Sunflower Bloom

When I planted sunflowers in the spring I had a few different varieties I wanted to try. I wanted to try some called Royal Rouge which I thought were going to be more of a red, but had more brown and golden tones in them. I liked them but they were not my favorite. I like them for the fact that they are different but nothing about them made me want to make a floral bouquet with them. I would rather leave them looking beautiful in the garden. Maybe I like the brighter colors more, I don’t know but they were not my favorite for cut flowers. I am not a floral designer so maybe there is someone out there that really knows what to do with them and how to make them gorgeous but I did not have anything in my garden that complimented them. Maybe in the future I will change my mind. 

There was another one that I bought online called Italian White sunflower and from everything that read from reviews these were the ones that caught my attention and I truly wanted the most. There was 150 seeds in the package and I was positive that out of that amount I should have gotten one to germinate. I was so disappointed when none of them germinated and I tried starting them several ways, inside and then in the spring I direct sowed them and not one came up. I am convinced that I received a bad batch but instead of dwelling on that,  I decided to try another one called Valentine. Oh My gosh, this is the most amazing sunflower ever!!! I am forever in love with them. They had beautiful multi branches and looked gorgeous in mixed bouquets and even standing alone by themselves. I also think that out of all of my other sunflower varieties this one is longer blooming. And even after the main blooms have faded there is still many more that pop up to surprise you. 

Another one I tried was the Pro Cut White sunflower with a single stem and beautiful. These are another variety that have a short life so that is the only downside. Other than that they are beautiful. Once you cut them they are done and don’t bloom again like the multi branch varieties.

I planted so many sunflowers along the fence tucked amongst the cosmos and tomato plants as sort of a back drop for everything else. Most of the other sunflower varieties that I have do not have a long blooming life so I try and make use out of them either by saving the seeds or I give them to the wildlife. I don’t necessarily like the way the sunflowers look after they fade so I do remove the entire plant but I save the seed heads. One of my most favorite things to do is gather wire and I like to sort of hand sew the seed heads on a long line and I hang it in a place where the birds can feast on it. This way nothing goes to waste.