How to Grow Sunflowers

I always longed for sunflowers in my garden. Never knew growing it would be so easy and fun. And then looking at those dazzling flowers every morning is even more pleasing.

Common Name: Sunflower

Scientific Name: Helianthus Annuus
Variety: Teddy Bear
Type: Annual/Seasonal for Summers

Sowing the Seeds

I started with my sunflower seeds just after the winters were gone (along with the Zinnia's in one my other blogs) - around Feb 15. Just put the seeds in a container filled with soil and cow manure mix and covered with a little of soil. I watered it daily. It germinated within 3-4 days. 

Feb 18: Germinated after around 3-4 days of sowing

Feb 24: After around a week of growth

Transplantation

I transplanted most of them in ground within 2-3 weeks of germination. I have read a lot over internet about sunflowers not liking transplantation but mine just did not mind. In fact, I even re-transplanted some of them to other location after a month of growth when I discovered that they were becoming overcrowded. I think they don't even know they are being transplanted if you just don't disturb their roots and dig a little deeper in the soil so that whole roots and soil mass come out.

 

Growing Afterwards

I did no pinching as I did not want to experiment with my very first sunflowers; wondered if they would care to give me more than one flower.
I am really lazy at fertilizing the garden - this is an activity I do only 2-3 times a year and then too I mostly use cow manure or some general purpose soil en-richer. So, I particularly did nothing special for them while they were growing. They just received sufficient daily water and ample sunlight and took around 2 months to grow big and sturdy. Throughout all this I waited for any signs of the buds.

They have developed a strong stem and are around 4-5 feet tall. You can even use some support if they are in some container or your weather is especially windy. Mine are in ground and I don't feel any need for the support.

 

Show of Buds

Somewhere at the end of April, they started showing their first buds. And then to my amaze they developed buds beneath all the points where leaves connect to the main stem. They spent around one full month growing the buds. I would call it a Show of Buds because the plants looked wonderful with all those buds growing bigger. Excitement was building to watch the blooms. 

 

Bloom

My wait for the first flowers ended up happily in late May when I saw those yellow petals peeking out of buds. And then yet another wait to see the buds open fully. It takes around a week for the bloom to open fully. 

Summer is in full swing and I have these astonishing flowers in my garden. They have already made their way in my garden for years coming ahead.