It’s no wonder that sunflowers have long held the top spot as the most commonly grown cut flower worldwide—they are ridiculously easy to grow, thrive during the dog days of summer and early autumn, bloom abundantly, and require very little attention to thrive.
There are two types of sunflowers, branching and non-branching. Branching types get quite large and produce an abundance of blooms over a long period of time. They require a good deal of room, so space them 18 to 24 inches (45 to 60 cm) apart. To stagger the harvest, sow a new batch every 3 to 4 weeks from spring through midsummer.
Non-branching types (also called single stem) produce one flower per seed and are prized for their fast bloom time and long, straight stems. These are the types that most flower farmers choose to cultivate.
To keep them at a vancouver florist manageable size, it’s best to plant them quite close together, otherwise you’ll end up with broomstick-sized stems that are impossible to work into arrangements. For smaller, bouquet-sized blooms, space plants 4 to 6 inches (10 to 15 cm) apart. For a continuous harvest, sow successive plantings of these every 7 to 10 days throughout the spring and early summer.
Sunflowers can be either direct seeded or transplanted into the garden as soon as the weather has warmed and all threat of frost has passed. Seeds germinate rapidly, and within a few days plants will be poking out of the ground.
If birds and other wildlife are an issue, be sure to protect young seedlings until they are 3 to 4 inches (7 to 10 cm) tall, since critters will make short work of pulling out young plants and eating the tender seeds if given the chance. I cover freshly seeded beds with frost cloth and anchor the corners down with heavy stones to keep the birds away until the plants have had a chance to root in and anchor themselves. To avoid this extra step, you can plant out transplants instead of seeds.
Harvest as soon as the first petals on a sunflower bloom start to unfurl, and strip the bottom three-fourths of the leaves from the stem for the longest vase life. No flower preservative is needed.
As summer fades and early autumn arrives, sunflowers are at their prime, and there’s no better way to usher in the changing seasons than by creating a wild, textural arrangement filled with the best the garden has to offer.