I did sunflowers for the first time last year. I looked into it and found the recommendation to keep the flowers on until the back turns brown. You may need to stake them.

It seemed to take forever! the plants had bad leaf diseases and were really rather ugly outin my front yard. And to top itall off, they were black stripe seeds,and the birds didn't really care for them!

This year I got a few black oil seeds off the floor at the Wild bird food store- much shorter plants, less leaf disease too. Hopefully the birds will like the seeds better too.

Thanks! I agree with the fact they may need to be staked. I guess I am lucky they are outback in the garden and not out front! Thank you for your information! :)