Veronica

I am not a seasoned ws'r but I am also looking forward to winter sowing this year, even tho I dont want to rush winter. I am trying to make sure I am all set to go also. Maybe we can keep in touch and compare notes, and laugh over our mistakes...yes I plan on making them:)

I just LOVE sunflowers, and I only have about 5 groing this year, I am planning on doing the whole line of my yard next spring with sunflowers, and sunflower-like flowers...cant wait to get it started.

I know sunflowers do real bad starting indoors under lights, they get real leggy...so I would love to see what people tell you about ws'ing them outside.

Good luck, and hope to see you on the forum :)

For very short (18 to 24 inches) Pacino and Big Smile are my favorites. I always WS some and have them in blue pots on my patio.

For something a little taller - 4 to 5 feet - I likeVelvet Queen, Cappucino, Sonja, Prado, Ikarus, Earthwalker and Pastiche.

This year I tried some new (to me) ones: Sunrich Lemon and Sunrich Orange, Sunbright Supreme, Apricot Twist, and Italian White. Not much luck with the Italian White (procrastinated too long before getting them in the ground) but the others are doing well. I think it is the Sunbright Supreme that is really the nicest, IMO.

:)
Dee

Hey, Sitter! Good to see you coming out of lurkdom. I don't know the anwer to your question, sorry, but I wanted to ask another one. :)

Digger, Thos sunflowers in the blue pots sound ultra-fab!
I looked up a sunflower called Sunny Smiles (or something close) and it said the ones in the pots will be single headed, but if you plant them in the ground they will be multi-headed. Have you heard of this before? Were your potted sunflower single headed or multiheaded, and how many go in a pot? I have a lot of seed of little ones, but I was still planting WS babies when I should have been doing some pots and containers! LOL!

Lime

Lime, I actually grew Sunny Smile this year! Well, I grew it to sell as a novelty item at the farmer's market I sell at, and wouldn't you know they all bloomed the week before we opened? Oh well, I've got more seedlings I started and I'll make another run at it.

Anyway, I don't recall reading/hearing about the single-headed versus multi-headed thing. I had mine planted in 3 or 4 inch pots, (one per pot) and after the main bloom, some of them had secondary blooms. I've got to admit after they bloomed the first time I didn't take care of them since they were no longer good for my purposes, so maybe they would have bloomed again if I had taken care of them.

My Pacino and Big Smile have had secondary blooms in the past. This year has been sooo incredibly hot and I've been so busy that again, I didn't bother to try to coax a second bloom out of them, but I have in the past. Oh, and just let me clarify, in case we are talking about two different things. The Sunny Smile, Big Smile, and Pacino are all *single stem*, not branching, but I do get secondary blooms lower down on this single stem after the first bloom.

I put about 10 to 12 in a 10 or 12 inch pot. They are a bit crowded, I suppose, but I like it that way. Need lots of water, especially on my hot, brick patio. Here's an old, poor-quality photo of Big Smile from a few years ago. Not sure what sunflower is in back of it... on the verge of my memory, but I remember kind of liking the pale yellow blooms:

{{gwi:205863}}

Gee Sitter, sorry to hijack your thread. You finally come out of lurking and I start taking over, lol! Hopefully there is something in my post that can help you too?!

:)
Dee

P.S. LOVE those blue pots! I am the world's biggest sucker for a blue pot, lol!

Thanks all who responded and welcomed me to the forum(even if Dee did high jack the thread) it's all part of the fun right? Dee I love blue pots also they really make things pop.
I'm certainly in no hurry for winter either but it will give me something to do and think aabout during that bleak period. BTW do any of you know if it's okay to cut off lily stalks that have finished blooming. These are the early Asiatics and are turning brown. Just want to tidy things up a bit. Now I've gotten off the subject...Sorry
Veronica

Here is what I mean Digger. Here's what Park's says about Sunny Smiles:

"The big Sunflower you can grow in a small pot! There are many dwarf Sunflowers out there these days, but none quite like Sunny Smile. Plant it in a 4- or 6-inch pot and it will grow a neat 12- to 15-inch-high plant with a single giant bloom fully 5 inches across! Or put it in the garden, where it remains just a bit over a foot high but branches beautifully, giving you 4 to 5 big blooms! Versatile, beautiful, and so easy to grow, it belongs in every sunny garden and flowerpot!"

