Field of (Sunflower) Dreams

Posted on | May 28, 2009 | No Comments

My sunflowers from years past

Here in our neck of northern San Diego county we have a lot of flower growers. We’re lucky enough to live across the road from one who happens to farm for the cut flower trade, so we’re treated to acres of an ever-changing assortment of fragrant, multi-colored blooms rolling along the hills.

Right now it’s sunflower season, and while still three or four weeks from bloom, one can’t help but stop and look at the row after row of sunflowers standing on the hill slowly following the sun with their shaggy, still green heads.

I’m a big fan of sunflowers (obviously) not simply because they look great, but because they also invite a variety of feathered friends into the yard. I plant a few every year, but one of my (future) garden plans involves planting a huge field of multi-colored sunflowers — something around 6 acres. And then after they all grew up and bloomed… uhhh… well, I don’t really know.

But I still think a huge field of sunflowers would be really cool.

Anyway, I don’t have room for a huge field just yet, but I do have a fair-sized patch where I could plant a bunch. There was a grassy area about 20 feet by 30 feet that had once been a too-far-from-the-kitchen herb garden, but now idled waiting for me to come up with my “Next Big Garden Idea”. A sunflower patch seemed as good as any I’d had for “NBGI” recently, so I cleared the area, tilled and planted four sunflower varieties from Johnny’s Selected Seeds:

Pro Cut Bicolor – Height: 60 – 72″; Color: Burgundy red center with yellow tips; Blooms: 50 – 60 days with single 3 – 4″ blooms
Sunbeam – Height: 60 – 72″; Color: Golden yellow; Blooms: 70 – 80 days with single 4 – 6″ blooms
Soraya – Height: 72″; Color: Amber yellow; Blooms: 77 – 91 days with multiple 4 – 6″ blooms
Lyng’s California Greystripe – Height: 72 – 84″; Color: Bright yellow; Blooms: 120 days with single 10″ blooms

Plus one of my own giant sunflowers that I’ve grown here for years:

Monster Kong* – Height: 84 – 96″; Color: Bright yellow; Blooms: 120 days with multiple 8 – 12″ blooms

*A descendant of a Mammoth Greystripe and Kong cross that produces monster plants with three or four big heads. The only problem I have with it is that it can get so top heavy that the stems break or the plant tips over.

I chose a variety of colors and bloom dates so that the patch would always be in bloom for at least a couple of months. I also chose larger varieties (5 feet and above) so that it would seem more “foresty” when you’re standing among the flowers.

Here’s a quick gallery of my mini sunflower field over the past four weeks. I’ll update as the patch matures.