Flowering Plants - Seeds
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17 products
17 products
Sunflowers are a must-grow annual each season - their bright, cheery faces make me smile, and I absolutely love them in fall bouquets. They're always covered in bees of all sizes, even ladybugs. Then the birds, squirrels and chipmunks feast on the seeds.
I adore Ring of Fire, with their chocolate brown centres surrounded by golden yellow petals that turn to red. People ask me about them every year. I find the more sun they get, the deeper the red colour.
Ring of Fire is a basal branching variety, so you get multiple blooms off each plant. When you're tight on space, this is a bonus. Succession plant the seeds for continuous blooms.
Chipmunks and squirrels LOVE sunflower seeds and small shoots, and will relentlessly dig up the seeds and/or chop the tender plants off. My neighbours have heard my sobs and swearing in equal measure over the years. Here are my tried and tested ways to fight them:
- Direct sow seeds in containers or pots, then completely cage them with small-holed wire mesh (forget plastic - they will eat right through it) for as long as possible
- Start seeds indoors 4 weeks before last frost, then transplant to the garden with tall, wire mesh collars around the seedlings and DO NOT remove all season
Note: I learned the hard way that sunflowers are allelopathic, meaning they give off toxins that impede the growth of or even kill other plants. They also deplete soil of nutrients. Because I grow so much food in containers, I now grow my sunflowers in separate pots and place them near their fruit, veg and herb companions
Type: Annual
Height: 4-5 ft.
Light: full sun
Soil: heavy feeders, sunflowers need organically-rich soil that's well draining
Planting: Sow in warm soil after the danger of frost, 1/2" deep, 6" apart
Harvest: 8-12 weeks
Uxbridge Township’s flower!
These delightful beauties in cheery pinks (my favourite colour!) are showstoppers in my full sun gardens.
Daisy-like blooms sit atop long, slender stems with feathery leaves, forming a cloud of colour. Once blooming, you’ll have non-stop flowers until a hard frost.
They crawl with bumblebees, hoverflies, sweat bees and ladybugs; I love sitting quiet and close to a patch of Cosmos, listening to soft buzzing and watching the action. Small birds such as goldfinches and chickadees eat seeds from the dried flower heads.
An excellent cut flower, lasting a week or more. East Gwillimbury Garden Club 3rd place winner in 2023, any other annuals category.
Open-pollinated
Heirloom
Type: annual, but reliably self-seeds and returns in my Zone 5b garden
Colour: pink shades, from pale to dark crimson, some variegated, yellow centres
Mix of single, double and fluted blooms
Height: 30-183 cm (1-6 ft)
Soil: well drained, drought tolerant
Light: full to partial (6+ hours/day)
Planting: direct sow lightly, no more than 1/4” deep, in warm soil after last frost. For earlier blooms, start seeds indoors 4 weeks before last frost, then transplant outside after hardening off (LINK: how to harden off seedlings)
Care: low maintenance. Deadhead regularly
Bloom time: early summer - hard frost
Carly’s Tip: Water soil first, let saturate, then plant seeds. This prevent seeds – especially light, delicate ones not deeply sown – from moving/washing away.