Welcome to our small homestead in Sweden

Growing Sunflowers for the First Time

sunflowers

This year I’ve grown sunflowers (Heliantus annuus) for the first time. The reason I haven’t done it before is because I thought sunflowers only were these huge 2,5 m single stemmed flowers that were likely to topple over. Consequently, I admit I didn’t see the beauty in that. However, over the last winter I’ve  discovered that there are many different varieties, and moreover, that they will do great in bouquets.

Waooh
Heliantus annuus 'Waooh!'

Sowing in April

As a result, I started the first seeds in early April, which wasn’t a great success. It was probably too cold in our plant nursery, because after several weeks, hardly any of the seeds had germinated. Fortunately, I had not spent all my seeds in one go. As a result, in the second sowing, I decided to take the seed into the house for germination. That worked much better, and I ended up with seedlings of different types of sunflowers.

ring-of-fire
Heliantus annuus 'Ring of Fire'

My Sunflower Varieties

I had chosen relatively low varieties with multiple stems, rather than the tall single stem varieties. At first, I chose varieties with untraditional colours, since I wanted them for flower arrangements. But, realising I didn’t have any bright yellow varieties, I went out and bought some more seeds. The sunflowers I ended up sowing were ‘Florenza’, ‘Ring of Fire’, ‘Ice Cream’, ‘Buttercream’, ‘Waooh!’, ‘Claret F1’, and ‘Ikarus’.

Claret-F1
Heliantus annuus 'Claret F1'
sunflower
Heliantus annuus 'Florenza'

Since I lost many seeds in the first round of sowing, I ended up with only a few plants of ‘Waooh!’ and ‘Ice Cream’. I planted out the seedlings in late May, and they immediately started growing well. ‘Florenza’ was the first to flower, followed by ‘Ikarus’ and ‘Buttercream’. ‘Claret F1’ has grown tallest, and some also toppled over after a really strong rain storm about a week ago.

Ice-Cream
Heliantus annuus 'Ice Cream'
Ikarus
Heliantus annuus 'Ikarus'
sunflowers
Sunflowers

My reason for growing sunflowers has been to have nice flowers to look at, as well as having cut-flowers for flower arrangements. In the end, I haven’t cut that many sunflowers, but rather keep them in the beds. Since we see the sunflowers from the orangery, where we usually have our dinners, we’ve still been able to enjoy the sight of the tall flower heads.

sunflower-bud
ring-of-fire
waooh

Waiting for thesunflower seeds

Many of the sunflowers are still producing flower heads now at the end of August. I’m also allowing the heads that have lost their petals to stand in hope of having seeds. I wonder if they can be eaten. On any account, I hope to have seeds for next year’s plants, because I’m definitely going to grow sunflowers again.

sunflower

Have a nice day 🙂

Click here to share

Please leave a comment:

Legg igjen en kommentar

Din e-postadresse vil ikke bli publisert. Obligatoriske felt er merket med *

Related Articles

astilbe
Flowers
Rita Nordahl
Favourite Perennials

While some gardeners like plants that are rare or special in one way or another, I appreciate plants that are hardy and have a long flowering time.

orangery
Farm Projects
Rita Nordahl
The Orangery

In Sweden, most houses have a garden room where 2 or 3 walls are of glass. We decided to build a garden room instead. We call it the orangery

Stone
Farm Projects
Rita Nordahl
Stone Work

I love stones. In fact, my youngest sister says I am stone-crazy. Over the years, I’ve used a lot of stones in the garden.

We are

A couple that rapidly is reaching the age of retirement. We currently work in Norway and the farm is our retirement plan.
Favorite stories
cherry-blossom

Dreaming of a tranquil summer

Spring is the busiest time of our year. There’s seeds to sow, plant s to grow and garden beds to make or remake. Yet, I dream of spending time in my hammock with a good book.

Read More
vegetables

How Much Food Can We Grow?

I have been in a program to register the production of food in a private garden. I have spent 180 hours tidying, planting, weeding, watering, and harvesting fruit and vegetables.

Read More
Pumpkin-bread

Pumpkin Bread

Baking with pumpkin has become a new favourite of mine. The cakes are very moist and can store in room temperature for several days.

Read More
Categories