Great pic Grant! One of the many flowers I look forward to in spring and summer. Have you dabbled with the mammoths yet?

Thanks! I did some fairly large-head ones last year and really liked them. I got a very large crop of seeds that I let the birds enjoy. I didn't do the variety 'mammoth' but I did some that were pretty darn large.

This mixed seed packet has everything from branched small-flower types to some of the big boys. I can see that the one I planted by the birdbath is going to be a whopper as the individual leaves are the size of a sheet of notebook paper and the plant is only four feet tall. I do see a small flower bud in the center now so hopefully it will bloom soon. I do like mixes where you don't know exactly what to expect.

More pics to come, I'm sure. I have terrible luck with sunflowers in summer, but started early they do really well for me. I did some variegated leaf types last year, but boy did that white parts of the leaves SCORCH.

Thanks again,
Grant

I'm not grant but I'll throw out some pics of my Mammoths. I wanted to use up an old pack of American Seeds Mammoth Russian so that is all I grew. A couple of them keep going up and up. I estimate the taller ones to be around 11 feet now. The blooming one is around 9 feet.

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Here is a link that might be useful: May 27th garden pics

Nice job, Mr_G! Sunflowers have always been one of my favorites and yours are great, really great. The eleven-footers look like they're going to gain a few more feet before they bloom.

Great stuff! Thanks for sharing them. Let us see/know when the others bloom too.

Take care,
Grant

Here's one of mine...

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:403945}}

Okay...haven't been on this site for a looong time...
How do you get the pic to show up on this page?
All I seem to get is the link...

oh wow! They're beautiful!!
I didn't know we could have sunflowers here - we always had them on the farm in NM, but I thought it was too hot (for something called a SUNflower. . . ) how much water do you give them?

Grant,

I think the 11 footers may have reached their full height. The one on the right, in the pic above, has started to open, the other tall one is not far behind. I'll post more pictures after they open up. I just hope they face the house this time. The neighbors enjoyed the view of these last time I grew them.

lotsaplants,

Flickr might supply an image link for you to cut and paste into your message. This is how it woks with Picasa. Picasa allows you to create a link with any number of images sizes.

zzini,

As Grant mentioned, sunflowers are quite easy to grow. Mine are actually grown in our hard native soil with only a little fertilizer added at sowing. I don't even know if the fertilizer is needed. I grew Mammoths a couple of years ago in amended soil and they all toppled over after watering. I've watered this years flowers during the windy days and they have only leaned slightly.

As far as watering goes, sunflowers are drought tolerant. I see them all over the place in areas that don't get any water. I believe they'll get taller with sufficient water though, but I could be wrong. I give mine 2 gallons every 2-3 days.

Here's a pic of a sunflower I grew last year. It's different than what I've grown before. I don't know the type as it was part of a mixed pack.

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YAHOO, it works!
Thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!

Absolutely gorgeous pics! Congrats to all. Love those orange clustered ones, Mister Gin...very unique! One of my neighbors down the street has a bunch of them and I feel a pang of envy every time I see them! For best results, do you plant/seed in March or April or when? I'd like to try them next year since it seems it might be too late for this year?

xica,

I sowed my sunflower seeds on March 5th. It was probably around the same time last year as well. Both planting calenders I refer to show that seeds can be sown up to August. I haven't tried later plantings, but if I did, I'd try a shorter variety and give it some late afternoon shade.

Next year I want to try one of those 2 foot dwarf varieties with the large flower. Maybe then I can get the kids and flower in the same pic. Hard to do with an 11 foot tall plant.

xica,

One other thing. I believe that orange colored sunflower came from a Burpee mix. The Sunflower Cappuccino Hybrid on their website looks like the one, but I'd have to dig out the pack (if I still have it) to know for sure.

Love the new pics! Great job, all. Good to see you posting again lotsaplants. Keep it up.

I'll have a couple of other pics to add in a week or three, but for now, my largest one keeps on growing. Fine with me, LOL.

My mid-summer plantings don't do as well for me as my spring ones. Even seeds of the same type from the same seed pack in the same general area are less vigorous and large in mid-summer. I think it's still worth planting them for awhile now though.

Love the posts!
Grant

Thanks for the info, Mister Gin. I'm really keen on growing some sunflowers, and I already have a certain spot picked out for them!

I was planning on stopping by Baker's nursery sometime this weekend anyhow...my humble contribution to the local economy. :)

Caught a quick pic at work of this little beauty :)

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sorry for the size.. :(

Now I really want to plant some. Are these types the ones with edible seeds?

Here are a few more pictures of my Mammoth Russian sunflowers. The drooping big one, in the second pic, is the same flower I posted above. It's amazing how big these heads get.

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Here is a link that might be useful: Sunflower pictures

Nice! My fav's are: the very first one, mister_gin's dark orange ones (I have some of these too) and that funny, spread-out petal one of lotsaplants.

Thanks for sharing, sunflowers just make me smile!

Love the new pics--such great, happy flowers. Keep them coming. I've got a few more of the smaller ones blooming, and my biggest one is branching quite a bit so it's not a mammoth but is still going to be nice and big. I do love them.

Keep 'em coming.
Take care,
Grant

So, I threw some sunflower seeds along my walkway last Saturday/Sunday? and guess what? I believe I already see some sprouts coming up! I'm pretty sure it's the sunflower seeds because they don't look like any of my other assorted weeds...lol...they look like 2 deep green oval leafs across from each other. Now I hope the 110 F weather doesn't fry them before they get a chance to develop. Poor things.

Congrats Xica, keep us posted. Good luck to your seedlings. I bet as long as they get some water they do great. Keep us posted, thanks for the fun update!

Take care,
Grant

Well here's the bloom on my biggest plant (just over eight feet). The blooms are not huge (a little larger than my hand) but they ARE numerous as the plant has over twenty flower buds getting some color. Pic is embedded below and at the link below too.

Eight foot tall sunflower opening the first of twenty-something flower buds.
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Hope everyone else's are doing great too.
Take care,
Grant

Here is a link that might be useful: Tallest sunflower finally opening first bud

That's a great photo, Grant! Gorgeous flower!

Are these staked for support?

Thanks, Xica! Mangled, mine are not staked, but I grow them in generally unimproved native soil. They would probably benefit from staking if they were in nice soft compost enriched stuff.

Do our other members stake their sunflowers?

Take care,
Grant

well, ya'll inspired me again. I dropped 3 mammoth seeds in the front planter, right in front of our door. We'll see how they fair.

Those are beautiful!! I don't have any this year,guess the birds must have been mad at me for something.LOLI only planted them a few times with great luck,then we started depending on the birds to plant them,and they don't always follow thru!!
Kathi