Helianthus annus ‘Sonja’
Solar-powered sun worshippers, sunflowers (Helianthus) bask in the warmest patch of the garden, soaring higher and higher towards the daystar on long legs. The flowers they produce are shaped like a child’s drawing of the sun and blaze in fire shades of yellow, amber, and red. And we relish this colour when they bloom late in the season, providing much-needed cheer when the autumn mists set in.
The annual sunflower, Helianthus annuus, is native to Mexico and the southwest states of the US, including California. It has been used as a food crop for centuries and still is today, primarily for cooking oil, livestock food, and bird feed. One of the biggest suppliers is Ukraine, which has meant a big drop in supply and a surge in costs, as anyone who feeds the birds will know; sunflower hearts are favoured by many feathered garden visitors, especially blue tits, siskins, and goldfinches. Another option is to provide for them by growing your own sunflowers – by late autumn and early winter, the enormous spent dinner-plate flowerheads are a bounty for the birds, who pluck out the seeds. As long as the sunflower is not a pollen-free floristry variety, it will also provide food for bees when in bloom.
Unlike us, bees and birds are capable of reaching the tallest sunflowers, which can tower to incredible heights, over 4-metres. But, of course, not everyone would want to reach them: sunflowers tend to incite a love or loathe reaction. While some people can’t bear them, others – of all ages – can’t get enough of them, especially the giants, and sunflower competitions are still held up and down the country locally and nationally, including one this year by Age UK. The world record for height is 9.17 metres (30.1
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