A Sentiment

God knew what He was doing when He sent a gentle breeze and brought a lovely butterfly to set my heart at ease. The happiness of your friendship and the gentleness of your words have touched my life in special ways and now I feel assured. Thank you for your loyalty and for reading everyday. I only hope you find things to make a happy day.

Monday, October 20, 2008


I mentioned seed catalogs in a comment this morning and I was remembering that next year I want to plant some different sunflowers. We have a post in the yard with a birdhouse on top. A fence is behind it. I think that it would be a perfect spot for sunflowers. My husband always has trouble mowing that area...if my plants come too close to the edge...so this would be a solution. He would find it easy to manuver the mower and I would have color.My birdie friends would be thrilled.


If you're interested in growing sunflowers, there are lots of new cultivars to try, many of them pollenless, which makes them perfect for bringing into the house. Here are some different types.


Sunflower'Ring of Fire'
'Ring of Fire': An AAS (All-America-Selections) winner with striking 5-inch wide pollenless flowers; bi-coloured petals in dark red around a chocolate brown center taper off to golden yellow tips. Grows 4 to 5 feet tall; late-blooming.


'Claret': An excellent cutting sunflower that keeps its intense velvet burgundy color in the summer sun. Main stem grows 6 feet tall; produces side-shoots with lots of blooms.


'Eversun': A deep yellow, early-blooming pollenless type with big 10- to 12-inch ray flowers around a dark brown disk; flowers produced on one main stem.

Sunflower'Teddy Bear'
Sunflower 'Teddy Bear': Has soft, fluffy, pompom heads that make handsome cut flowers; 2 to 3 feet tall with lots of flowers per plant. A perfect plant for a children's garden (and anyone who is young at heart), as well as containers.


'Giant Sungold': At 5 feet in height with lots of flower-bearing branches, this is a taller version of 'Teddy Bear'.
I think these flowers make everyone smile. The florists are using them in so many arrangements today. We had them in our bouquets at Mass yesterday. Have you ever seen a field of sunflowers?
Balisha

5 comments:

Judy said...

My son grows them in his yard and they are so pretty. I would love to have them, too, but I don't have enough sun in my yard.

Balisha said...

Hi Judy,
I think that I like the Claret ones. I like the burgundy on them. I used to have all shade...so I know what you mean. You can enjoy your son's.

Anonymous said...

Hello Balisha! Thanks so much for your visit today, and I'm so pleased to have found your blog! Your sunflower post is not only beautiful, but very informative. I look forward to getting to know you better. :)

Anonymous said...

I would love to grow sunflowers but the amount of squirrels in my yard has deterred me in the past. They tend to take the seed head. :)I've enjoyed seeing their happy blooms in other bloggers gardens this season though.

Balisha said...

Hi Racquel,
We have very few squirrels here...so that is not a problem. My problem will be the big guy with the lawn mower.