I was just wondering if this difference is habit is true for most dwarf sunflowers, or just Sunny Smiles. This flower pictured below, Sunflower 'Junior', was grown in the ground, would it have the habit of yours (basically single stemmed) if it had been in a pot? That's what I was expecing -- one more like yours with a single stem.

{{gwi:427077}}

Here is a link that might be useful: Sunny Smiles Sunflower Description

Sitter - first off welcome and please stay out of the 'lurker' mode :)

as to the lilies - our local garden call-in radio show had that very question yesterday morning and the answer was to cut them down after they finish blooming - Lilies don't need to foliage to feed the bulbs like the daffodil and tulips do. This lady who co-hosts the show works for the JC Raulston Auboreteum which is part of NCState so it is a reliable source....

Lynne

:-D Love those sunflowers. I have a lot of volunteers this year thanks to the birds. They are well over 10 ft tall. I pulled a lot out but still have a lot left. It is a backyard full of sunflowers right now. I have a garden full of goldfinches too. A small favorite this year is Baby Bear. The blossoms fade much faster than the volunteers, though:
{{gwi:420590}}

Baby Bear is about 4ft tall.

Welcome!

I've got all sizes of Sunflowers growing this year and even the smaller ones under 3' and just a bit over 3' are weighing heavy and fallen over...for such small sunnies their heads are too big LOL! BUT they were even fallen over before they set heads because the roots are extremely shallow on even the largest sunflowers....a little watering and just enough wind does horrible things to them LOL! I started placing bricks and big rocks around the bases of the worst of them and there's a few that are coming out today before they crush something under them. I'll be saving the heads for the birds :D

You'll love wintersowing,

Vera

Well, darn it, Lime, what do you know?! I bought my seed from Johnny's and I swear I don't remember that part about the pots vs. ground, etc., but there it is (see link below!). Although "branching can be induced" seems a bit vague...

Well, as I said, I grew mine in 3 or 4-inch pots, and I have to admit, I was a little underwhelmed! My blooms were definitely NOT 5 inches across, as Park's says. They were only two to three inches. And since my plants got a good 12 inches tall (not 6 inches tall) the bloom seemed even less eye-catching. Not that's there's anything wrong with small sunflowers - I love them all! - but I was expecting bigger blooms.

Sitter, I've always heard/read that you are supposed to cut no more than one-third of the lily stem (hmm, or is it LEAVE one-third??) and leave the remainder to die off naturally, because the bulb does need the foliage to stay. Lynne, have you cut back your lilies all the way, and do they come back for you? If so, that would be great. I hate having the half-dead lily stalks hanging around the garden!

:)
Dee

Here is a link that might be useful: Sunny Smile

Dee - I do cut them back leaving about 8" above ground and they do OK - the clumps get bigger every year. I have read conflicting reports on whether they need the foliage for bulb development. I do, however, trust the gal from the arboreteum tho - she has been working there for well over 30 years and indicated just this past week that it was OK to cut them back.....

Lynne

Veronica,

I'm so sorry about your threadm but you're right, it *is* part of the fun! :)

I visited The Lily Garden in Washington state last year and saw the lily field. The Asiatic (early blooming) lilies there had all turned brown and nasty from Botrytis and she seemed totally unconcerned. (Botrytis is a fungal disease that hits the foliage, and does not affect the bulbs at all) I left my sunglasses somewhere and went back later and she had gigantic sprinklers on, as if the foliage wasn't important but the bulbs needed water.

I would say if it's brown, cut it off. It isn't providing any energy through photosynthesis, so clean 'er up!

FWIW,
LIme

Hi Veronica,

Glad you came out of lurkdom too. :-)
I hope your questions were answered. I haven't anything to add to the sunflower discussion. Any variety that I could grow to maturity in my yard, would be my favorite! lol I started sunflowers three times this spring/summer and critters have eaten just about every one. I see two still growing and that is it and they are still very small since they must have been from the last batch of seedlings.

I think I would also like to try shorter sunflowers in pots next year. Loved your photo Dee of the sunnies in blue pots. :-) I am a little confused though about which varieties are which. Which variety is growing in your photo of the blue pots?

