[Bobby]

[doganjo]

Are we having a competition?  Mine have all finished flowering and gone over I think.  I had one 7ft tall.  Just waiting for the seeds now

[Bobby]

I am just delighted it has grown so tall!!! Never had one grow that big from seed - and only just learned how to post pics - I think I may become a bore

[HappyHippy]

It's a beauty 
We planted some with the kids last year, they only grew to about 3ft. We had one which grew in the corner of the rockery (I suspect the seed blew out of the bird feeder) and it reached about 5ft tall, but had 7 flowers on it......weird ! Maybe the seed had been scoffed by a bird and came out pre-fertilised 

[Bobby]

It's a beauty 
We planted some with the kids last year, they only grew to about 3ft. We had one which grew in the corner of the rockery (I suspect the seed blew out of the bird feeder) and it reached about 5ft tall, but had 7 flowers on it......weird ! Maybe the seed had been scoffed by a bird and came out pre-fertilised 

To be honest - we plant them every year for the grandkids - then when they are sturdy enough the kids take them home and grow them on - last year , my one grandson's got bigger than mine ( he was 4 - now 5) - so I ordered some giant russian seeds to make sure mine was the biggest this year   keeping an album and notes to show them when they are older

[doganjo]

This is the first year I've grown them - and from seed too, but my grandkids weren't interested.  What I didn't know before I grew them was that you don't just get one head on a plant, and they aren't all yellow - that utterly amazed me!  I went out to look just now and I have one plant with 7 heads on it, and they are quite big too!  Feel free to bore us Bobby - post more photos - in fact I might try to get some tomorrow too.  I remember seeing a whole field of yellow ones when we holidayed in the Loire Valley a few years ago - now that was a sight to see!  Like a host of overgrown daffodils!

[sellickbhoy]

i've been growing them in my garden this year, i'll need to post a pic, it's fantastic!!!!!


but i've a couple of  and the giant russiona - a few must be over 8feet now

but what happens in the winter? do they die? must i plant from scratch every year?

i put them all around the car park at the bottom of the drive and they look great

in fact, i'm away to get this photo on the computer now!!!!

[sellickbhoy]

there, i think i planted too many in the garden!!!

[doganjo]

That's the field we saw in France!!!!!!!!!

[sellickbhoy]

was the future Mrs SB standing in the middle of it then as well??

it was indeed in france, just outside a town called Gien on the Loire. There were hundreds and hundred of fields just like this - as well as as many with sweetcorn growing

my own Sunflowers are individually better specimens, but i'm impressed with the quantity there, when i plant my sunflowers next year i'll put them a lot closer in - as the bees really do love them!!!! - and have loads. they are perfect for providing the screening i wanted around the car park at the bottom of the drive

[doganjo]

Can't remember the name of the little village in the Loire valley we stayed near - think it began with a K, but it was fairly near Nantes I think, and the river wasn't far away and was mostly dried up - I think it was at a  confluence of some sort.  I remember going to visit underground homes, and the Mushroom caves, and also a Champagne making place (I know they didn't call it Champagne because it wasn't made there)
Anyway, teh sunflowers were huge and you couldn't see the end of the field. Just beautiful!

[sarah1703]

theres fields full of them here in Bulgaria,

[doganjo]

That's just lovely.  I was speaking to friends today who found a couple of plants in their garden which had self seeded - they didn't plant them.  So Chris if you see this when you get back from Thailand, I think they have to be planted afresh each year but you may find that they have self seeded as well.  I'm going to plant loads more next year and closer together too as my chickens adore the seeds.  Actually I have put some in a  pot outside and they have sprouted already.  I'll take them into the conservatory next week till Spring comes along.

[little blue]

Just to say... yes, sunflowers will have to planted each year as they're annuals.
But you can plant them September-ish and overwinter (depending where you live!) and of course they may self-seed or be 'planted' by birds and poultry.

[Rosemary]

We have them come up everywhere, from the bird seed. We had hemp one year too. I didn't know what it was but Dan did. Sign of a misspent youth I think.