Stunning Sunflowers

Sunflowers have got to be one of the worlds most cheerful plants ever!

I'm sure nearly all of us have childhood memories of those big, bright, happy yellow faces standing tall, following the sun around our gardens. They are simply soul warming. This is not suprising since their name Helianthus, literally translates to Sunflower - Helios meaning Sun, Anthus meaning Flower.

Once again, I found myself curious as to the history of this stunning flower. As it turns out, it's quite substantial and interesting.

(Green - Sunflower native areas. Purple - Sunflowers have been introduced.)

The wild sunflower is actually native to North America, before being commercialised in Russia. The American Indians were the first to domesticate the sunflower into a single headed plant and the first to produce/ create a variety of seed colours, from black, white, red and striped.

They were cultivated by the American Indians in what is now present day Arizona and New Mexico from about 5000 years ago, where they used them for a huge variety of things!
They were used for food:

. The seed was ground for flour.
. Meal was mixed with vegetables.
. The seeds were cracked and eaten for 

  snacks.
. Made oils for the making of bread.

They also had many non-food uses for the sunflower:
. Purple dye for textiles.
. Body paint.
. Decorations.
. Plant parts have been used medicinally - 

  snake bites, ointments.
. Oil was used for the hair and skin.
. Dried stalk for building materials.
. Ceremony use.

Sunflowers have had multiple meanings throughout their life. They have symbolised adoration, loyalty, longevity, in China they symbolise good luck, and in the Americas they symbolise harvest and provision.

Anywho, sunflowers! These beautiful plants now come in a wide array of colours: yellow, red, orange, white, pink and bi-coloured varieties, with their flowers ranging from a few inches up to 20 inches in diameter! With roughly 70 species of sunflower, there is bound to be one for you.

Sunflowers are very easy to grow plants, all they ask is plenty of sun (around 8 hours a day), and moist well-draining soil. They will even tolerate light frosts.

Seeds are best sown in spring and early summer, but as long as you're in a frost-free area you can plant all year round. My mum has a tendancy to let hers self seed and grows them through the winter too! I recommend starting from seeds, as I find you tend to get stronger and longer lasting sunflowers than their store bought seedling or mature plant friends. 

For Giant varieties, sow at a depth of 2cm at 60cm apart, and dwarf varieties, 2cm deep at 10-15cm apart. Generally speaking they will take between 2-10 days to germinate (depending on your soil and temperatures) and 60-120 days to mature. A good dollop of rich compost is all they need in the way of soil improvement, although you can add a small amount of fertiliser if you want to

DID YOU KNOW: Some sunflowers are day neutral, this means they will continue maturing as the days shorten towards Autumn.

In the way of pests and diseases, they are fairly low maintenance, slugs and snails might be an issue with your seeds are germinating, but this is an easy fix. Staking will be required for your taller varieties, especially if you are in a windy area. Finally, birds! Birds will likely be your biggest problem as they love the fat in those juicy seeds, as you flower head ages, it will fill with hundreds of seeds, if you're quick you may even get some for yourself, either for snacking, oil, or replanting depending on your preference.

Now, varieties, oh my gosh so many!
I think some of my favourites are still the stock standard giants like your Russian Giant, they are just so beautiful, so cheerful, produce amazing flowers and create quite a feature in the garden, plus you can use them to hide that ugly old fence!

The common sunflower is also rather nice, nothing stunning in flower size or colour, but it produces many heads and becomes a feature quickly.

Solar Eclipse is appropriatley named, a rich brown centre surrounded by bursts of coppery red tipped with yellow.

Teddy bear, jeepers so stunning! Now these are perfect for even your hay-fever sufferes as they are classified as pollen free! It is a dwarf, multi-headed variety with sweet double blooms.

Crimson Peach is something extremely different, if your looking for an unusual sunflower, this is for you. Growing about 120cm, this one produce flowers with a dark rich brown centre, and petals of peach to lilac-mauve!

Another for us allergy sufferers is Sunshine. Sunshine grows to about 70-90cm, with vibrant orange-yellow petals, it also has quite a decent flowering period of 70-80 days.

 
Lemon Bling is compact but striking, growing to 40cm, it produces a large dark pollen free centre, with soft lemon yellow petals. Perfect for containers or garden beds!

Ice-Spray F1 is another pollen free annual, produces multiple flower heads on a 130cm stalk, this sunflower has green centres with lemon to lemon-peach petals, a bit of something different, dont you think?

Sunflowers provide a lot of fun for kids, they have quick germination and grow quickly too. Your bubs can have hours of fun, planting, watering, nuturing, and then perhaps healthy competitions who can get the tallest sunflower, or the most seeds!

There are lots of very cute kits available, both for kids and the bigger kids (adults), they come in jars, buckets, watering cans, there's all sorts.

The benefits of sunflowers and their amazing seeds are still being discovered.

But they truly are a tiny superfood.

Their seeds are rich in:

. Magnesium 

. Potassium

. Selenium

. Zinc

. Iron

They are also said to improve digestion, brain power and the cardiovascular system.

Sunflower oil:

. Has more vitamin e than other oils 

. Aids in preventing heart problems

. Aids in preventing obesity

. Aids indigestion

The reason to plant these beauties in your garden just keeps growing. So what are you waiting for?