You mention Big Smile and Pacino as your favs...were these two the only sunflowers you mentioned in your post that can be grown in pots? Are they single stem or branched and do you grow them 10 seedlings to a 12 inch pot, or one seedling to a 4 inch pot?

Sunny Smiles that Lime mentioned, are those the variety that you tried in pots this year and weren't impressed with that had the small blooms? Lime, is the photo you posted of SunnySmiles growing in the ground in your garden?

pitimpinai, LOVE your Baby Bear sunflower. I am still waiting for what is left of my sunflowers to bloom so I can see which I have. I am going to try them again next year and I hope I can think of some way to keep them before then. How do your sunnies escape the critters in your yard? Do the squirrels bother them? My last batch of seedlings I had about 8 nice seedlings, planted them and within a week, the squirrels had dug them up and had them lying on the ground. I think they just play with them or something. We also had groundhogs and rabbits this year.
Why they all like us so much, I wish I knew. [g]

Hi Sitter,

Welcome to the crazy world of WS. You'll love it here. If you need seeds, watch the exchanges for offers for SASBE. You'll get more seeds than you can sow and plant out. You had better prepare your garden beds now. :-D

My yard is so stuffed with Sunflowers this year that I hardly noticed which of them fell victim to squirrels. They could not get to the seedlings because every inch of the ground is jammed packed with plants and seedlings. :-)

I hope to save some Baby Bear seeds. I need to cover them with nylons before they are all eaten up. Birds get to the seeds even befor they ripen. Anyhow, Johnny's Selected Seeds carry them this year. The price and shipping & handling are more reason than Burpee, I think. I do have a lot of Sunflower seeds, but could not sow them all.

Hi Sitter and welcome,
I am not usually a big fan of sunflowers even though I have several thanks to a neighbor that grows them and the birds giving me seeds,so I always leave them.BUT_this yr I grew some red ones in my red bed and I absolutely love them.I can't remember the name right now and my camera is out of whack,,but this bed is gorgeous and the red sunflowers off in the back on each side just added to it.They will be planted by me every yr now.I did not ws these but direct planted them when I found the seed pack in late spring..lol they are about 5 ft tall and are from burgundy to a dark red,,,beautiful..
dee-I was going to sell this yr. too but life got in the way,maybe next yr.
Lime-love your garden
pit,I have to have some baby bear,I started a orange/yellow bed this yr and that will look good in it-yet somehow the middle of the bed got planted with cleome-pink,purple and white..lol I just can't stick with the plan sometimes..lol
moonphase

Hey pitimpinai, was it you that had the sunflower last year that came up to the second floor of the house?

PM2,the sunnies in the photo in the blue pot (which you can barely see the edge of) are Big Smile. The ones behind it I can't remember exactly, although I'm thinking Bashful - which would be appropriate for them lurking in the background, lol! Big Smile and Pacino are not the *only* ones which can be grown in a pot, I'm sure, but they are my favorites and I have some every year. I put 10 to 12 in a 10 to 12 inch pot. (The ones I put in the 4 inch pot were the Sunny Smile, for market, and those went one to a pot). I'm a firm believer that you can try to grow anything you want in a pot! You just have to know the requirements. For example, I've found that sunnies have a huge root system, so if I was to grow bigger ones in a pot, I'd use a bigger pot than the 10-inch, or put less of them in that 10-inch pot. BTW, both Big Smile and Pacino have been single-stem growers for me, although as I mentioned, I do often get a secondary bloom along that one stem.

And yes, I was not overly impressed with the bloom on Sunny Smile. I mean, it wasn't tiny, or too small for the plant, but the descriptions often made mention of the large bloom for the small plant, and I just didn't get that.

Lynne, thanks for that lily info! I'm going to go out today and cut back all my lilies! They get so ratty when they start dying back, so it's good to know that I can cut them back more.

:)
Dee

P.S. Moonphase, good luck with selling next year. Stinks how life tends to get in the way of our gardens, doesn't it?

Yup, that was my Sunflower growing nearly 15 ft tall ....not quite to the 2nd floor but close. Got a lot of volunteers from that this year. There are too many of them, so turned much shorter...still about 10 ft. It's a jungle out there in the backyard. :-)