Blooming Beauties: Exploring Top Sunflower Varieties and Cultivation Techniques
The sunflower, a symbol of brightness and cheerfulness, has captured our hearts with its vibrant blooms and towering stems. Originating from North America, these golden beauties were first introduced to Europe by the Spanish around 1500.
Today, sunflowers come in a variety of shapes, sizes, and colours, thanks to commercial breeding and the natural evolution of the species.
One of the most striking sunflowers is the 'Velvet Queen'. With 15cm diameter blooms on well-branched stems around 1.5m tall, it often displays a rich, brick red colour. Another eye-catching variety is the 'Orange Mahogany', growing to 1.5m in height, with a striking diffusion of colour from the central boss.
For those seeking a more dramatic sunflower, the 'Claret' and 'Black Magic' sunflowers are a must-see. The former reaches up to 1.8m with shiny black discs and deep-coloured petals, while the latter, as the name suggests, grows to 1.8m with the colour 'Black Magic', making it one of the most spectacular sunflowers.
On the other end of the spectrum, there are dwarf varieties like the 'Music Box', which is just 80cm tall, with perky little faces creating a feast of eye-catching colour.
'Helianthus annuus', the species that includes most cultivated sunflowers, can grow up to 4.5m tall and has rough, coarsely toothed leaves and large, flat, 'daisy' flowers in branched clusters atop stiff, green stems. This species is found in sunny, dry open places, often as a weed in cultivated fields of North America.
Commercial breeding has focused on producing sturdy, single-stemmed giants with seed-filled heads. However, modern varieties tend to look more like wild species, being shorter, usually slender-stemmed, with branching flowerheads displaying many smaller flowers with variation in the size of the petals and central boss.
Sunflowers are most successful in an open sunny site on moist, free-draining soil. They were cultivated by North American Indians as early as 3000BC for oil, medicine, and textile dyes. By the 18th century, they were popular in gardens and by 1769 were being developed extensively for cooking oil production, particularly in Russia.
In recent years, breeders have created unique varieties such as the 'Earthwalker', which can reach 2-3m, making it a 'designer' sunflower, and the 'Sparky', distinct for its quilled, forward-facing petals carried the length of the stem over many weeks during the summer. There's also the 'Taiyo', tall and having a large single flower up to 30cm across, suitable for temporary screens in regimented ranks.
Whether you prefer the classic, tall sunflowers or the more modern, compact varieties, there's a sunflower for everyone. So, why not brighten up your garden this summer with one of these stunning sunflowers?
