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Growing Sunflowers

Sunflowers are about as forgiving as a flower gets, and they do double duty in a working garden: pretty enough for a bouquet, tough enough to give your cucumber trellis a little afternoon shade.

How to Grow Sunflowers

Planting

Direct-sow after all frost danger has passed. Sunflowers grow a deep taproot fast and don’t like being transplanted, so start them right where you want them to bloom. Sow seed about an inch deep. The biggest early threat usually isn’t the weather, it’s birds and squirrels digging up the seed before it sprouts; a piece of mesh or row cover laid over the bed until seedlings are a few inches tall takes care of it.

Watering & feeding

Water deeply while seedlings are getting established, then expect sunflowers to get remarkably drought-tolerant once that taproot is down. They’re not heavy feeders; one light feeding at planting is plenty. For the tall single-stem varieties, stake them once they hit a couple of feet, our summer thunderstorms and gusty afternoon winds will snap an unsupported stalk fast.

Harvest

For cut flowers, cut in early morning once the petals have just started to unfurl; they’ll open the rest of the way in the vase. For seed heads, wait until the back of the head turns from green to yellow-brown and the petals drop, then cover the head with a paper bag or cheesecloth before the birds beat you to it. Succession-sow every 2–3 weeks through early July for continuous blooms right into fall. And put them to work: a row of sunflowers along the north side of a cucumber or bean trellis will give it a little relief from our harshest afternoon sun.

Grows Well With

When to Plant

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From the Kitchen: Recipes Using Sunflowers

Looking for recipe ideas? Browse the full Recipe Book.