With apologies to Cathy at Rambling in the garden for stealing her title or being so late with the vase, which ever you prefer.
We arrived home on Monday evening and although looking around the garden was the first thing I did there wasn’t really time to pick any flowers; that had to wait until yesterday when I’d caught up with a few things. Gillian at Country Garden UK had asked me about which sunflowers I grow and as these are the first firsts I picked this week I will try to give a little info about which varieties, when sown and my thoughts on how easy they are to arrange.
A vase of mixed sunflowers and some Rudbeckia
As you can see there were a lot of sunflowers to pick plus I removed those that had finished flowering.
Sunflower Velvet Queen with Rudbeckia
Sunflower Velvet Queen was sown on 13th April and planted out on 2nd May, I tied them to a (I thought) tall bamboo cane but they are now towering above me and must be 8 or 9 foot tall. The first flowers were much larger than those being produced now but their heads were so heavy they were difficult to arrange and they didn’t last long in the vase; these later ones are much better as they stand up better and I think they will last longer too.
Sunflower Velvet Queen
There are three flowers all close together on the above stem, which I rather like.
Sunflower Vanilla Ice and Sunflower Moon Walker
Sunflower Vanilla Ice was also sown on the 13th April where as S. Moon Walker was sown on the 25th April and planted out about a week later than the others. I was convinced that one of these was S. Italian White but I didn’t actually get around to sowing those, I might even try now if I can muster the energy.
I like these smaller flowered varieties much better in a vase and they definitely produce a huge amount of flowers.
I also grew Sunflower Giant Single which did what the name implied and I have actually left two of these to produce seeds rather than use them in a vase.
One of my favourite sunflowers from last year was S. Earthwalker but they didn’t germinate this year; I will try them again as I loved the various dark, rich colours.
Do you grow sunflowers? Which ones do you grow?
I hope to start posting regularly again next week; I have been reading and enjoying your posts but I haven’t always been able to comment, again that should be back to normal next week.
Creating my own garden of the Hesperides 
Bentornata Christina e i girasoli!
A lovely, upbeat collection of sunflowers. My favourite has to be the Velvet Queen. Such a wonderful, rich, late summer colour. I have never grown sunflowers but I could be tempted to try these.
They are very easy to grow, but they need staking if they grow as tall as mine.
Noted.
Some lovely blooms, the slugs enjoyed most of mine…
That’s sad.
Velvet Queen has an unexpected color. They’re all very cheerful and must have made a nice welcome home for you.
I have not grown sunflower for three years but have put them on my list as must have next year. In the past I too have grown velvet queen and vanilla ice. I like both and will use them again as their colours are kinder to the eye than the traditional yellows.your arrangement is lovely and who cares that it’s not Monday 😊 welcome back
I love sunflowers and grow mostly seed from the bird feeders that I clean up in the spring. It actually germinates better than the seeds I buy and the slugs seem to leave them alone more than the hybrids. That said, I do have a Mammoth that is still growing without a sign of a flower head yet – it will be 10′ tall I think! A couple 2′ foot ones (hybrid name?) were a disappointment. I grew Lemon Queen once and loved it. I think your Velvet Queen is gorgeous!
What a gloriously sunny vase – and so welcome to have a vase from you again, whatever day of the week it is! Velvet Queen is indeed a beauty but I also like the long stems of Vanilla Ice in the vase. I was browsing sunflowers in a catalogue yesterady and notticed there is dwarf dark orange variety called ‘Double Dandy’ which I think I will try for next year alongside Choco Sun. The blooms are just as pretty on a shorter plant for the cutting beds whilst the taller ones would be stand out at the back of a border. Thanks for sharing 🙂
Thanks Cathy, it is always good to know what everyone else is growing and what they think.
Beautiful. I love that you have ‘sprays’ of sunflowers to cut and put in an arrangement. The bunches seem to look so much more “free” than the single blooms. Of course you need the space to show them off, but you always seem to have the right spot for a large arrangement.
I’m going to keep your sunflower posts in mind for this winter when I’m adding new varieties 🙂
Such cheerful flowers! You can’t go wrong with these, can you? And they look very natural in a vase…really bring the outside into the house.
They’re all lovely, Christina, although I’m most enamored with ‘Moonwalker’. I had miserable luck with sunflowers this year but, unlike you, I didn’t keep careful records of my sowing schedule. (They can generally be sown directly in the garden here.) By comparison with last year’s experience, my output was poor. Only ‘Lemon Queen’ germinated and she never got very tall. Too little water and fertilizer, I suspect, but perhaps I should have started them earlier than I did as well.
I could direct sow here too Kris but I prefer the control that sowing into pots gives.
These are lovely, the small sunflowers fill the space so well, and the colours are warm
Even though I love seeing large sunflowers the smaller ones are much easier to arrange.
A lovely arrangement Christina, and I really like Velvet Queen. I grew what I had left over from last year’s seed – Earthwalker and Valentine. Both will be in my vase this Monday! I love them both and will most likely stick to them and try out Velvet Queen next year too. Thanks for sharing your experience with the sunflowers. And good to see you back! 🙂
It’s good to be home even if the garden has suffered during the heat and wind of the last couple of weeks. Still no rain
Thanks very much for the info about your gorgeous Sunflowers Christina. They are all lovely and your suggestions really help me to whittle my list down for sowing next year.
Always glad to help Gillian, I think it is what blogging is all about.
Christina el jarrón de girasoles es precioso. La variedad que más me gusta es el Girasol vainilla por su color y por lo pequeños que son. Gracias por toda la información sobre los girasoles : es un post magnífico. Saludos de Margarita.
I’m glad you found it useful Margarita. Do you grow sunflowers in your garden?
I haven’ t got any sunflowers this year, the slugs had the lot, but yours are gorgeous. Thanks for the tips on which varieties to grow.
I’m lucky not to have too many problems with slugs. The ones we have ate enormous but they don’t seem to eat seedlings, maybe those wouldn’t satisfy their appetite.