Arikara Sunflower

We planted these gorgeous plants around the perimeter of our garden two seasons ago to attract bees and to draw birds up away from our other garden plants, it worked like a charm! Had lots of bumble bees and honey bees. The best part was last season we had about 20 volunteer plants sprout up (this was AFTER we plowed the garden at the end of first season I mentioned) we were able to transplant the new sprouts around the perimeter and they ALL took and produced almost as good as the first year! We will be planting more this season.

It's mid-August and they're just starting to flower now. These grew to at least 12 ft tall. They're also getting flower buds with smaller flowers all the way up the stem. Love these! I will be growing them again next year.

These sunflowers need cooler weather to germinate. I was instructed by the head gardener at Jeffersons Montecello to plant them in 45? soil in early Spring when you put out peas or onions. They don't germinate well in the summer?. Beautiful sunflower. This was a Lewis and Clark find and has grown in n Thomas Jeffersons garden since.

Love how these easy to grow sunflowers attract hummingbirds, Monarchs, bumble bees and other pollinators. Bought seeds three seasons ago and have successfully planted the saved seed for the last two seasons. Plants reach about 10 feet tall and stand tall except if subjected to high wind and heavy rain.

We had 50/50 success on getting seedlings from both direct sew and transplanting from small pots. We transplanted starts at apx 2 inches tall. After that really easy. Had to stake one. The rest are all about 7-8 feet, one flowering now (August in Seattle). The petals are larger in comparison to to the middle than the picture. Love the look of these on our fence line, but wish they all came in for a full row without gaps.