Helianthus annuus. An open-pollinated mix of varieties from the NS/S collection, planted at the Conservation Farm to attract pollinators and beneficial insects. Heads reach up to 12 inches in diameter and the plants up to 12+ feet tall. Most are 8 feet tall. Includes plants with a single flower head, and others that are branched with multiple smaller heads. Seeds are a mix of black, white, and grey striped. Grow for the wonderful edible seeds!
Wish I could share pictures of my stand of sunflowers! They're just starting to ripen and droop now at the end of May/start of June, after being planted in early March (weather was right and I was afraid of losing seedlings to a repeat April heatwave like last year). Have them planted in a grid with zucchini between them in a sunken bed with a drip irrigation line, leaving the stalks in place after harvesting heads to give tepary beans something to grip when (fingers crossed) I plant them during monsoon!
I did not do anything special or fussy to make them sprout, just stuck them in the dirt and watered.
May 2019: I took the shells off the large seeds (cracking between front teeth like when you crack them to eat...be careful not to damage seed!). Then soaked seeds anywhere from 5 to 10 days, depending on germination rate, changing water twice per day. ALL 25 seeds germinated! I dug up about 6 inches of soil, mixed in a handful of mulch, made little mounds and poked a hole down to 2nd knuckle with index finger, dropped 3 seeds per hole and covered lightly with soil (as per usda/nrcs site info about how the Hidatsa tribe planted sunflower seeds 300 years ago). Sprinkled seeds 2-3 times/day (I live in the low desert where 116° is 'normal' in summer). ALL seeds sprouted...and then the destruction began. Something was eating my seedlings. I suspected it was bunnies so I put chicken wire around AND on top of seedlings, tied tin foil and cloth streamers to the enclosure. Neither bunnies nor antelope ground squirrels could get in...but still, the seedlings were being eaten! I finally deduced the culprit thru process of elimination: iguanas! I have a bunch here. Most are too large to get thru the chicken wire but there were also several youngsters who COULD get thru. THIS year I shall foil them by putting window screen around the chicken wire. Ha ha! I do love my iguanas, they are so interesting to watch and they are beautiful. They can have all the sunflower leaves they want but will have to wait till the plants are big enough to withstand the onslaught.
Thank you Native Seeds Search!
