CR5 Issue 156 May 2018

Striking Sunflowers
by Pippa Greenwood
They’re bold, they’re brash,
they’re larger than life and they’re
gorgeous! Yes, sunflowers are
one of the most stunning and
impressive flowers you could
have in your garden – and one
of the easiest to grow too. If you
get your skates on you can sow
them this month and achieve a
fantastic flowery display in just a
few months’ time. So which ones
should you choose and how do you
go about getting the best crop of
flowers?
There are some fantastically
fast-growing and potentially very
tall varieties such as ‘Russian
Giant’ and ‘Titan’. The latter is
exceptionally tall, reaching a
potential height of up to 360cm or
12ft and having heads of anything
up to 60cm (2ft) in diameter!
If space is limited, or you simply
prefer you flowers lower to the
ground, there are some delightful
miniature or dwarf varieties
available. The F1 variety ‘Little
Dorrit’ grows to about 60cm
(2ft) and has rich yellow flowers
with very dark centres, and looks
great as a border edging. Another
favourite is ‘Little Leo’ at just 45cm
(18in), which makes lots of impact
with golden yellow heads on multibranching
stems.
Forget the idea that sunflowers
are yellow and ring the changes –
nowadays there are many other
colours readily available. One of
the richest shades I know is ‘Black
Magic’, which has maroon flowers
and is multi-branching, reaching a
height of about 180cm (6ft).
Grow yourself a few for cutting
too, and you’ll have a vase or
more full of flowers that would
cost a fortune in the shops. Many
varieties are suitable, including the
orangey-brown ‘Velvet Queen’,
‘Black Velvet’ and the bi-coloured
‘Magic Roundabout’ (great for
those who suffer from hay fever as
this variety is pollen-free).
If you want some in containers,
that is also possible: ‘Pacino
Colada’ is a compact variety
growing to just 40cm (16in) and
has 10cm (4in) wide golden-yellow
flowers, making a wonderful plant
for a colourful container on a
sunny patio, sheltered balcony or
in the flower beds.
I’ve still got a fascination with
tall sunflowers, and I’ve never
met a child who doesn’t enjoy
a sunflower competition. The
really sturdy and tall varieties like
‘Russian Giant’ and ‘Giant Single’
are perfect for smaller gardeners,
and as they reach heights of about
180cm (6ft) will soon dwarf them!
Sunflowers make a cheap and
cheerful addition to a garden
boundary, adding splashes of
colour to even the most dreary
fence line or helping to mask the
ugly appearance of a garage or
decrepit garden shed. They’re a lot
faster growing than Leylandii but
these colourful beauties won’t get
out of hand.
The seeds of sunflowers can be
sown right now – in fact you
should get a good crop of blooms
if you sow them anytime between
March and May, depending on
the weather and where you live.
You can sow them straight into
the soil or into pots of compost. I
like to use RootTrainers as these
encourage really well-developed
and deep roots to develop,
and make it easy to plant out
the sunflowers with minimum
48 Log into www.cr5.co.uk your local community website!
root disturbance; see www.
pippagreenwood.com/products/
grow-great-crops for more
information.
As their name suggests, sunflowers
love, indeed need, plenty of
sunshine to thrive and put on their
best possible show of blooms. The
great thing is that although many
are pretty tall, each plant does not
actually take up much space at
ground level.
Slugs and snails love sunflowers
and can literally eat them to the
ground, especially if the weather
is damp. I always grow sunflowers
in small individual pots and then
plant them out when they’re a
few inches tall. It may sound like
I’m pampering them, but it means
they’re bigger and tougher and
better able to resist attack. As an
added precaution, put a ring of
slug-deterring material around the
base of each one – crushed shells,
crushed eggshells, coco-shell or
pine needles for instance.
If you’re growing sunflowers on
anything other than a protected
site, it may be necessary to give
the taller varieties a bit of extra
support in the form of a sturdy
bamboo cane or slim stake, just in
case the wind blows too strongly!
Visit Pippa’s website www.
pippagreenwood.com and
you’ll find some great gardening
things: ‘Grow Your Own with
Pippa Greenwood’ (where you
receive your chosen gardenready
vegetable plants in May
accompanied by weekly advice and
tips from Pippa) plus RootTrainers,
Nemaslug, bio-controls, gardening
tools, raised bed kits, Grower
Frames, signed books and more!