I thought it would be good to share some beautiful sunflowers on this post. Such gorgeous smiley happy faces which make us smile in return.
I love sunflowers in my garden for many reasons.
One of which is their incredible benefits for wildlife. Both for the pollinators and for the birds.
Secondly, the fantastic boon to wellbeing they give us with their fabulous cheerful flowers.
Thirdly, they are such easy flowers to grow.
I am sharing this post as the meteorological winter kicks in, so that we can get a boost of colour to brighten our day. In addition, it can spur us on to plan for more sunflowers for next summer.
Also, a hard frost has finally knocked down my last few fabulous dahlias overnight so let us turn to some colourful memories and some future colour too.
My top photo shows one of my fabulously colourful sunflowers in October this year with a bee. Read on for one or two more of my favourites.
Beautiful sunflowers reaching for the sky
The first sunflower I have chosen is Earth Walker. A truly fabulous name.
In addition to the beautiful colours of this sunflower, the pollinators make a frequent bee-line for them too.
I love the bronze and yellow shades of these beautiful sunflowers. Occasionally, a bloom will have a deeper chocolate-brown shade which looks stunning.
Moreover, they produce many heads on each plant for a fantastic display of colours.
Not only are they incredibly easy to grow, they are ideal for providing bright and zingy colour way up high.
Furthermore, as a child I always wanted to grow the tallest sunflower and I imagine this is just the colourful variety I would have chosen.
Height up to 2.7m, so a lovely tall variety to perhaps compete in that tallest sunflower competition and to wow in the borders.
Of course, the sunflower Russian Giant would probably win, but I love the bronze sheen this one has. Also, who could resist a sunflower named Earth Walker.
Sunflower Procut Plum
The next sunflower I have chosen is the fabulous Procut Plum. Another one of those beautiful sunflowers deserving a place in the garden.
Growing to 1.5m tall with a beautiful coffee cream and dusky plum coloured flower. Definitely one to make me swoon.
Also, a trooper of a sunflower in adversity, featured in an earlier post.
The story of a fabulous Procut Plum blooming and waving around in the garden without a care in the world.
When, along came Lulu, the 6 stone or 38.1 kg Golden Retriever, scampering about in the garden and having a jolly good time.
The full story can be found in the link below. A story with a positive outcome.
The fabulous positivity of beautiful plants
I grow Procut Plum every year and they look fabulous in my flower borders.
Right, onto the next beautiful sunflower.
Beautiful sunflowers for a bee
Next, I have chosen a beauty called Velvet Queen. Another one of my absolute favourites.
A deep velvety red colour that fades to copper over time. Time for another swoon.
In addition to the beautiful colour, this one is also a magnet for the bees in my garden.
As the photo above shows, the bees were making a bee-line for this one too. Indeed, I rarely saw a flower without a bee having a feed.
By the same token, the hoverflies were often latched on too.
Height up to 1.5m
Other red varieties include Red Giant, Red Sun and Moulin Rouge.
Dwarf sunflowers
Next, I have chosen one of the smallest sunflowers that I grow. This one was called Dwarf Red.
These flowers have dark brown or red centres and appear more of a brownish red chestnut colour than a deep red.
A sunflower that should grow up to a dizzy height in 0.6m. However, mine never reach up to more than 0.3m it seems.
Therefore, one for the front of the flower borders or in pots.
I also grow a favourite dwarf sunflower called Ms Mars.
One that starts off a purple colour, blending in to rosy-pink, with petals tipped with cream. Another of the beautiful sunflowers with unusual colouring.
Naturally, Dwarf Red and Ms Mars are a favourite with my fabulous rescue hens too, as they can snack on the seeds after the flowers fade.
Other small varieties include Music Box and Brown Eyed Girl.
Beautiful sunflowers in lemon
Next, I have chosen a lovely lemon coloured sunflower to share with you.
This one is called Valentine. How romantic.
I like to grow as many varieties of beautiful sunflowers as possible and sometimes I chose the paler ones.
Sunflower valentine is a fantastic pale lemon yellow and is often marked as a flower to cut for the vases.
The reason for this is that the pollen does not drop. I do not cut mine as I prefer to see them in the garden. In addition, the bees, butterflies and hoverflies cannot reach them indoors.
Perhaps a good excuse to grow a large amount of them, for the garden and the vases, as if we needed an excuse!
Another sunflower that reaches 1.5m.
Other pale sunflowers that I grow are Italian White and Vanilla Ice.
A glowing sunflower
Next, I have chosen a sunflower that glows in the sunshine. This one is called Indian Blanket.
A new one for me this year and I am so pleased I chose it for my garden.
I imagine the pollinators were pretty pleased too.
A truly fabulous sunflower in shades of rich red, deep gold, or a glowing orange.
Moreover, they produce many heads on each plant for a fantastic display of all these varieties of colour.
My favourite is the glowing orange bloom seen above with a bee.
I must try to get some photos next year as the sun sets. Imagine the orange glow boosted by the sunset.
Perhaps, they should be grown near my dahlia Explosion next year as this gave a fabulous flame effect at sunset. More plans to be made it seems over a cold winter.
Link added below for dahlia Explosion and a few others if you missed the post and need more bright and zingy flowers to combat the frosty days.
10 zingy dahlias for a truly beautiful garden
Back to the fabulous Indian Blanket, another sunflower that grows to a height of about 1.5m.
I shall be growing this one again next year.
My favourite sunflower
My final sunflower for this post is the stunningly gorgeous, Black Magic.
One of my most beautiful sunflowers, in a fantastic shade of rich chocolate red.
Another variety that produces multiple heads on each plant.
I grow this beauty every year and would never be without it in my garden.
Naturally, this one gives me the swooniest of swoons.
I am wondering if I could fit in one hundred of them next year somewhere in the garden. Wish me luck with that, when I have more dahlias coming too, to add to the three hundred and fifty already in the borders.
The beautiful sunflower Black Magic grows to a height of around 1.3m.
Clearly, I need to get my seed orders in soon and Black Magic is top of my list again.
Sunflower seeds
Of course, I have my eye on many more varieties for next year. One I must try is called Claret. Another fantastic chocolate reddish brown colour which will be fabulous with some of my dark dahlias.
My lovely friend, the Cosmos Queen, has her eye on some new ones too.
So far, I have heard she would like Teddy Bear or Sunshots Gold, with fluffy looking layered petalled flowers. Also, she is mentioning my Black Magic and some red varieties too.
Clearly, there will be a Cosmos Queen sunflower post next year to add to her dahlia and cosmos updates. I can see more borders being dug out for all these blooms.
Here is the most recent Cosmos Queen post if you have not seen it.
The awesome power of the garden
We both like to get our seeds over the winter and look at the packets and plan for the summer. Moreover, we find this gives a boost to our wellbeing, looking forward to a colourful garden and to help the pollinators.
I have given a few links below on some sunflower seed options.
Click here for Thompson and Morgan sunflowers
And click here for Sarah Raven sunflowers
I hope you have enjoyed my sunflower post and will grow some in your garden next year.
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2 responses to “Gardening for wellbeing with beautiful sunflowers”
Oh my goodness. Lovely pics of your glorious sunflowers. So many to choose from. Definitely Sunshot Golds and I also like Astra Gold which is unusual. Need to choose a red one as well before I order. So much choice and so little spare border. Better get my spade out I guess🤭
Thank you. Pleased you like the sunflowers. Just looked at Astra Gold, had not noticed it before. Very unusual, lovely petals. There are some lovely reds out there too. Enjoy more border digging. I believe you are an expert border digger now 😁