My backyard is full of sunflowers - they are everywhere. Little brown and orange ones, huge yellow ones. Above is one about to burst into bloom. They are gorgeous huge vibrant things growing like weeds everywhere attracting bees like no other and I love ‘em - though not as much as hubby does, who planted them. My garden is growing so slowly and I’m still not sure why.
Here is a pumpkin blossom - these are also all over. I don’t know the variety - something hubby picked. They are also growing like weeds.
Got any sunflowers growing? If so what varieties and have they overrun your yard like they have mine?
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We are growing some sunflowers, I’ve no idea what sort they are, if Mick drops by I’m sure he’ll tell you. The sunflower seed we ordered did nothing. But heirloom seeds also sent us a free packet of sunflower seeds, and they must be about 8 feet tall now. They have buds on them, but no flowers yet.
Funnily enough, one we planted that has flowered, although it’s not very tall, came from a bag of bird seed. Mick just planted it as an experiment, we never thought it would grow, but it has.
Our sunflowers are just beginning to bloom. Red varieties first. Yellow and white should pop in the next day or two. We’re in the SF Bay Area and it’s been pretty cool most of the season. The recent heat wave got everything going again in the garden.
We planted the sunflowers to attract bees to the pumpkin patch but the pumpkins grew faster this year. The bees have been swarming the pumpkin patch and we have 8-10 pumpkins on the vines.
-Chris
I ordered some “Torch” sunflower seeds from heirloom and they sent me a free packet of “Skyscraper” in the order.
Guess what. Not one Torch germinated and all the Skyscrapers did. Huh?
Anyroad, the Skyscraper buds look quite like the picture on your blog. I expect they’ll bloom within the next couple of weeks.
The little Birdseed one I planted has now started to wilt but has two further buds appearing.
Watch this space!
Jan - thats funny - the seeds from the unlikliest places did the best
Chris - would like to get my hands on some white sunflowers - love my red ones
Mick - Torch & Skyscraper - sounds familiar like ones dh bought
I’m not really a sunflowers or flower grower, but they are pretty plants. Sorry to hear about your garden growing so slowly. Is it getting enough water? And sometimes the garden will grow at a very rapid pace after the slow start.
I have some sunflower seeds my son got in a kid gardening kit and I’d planned on growing them to attract bees and other beneficial insects to my corn, but alas I didn’t get it done this year. Now I’ve got silks and no bees. /sigh. Planning. Can I borrow some of yours for a few months? hehe
DP - I’ve been wondering about the water - since it’s been so hot and dry here. Need to check the timer on my drip irrigator to make sure its on long enough…
Sinfonian - LOL Yup I have tons - had to cut some back yesterday as they were taking over the tomatoes. Can’t believe how fast they grow too - literally just a couple of weeks and the place is swarming with bees now
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