Autumn Beauty Sunflower
Helianthus Annuus

Plant Good Seed
20 seeds per packet

days to maturity: 80 days
plant spacing: 1 per square foot
sunlight requirements: 8-14 hours
look out for: leaf miners, plants falling over
harvest notes: harvest as cut flower with 12” stem or let dry on the plant for seed harvest. 
annual

Sunflowers add a really cheerful element to a garden and they attract many beneficial insects including bees and butterflies. They are very easy to grow in South Florida because they love hot weather and sandy soil. In order to get a strong straight stem on your sunflowers you’ll need full sun exposure and regular watering. They are heavy feeders so make sure to fertilize and use compost when possible. Russian Mammoth is a classic heirloom introduced to the US in the 1880s. Whenever you see giant sunflowers in a garden or landscape its likely this variety, which can grow to up to 12 feet tall with a face that can measure over 2 feet diameter!

To direct seed sunflowers just plant a seed in the garden and keep it moist during germination and early growth. You can choose to over-plant an area and thin to 1 plants per square foot before any true leaves form, which means you can eat the thinned plants as “sunflower shoots”. You can also eat sunflower buds like artichokes, but you have to get them at exactly the right stage of growth before they form any petals or begin to open at all.