PREMIER SEEDS DIRECT Giant Sunflower - Mongolian Giant - 30 Seeds

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Hybrid sunflowers grow to amazing heights in the climate that they were bred for, some over 20 feet, due to hybrid vigor. But if you have a shorter, wetter, drier, or colder season they might not perform as well in your garden.

When growing giant sunflowers plant them directly in the ground where you want them to grow. Don’t try to start them indoors . They will push their roots into the soil more than 4 feet during the growing season, so you want to give them every opportunity to expand their roots, without hinderance.Plant seeds between March and May for best results and ensure the plants are directly sown in locations with full sun. Florist Sunflowers The Sunzilla Sunflower is a popular giant sunflower variety for children’s gardens. These tall plants can be grown in a line to create a towering wall of sunflowers. They are well-known for attracting birds and pollinators, as well as for their edible seeds. The Italian White Sunflower is a unique variety of giant sunflowers that can grow up to 12 feet tall. These sunflowers produce heads that are up to 10-14 inches wide. 14. Velvet Queen Sunflower Chances are, what your neighbor is growing is a large sunflower cultivar. And chances are, the sunflower starter that you bought from the nursery is a compact ornamental variety that’s meant to grow in pots. Just as important as knowing which sunflower varieties to choose is knowing which ones to avoid if you’re aiming for competition-level height. The following popular varieties will stay on the small side, so it’s best to avoid them if you’re looking to grow giant sunflowers:

Take advantage of trap crops like onions and squash to draw pests away from your Mongolian Giant sunflowers. Deer may also be interested in them before they really get big, so be on the lookout for nibbled leaves and add some kind of physical barrier so they can’t munch the top of the plant right off. Most of us are probably most familiar with the giant, mammoth, or tall varieties and species of sunflowers. These are the huge ones we see along roadsides in massive fields used to make sunflower mazes and produce mass crops of seeds for commercial uses. Their solitary huge blooms droop down and shine their faces on the plants below when not properly supported. But even I believe that thinning is an important factor in growing tall sunflowers with large blooms. Thinning allows proper root development because it eliminates competition between plants. Because they’re very fast growers, at least compared to other plants in the garden, overcrowded sunflowers will soon be vying for light (above ground) and root space and nutrients (below ground). So rather than having a few vigorous sunflowers to fill your space, you’ll be left with a scraggly collection if you don’t thin them out. It took the presence of the local fire brigade and setting up a multi-level scaffolding platform to measure the height of this sunflower. Hans-Peter had already broken the record three times prior to his latest one, and every single year he managed to grow an even taller sunflower. Obviously, as a competitive gardener, he doesn’t share his secrets, so we can only assume that part of his success is due to meticulous seed saving.

Living up to its name, the Skyscraper sunflower is one of the tallest types of sunflowers. They average 14 to 16 feet in height. These are great for folks with limited space to grow just a couple of the flowers together for a huge impact without taking up the whole garden.

The American Giant Sunflower is a modern hybrid sunflower variety with an extra-sturdy stalk. These tall plants grow a single heavy sunflower head at the top, yet rarely need staking. They are also very easy to grow. You should sow your sunflowers outdoors after your last expected frost date, as long as night temperatures aren’t forecast to fall below 50F. So depending on what USDA zone you’re gardening in, this may be anywhere from early April (if you’re in a warmer climate) to early June (if you’re gardening further north). As the petals fall off, the center florets dry up and the seed kernels begin to swell in the disks, carefully climb a stepladder and cover your flower head with a mesh onion bag or loose burlap or paper bag. This keeps marauding birds from robbing your seeds so that the heads look perfect and complete when you are ready to show them off to friends or proudly display them on their long stalks at your local county fair. Cut the stalks at the base when the ripened seeds develop a hard shell. If you plan to eat your sunflower seeds or preserve them for your bird feeder, wait until the seeds are completely dry; then remove them by hand or by rubbing them over wire mesh into a basket. Store in tightly closed containers to keep rodents away. Growing up to two feet in height, Big Smile Sunflowers have yellow flowers with golden centers. The flowers are delicate and as wide as three to six inches across. Plant them in prepared seed beds after all dangers of frost have passed. Ashy Sunflower ( Helianthus mollis) Perhaps your reason for planting gorgeous heirloom flowers is to craft with them. Growing Heirloom Flowers covers flower crowns, bath salts, bath scrubs, flower pounding, eco-printing, natural dyes, and many other crafty uses for heirloom flowers, giving you more reasons to plant them.Sunflowers are pretty big compared to most flowers, but there’s one behemoth relative of the sunflowers we all know and love. Mongolian Giant’ sunflower can reach up to 14 feet tall with flowers that can get to about 18 inches across. If you decide this is the cultivar for you, definitely plant it in a location that stays sheltered from wind and storms. This is because sunflowers hate having their roots disturbed. And the sooner you give them the space to grow their vigorous taproots into their final location, the better the root structure will grow. Strong roots (that can even reach four feet in depth below the ground) are crucial for growing tall sunflowers. Not only do they help the plant access nutrients and water (even in a drought), but they also provide deep anchoring and support for these yellow giants. Sunflowers hate having their roots disturbed, so you should sow the seeds directly into the ground. Sunflower seeds should be planted outside in the ground as soon as the danger of a hard frost has passed to give them the longest possible growing season (and the tallest possible height. This is usually around March-May in most climates.