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gardener365

1st Time Poster: Sunflowers

15 years ago

With the price of just about everything, and for me to feed my birds, I planted a double row of sunflowers with a pole bean seed between. I'm just estimating that there are approximately 500 sunflower plants. Of course when they begin blooming that will be the real showstopper.

Cheers,

Dax


Of a six-acre square-plot, this is one entire side of four. Seeds right from the birdfood bag and hand-selected for seed-size

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Then some native Asclepias syriaca (common milkweed)

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Asclepias syriaca

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Asclepias syriaca

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Comments (15)

  • 15 years ago

    That is incredible!! I love sunflowers but only had room to plant one pack of seeds. Please post a picture after they bloom.

    Betty

  • 15 years ago

    Will do! Betty!

    Thanks,

    Dax

  • 15 years ago

    Wow - that's really going to be something when the blooming starts!!

    Welcome to GW :0)

  • 15 years ago

    Self-sowed, why remove them?;-)
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    1st to bloom, yesterday July 3:
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    decade GW member, Dax

  • 15 years ago

    hi dax

    are you familiar with monarch caterpillars.. on milkweed ...

    find one.. cut the branch.. put in an aquarium... cover with screen.. and in a week or two... it will turn into a monarch

    the kids love it

    ken

  • 15 years ago

    Hi Ken, My mother raised them for me when I was a kid. A birdcage can also work well.

    Dax

  • 15 years ago

    Have you done this before, Dax? If so, I guess there's no danger of the sunflowers shading the beans.

    Your plants look wonderfully healthy! I'm quite jealous, as this year I fought tooth and nail with various critters who were determined that I would not grow sunflowers this summer. I ended up with a small fraction of my usual number of plants, and they're way behind in size because I had to plant so many times. Ditto the zinnias.

    Be sure to plant blooming pictures!

  • 15 years ago

    Hi alisande,

    Nope I haven't. What I did is till a three foot swath and hoed three lines and then followed with seeds and covered em. I have a pull behind tiller for a lawn tractor. That could be partially the reason they are moving along so rapidly as I dont' believe they've been in the ground more than 4 weeks. The pole beans will find their way along and all germinated. All 200+ of them.

    I found this awesome website for the beans and also bought other veggie seeds for my garden.

    I will definitely return as I see various stages of blooming. My Zinnia's are all tiny critters. They weren't planted until three weeks ago.

    Ciao!

    Dax

    Here is a link that might be useful: Seeds From Italy

  • 15 years ago

    Two of my girlfriends and I cooked for a church youth camp this summer. We cut a bouquet of sunflowers with us and put them in a vase of water on the serving line. They stayed fresh and cheerful the entire week. I had no idea they have a such a long vaselife.

    That fencerow will really be a sight. I love the asclepias too. That bold foliage would be stunning in a mixed border.

  • 15 years ago

    Thanks for the info. Donna.

    The sunflowers are up and blooming now.

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    Dax

  • 15 years ago

    Love the shot with the American Flag in the background. It's like pure summer. Beautiful! I bet everyone who passes by gets great pleasure from such a sight.

  • 15 years ago

    I've noticed a lot of cars driving slow and I couldn't figure it out!

    Thank you Donna :)

    Dax

  • 15 years ago

    Fantastic!! Thanks for sharing your pics. I would slow down if I was driving by, too.

  • 15 years ago

    They are beautiful, and I bet you plant them every year. I wish I could see them in person!

    Betty

  • 15 years ago

    I love em. Definitely on my yearly to do list.

    Thanks,

    Dax

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