And now there's a field up top for searching. I swear it wasn't there until after I posted!

Welcome home, luvs! I know, the changes are a bit much to take sometimes, but the Houzz people have been bending over backwards to make it work for us. Be sure to ask right here in the forums if you have a question and one of us can help.

The search box has always been there, lol. Be sure to spend some time looking around, there are some big improvements, actually. I'm still adjusting myself.

I hope to see you back here with your questions.

Thank you for the welcome, rhizo. It's confusing, especially since I wasn't expecting it, but it helps seeing familiar names. As for questions, you may be sorry - I'm learning that I need to learn a lot more than I thought I knew, lol!

Oh, sunflowers. I had questions on sunflowers. Last year, I decided I wanted sunflowers. But I live in New England, with lots of maple trees and shade. Not bad when it gets hot, but sunflowers need sun. I have one side of my house with west to northwest exposure from 11-6 or later. It's along the driveway, and about 3.5-4 ft wide. I chopped and mulched and composted, then bought seeds of all different heights and planted all of them. They were awesome, until there was a thunderstorm. The short ones did okay, but the taller ones flopped all the way to the ground. I propped and cut and generally made do, but I must be able to do better.

I'm looking for suggestions on how to stake or fence so I can hold them up, without interfering with the growth or spending a small fortune. Anyone have any ideas? I know a photo would help. This is the only one I have, from early 2014, probably about June. Maybe. And I don't even know if this will work. I tried to add it.

Nope, didn't work as far as I can tell. Sorry. Any ideas here will also be welcome. :(

I got it!

Hi luvsflwrs,

Since your planting is in effect a foundation planting for your house, you don't want to add any support structure that would look bad. I use 1/2-inch rebars as support stakes, but they might look "tacky" in your landscape, and they aren't free, either. They come in 10-foot lengths, and I cut them to size with a good hacksaw. They last "forever" and are strong enough to drive into stubborn or even rocky soil. I use a special level to insure they are perfectly vertical. I grow and breed zinnias as a hobby, so my garden isn't designed with respect to landscaping esthetics, but more like a trial garden with formal beds that are uniformly 6-feet wide for easy access.

Your house does need a good foundation planting, but I am not sure it is sunflowers. Your neighbors might even take a dim view of annual sunflowers in landscaping your property. If you want to grow sunflowers as a hobby, you might want to consider growing them in the back yard, and use more conventional landscaping plants for your foundation plantings. Fortunately for me I live in a rural area and pleasing my neighbors is not an issue. A grove of trees isolate me from my nearest neighbor, who is some distance away, so neither of us can see the other's property without taking a walk.

Plant breeders have done interesting things with sunflowers in recent years.

ZM

Hi, zen_man, and thanks. That actually fits with what I was looking at. Only instead of re-bar, I was going to use some 8' or 10' vinyl coated metal stakes (I think steel) that Home Depot sells. I have them in the back for tomato plants in containers. Unfortunately, putting sunflowers in the back is not an option. I wish it were. I'd see them a lot more. :) There are huge maple trees across the back property line. And the property line is only about 25' from the back of the house. About 10' of that is asphalt. I have a very big 2 family house on a small suburban lot. The only way I can have tomatoes is in containers on the asphalt. The upside is they are really BIG containers, lol!

I'm also considering widening the sunflower bed by a foot or so. The 3.5-4' wide was the whole strip, obviously. My husband isn't too keen on losing more lawn, but I think I've convinced him with less mowing. We don't water grass - it's either green or brown as the weather dictates- that photo is early last year when there was plenty of rain. The only thing we do for it is applying nematodes to try to help with Japanese Beetles that eat my roses.

I couldn't care less whether the neighbors like my sunflowers or not, although I only got "how pretty" from the ones who did comment last year. I like them, and I plant for me. My tenants in the first floor apartment like any flowers I put anywhere, and they even help with the watering and weeding sometimes. I have roses in the front corner on either side of where that scraggly lily is. That's coming out when the snow melts, so I have room for one more rose. I want a white one! That side and front corner in the photo are the limit of ground planting in any amount of sun.

Hi luvsflwrs,

" Only instead of re-bar, I was going to use some 8' or 10' vinyl coated metal stakes (I think steel) that Home Depot sells. "

Those may be the same as the green stakes I use to support some of my indoor zinnias that need support. The stuff I use is actually a hollow thin metal tube covered with a molded green plastic jacket that has some tiny little plastic "thorns" molded in. I think my tubes came in a 5 or 6 foot length, and I usually cut one shorter for indoor use. Re-bar would be much too heavy for use in an indoor pot.

" There are huge maple trees across the back property line. And the property line is only about 25' from the back of the house. "

Would it be feasible to remove some or all of those maple trees ? Incidentally, are they sugar maples? Some people tap them to make their own maple syrup.

" We don't water grass - it's either green or brown as the weather dictates "

Same here. I do save my grass clippings for my compost piles.

" ...so I have room for one more rose. I want a white one! "

I was going to suggest a White Knockout Rose, but the article Is Knockout Rose Down for the Count? gave me second thoughts about that. Fortunately that disease does not affect my zinnias.

ZM

The stakes I have are definitely not hollow. To get them in the ground for the tomato containers, I had to go most of the way up a 6' step ladder with a 3 lb hammer. It took some elbow grease to get them about 2' in the ground, with what I think is 6 or 7' showing. They're really solid.

No, they aren't sugar maples, and they don't belong to me. I think one is a Norway Maple, not sure on the others. I may get the bounty of the "helicopters" in the spring, and the leaves in fall, but they grow on the properties of neighbors behind me. I suppose I could have someone come in and trim what's over my yard, but it really wouldn't help much. Once the growing season gets in gear around here, I can take some photos and show you. When the crown of the tree is over another yard, and in between your stuff and the sun, it's a losing battle. Greater suburbia life.

Nah, I tried Knockout Roses before I knew anything about landscape roses. Haven't read the article, but it's not a type that appeals to me. I gave the two I had to a neighbor with a bigger yard. I'm looking at Pope John Paul II. The main requirement for me, for roses, is fragrance and disease resistance, not necessarily in that order. I only have room for a couple, so they have to be special. I like hybrid teas and old garden roses with a ton of petals. :)

Wish I had room for compost piles. Zinnias are pretty. Are there photos somewhere of them that I can look at?

Oh, I found your posts and photos - lovely!

Hi luvs,

the stakes you have sound fine. The sunflowers I grow get about 7' tall, I use long bamboo stakes, I also grow in large pots.

My Aunt gave me the seeds I've been using for the past couple of years, I believe she labeled them "sunset mix", they've been different each year.

This 1st pic, I actually have framed, hanging in my living room.

Rob

P.S. Click on my profile picture.

Wow. Gorgeous! And a real lesson on how to take photos of them. I think. At least it gives me fantasies of doing much, much better than last year - none of mine came out close. Thank you, and yes, I'd love to see more.

O.K. luvs,

I've searched through my files, and came up with some pretty good stuff.

ENJOY!!

Rob

NEXT: Bee macro, notice the pollen collected on the bee's hind legs...

TO BE CONTINUED...

Awesome! That's some camera you have, and a steady hand!! The detail is incredible. May I use one or two for desktop wallpaper?

Thank you for your kindness, and feel free.

The spiral pattern you see in these flowers, is called the "Fibonacci sequence". That's a numerical sequence, found throughout nature, architecture, biological anatomy etc... It's really quite amazing!

Rob

I noticed it last year, and I did wonder if all sunflowers did that, but it didn't occur to me that it was more than that. Interesting - I'll learn more about it. Thank you!!

You're welcome.

Rob