garden, so that I could grow my own flowers or vegetables. But I live in an apartment without even one of those window boxes, alas...
ReplyDeleteI had been living in an apartment before I moved. You can get a large flower pot and plant a couple seeds if you have a porch or nice area next to one of your doors.
DeleteI love sunflowers so much but the problem is that it won't survive where I live. The temperature's hot for it.
ReplyDeleteThat's unfortunate. :(
DeleteDon't know how I missed this post, but so glad I didn't just delete it. I love sunflowers and all your pics are giving me some great ideas for next year. I am pinning this on my gardening board. Excellent post and thanks so much for sharing.
ReplyDeletesherry @ fundinmental
That's okay, Sherry. It happens. I probably miss a ton of good posts from everyone I follow.
DeleteThanks for the pin! :)