A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion The Banter Hall Gardener's Chat Watching my sunflowers....

I have a row of giant sunflowers that still aren't very GIANT yet. But they range in size a lot depending on the sunlight they are getting in the day.



I have a really GIANT one behind the pond. HUGE....It's already twice as tall as me and I'm 5'10". Still hasn't flowered, just keeps growing like a tree. Here are a few shots.


See the little Hollyhock stalk to the left of it? THAT is taller than me.


The leaves are HUGE.


The stalk is almost 4 fingers wide.(with a slight salute to Cindy)


And this is the view up the plant from my eye level.

I guess the birds ate all the sunflower seeds I planted. I only had 3 come up out of abot 3 or 4 packs and then the wind yesterday got those

I don't have a lot of luck with sunflowers either. I put out a ton of seeds but usually have only a few come up. I have friends who have them show up everywhere even where they don't want them.

I start mine in peat pots....they don't like being transplanted so I just plop the whole thing in the ground. I have never had much luck just planting seeds right into the soil here.

I can't wait to see how much bigger it gets before it flowers.

no they don't alot of things don't like being transplanted. That's mostly the way I start mine right in the dirt.

The peat pots work great too Belinda. I fill them with dirt, stick a seed in them and then put all the peat pots in a window planter that is filled shallowly with dirt. That way when I water it stays in there better and if the roots grow thru they just go down into a bit more dirt.

That's the best way of growing them for me.

In the dirt here they never come up, I guess the birdies like to eat them too much.

I love the sun flowers I wanna find some of those that get hugh

I just bought some packs at the dollar general. They were just labeled giant sunflowers and cost 25cents a pack or something. They are supposed to have multiple heads on them, and that's what I like.

never seen any with multi heads , that'll be cool

I'll keep the topic updated as things grow and bloom.

Wow Those leafs That is awesome Loz,,
I don't have luck with them either Sheri,
But I do like the idea of using the peat pots and then placing them in ground,,

I wonder what happened to Mike in Cali' and his sunflowers>>>?

I buy the cracker jack large marigold seeds at Dollar General,, and they grow very well for me,, I always get them at the end of season sale for 10¢ a pk,, :wink:

I usually buy a ton for 10 cents at the end of the season too. I guess I forgot last year. A lot of those cheap seeds in there grow just fine for me.

When Athena was here she couldn't get over the size of the leaves.

I remember Mike and his giant sunflowers. I wonder what ever did happen to him. He had a true passion for sunflowers.

I prefer tall plants with presence. Can't get much taller than a sunflower. A giant one at that!

I am in shock. I LOVE sunflowers but as well I don't have much luck with them....Loz, if you happen to end up with seeds from the tall one....please think of me.

Mine are still only a foot tall

me too

I will save the seeds from it! Hopefully I'll beat the birds to them.

Thanks. Maybe if I plant seeds from an enormous plant then I'll get a regular sized one out of it

I need Mark to take my pic in front of this now. It's hard to tell the height. It's enormous. I mean I'm sure it's twice as tall as me. And it's just starting to open up!

O.K. that's it...no fair save the seeds from that one and send a few to Canada...with any luck I'll get a two ft tall sunflower out of it

I will!

Mark said, how the heck are you gonna cut that down! The stalk is HUGE. I said, I don't know, I was gonna let you do that. Not sure how I'll get the flower head down to get the seeds. I'll have to get Mark to pull out the ladder.

As soon as he gets home I'm gonna have him snap my pic in front of it.

Cool. It's hard to imagine such a tall plant. Here they don't grow very tall. I guess sunflowers need alot of heat.

I'd think just a lot of sun. I think that I'm going to pull out the Hollyhocks behind the pond and not do sunflowers next year either. I think what I'm going to do is divide up the big huge grasses I have and put them around the back of the pond too, to make it really private and foliagey. Maybe do a row of Zinnia's in front of the grasses for some color at the pond.

I just came across this topic now! That sunflower is HUGE Loz!! That is awesome! I will have to buy some seeds next year and plant sunflowers!!

Here's a good way to see how tall it is....sorry about my appearance. We'd just been swimming.



Keep in mind, I'm almost 5'11"

Wow, you really get to see the size of it now. You could wrap yourself in one of those leaves.

Want me to show you my sunflower? So far I think it might have reached my knees...and that's from the tallest one.

That is huge Loz! I need to find some of those seeds! Very cool!