How To Grow Sunflowers Every Year Without Replanting Them

How to grow sunflowers that reseed. Growing perennial sunflowers. The best sunflower varieties to plant. Types of sunflowers that reseed the most. Sunflower photo.

Your sunflowers will return on their own each season if you let them reseed. Here's how to grow sunflowers that come back every year:

The Best Sunflower Varieties to Use

Sunflower, Vanilla Ice 1 Pkt. (50 seeds)

First, you have to choose sunflower varieties that branch and produce many blooms per plant. These types of sunflowers make a lot of small seeds which are not so attractive to birds and squirrels.

Giant sunflowers won't work as well because each plant only produces one flower. Also, the large seeds are sought after by wildlife. Any that don't get eaten right off the plant would almost certainly get picked up off the ground leaving nothing to produce next year's crop.

I have used 'Italian White' sunflowers for this purpose with good results. Italian Whites have pale yellow blooms. The Vanilla Ice sunflowers in the photo above look just like my old Italian Whites.

After a while, I decided I wanted to experiment with some of the red sunflowers so I planted a packet of seed of mixed varieties. You know the ones I'm talking about. They have such festive names... Fantasia, Jolly Joker, Razzmatazz... I don't recall which mix I planted but I was more than satisfied with the result.

This is Direct Gardening's Decorative Mix. It's a great seed mix at a great price. Click the photo to buy a packet.

The people who make up these mixes must be frustrated artists. None of the colors clashed. If you look at the pictures in the seed catalogs, you'll see what I mean. All the colors blend harmoniously.

After the first year the red sunflowers began to spread around the yard, popping up here and there all by themselves. By the third season something unexpected happened.

My 'Italian Whites' disappeared.

Apparently, they hybridized with the red sunflowers. In subsequent years I got some lovely sunflowers but they were not the same ones I started with. So if you want a particular type, growing sunflowers of another type nearby might not be a good idea.

How To Grow Sunflowers That Return Every Year Without Replanting
Method 2

Plant perennial sunflowers .

Like many of their annual relatives, perennial sunflowers display sunny yellow blossoms. Their flowers tend to be somewhat smaller than those of annual sunflower plants.

Helenium Moerheim Beauty The serrated flowers are an extremely colorful combination of reds splashed with yellow. Daisy-like flowers have large brown centers. This perennial sunflower blooms abundantly during the dog days of summer.

Field of Sunflowers Pictures
Field of sunflowers pictures. Beautiful sunflower field photos and images you can use in your home decor. Framed sunflower wall art to use in decorating with sunflowers. Sunflower farms pics.

Mexican Sunflowers
Mexican sunflowers like sun, reasonably moist soil and heat. Give them this and they will bloom their heads off all summer long.

Growing Sunflowers Tips
Tips for growing miniature sunflowers in pots. Secrets of giant sunflowers. Tips for harvesting sunflowers.

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