Have you ever grown sunflowers?

This is the perfect time of year to plant sunflowers in your garden!

Sunflowers come in all shapes and sizes, from giant ones over 8 feet tall to ones that will happily sit at 18 inches. They also come in all shades of yellow and red!

The flowers are a magnet for bees and if you grow one of the tall ones, you can see close up just how the tiny individual flowers open up from the outer most edge to the centre over the course of a few weeks.

Once the flowers have stopped producing pollen and nectar, they begin forming the seeds that are so beloved by the birds.

Once the outer petals die off, the flower head will begin to dry out naturally, and once it has done this, you can cut it off and then hang it in the garden for the birds.

Lots of people like to grow sunflowers in a “race” to see who can grow them the tallest! And growing sunflowers is a great way to get children involved in gardening, as they germinate quickly and grow tall!

Remember to put a good stake in to support your sunflower when it’s quite small, to avoid damaging the roots as it grows bigger. One of the their biggest challenges is the wind blowing them over!