Enhance your garden with sunflowers
Sunflowers are certainly stars of the gardening world. It ishard to miss the beauty of sunflowers standing tall, either ontheir own or edging a bed of more traditional flowers. Few whohave seen these stunning beauties can deny their stunning beautyand attractiveness.The family of sunflowers, known scientifically as genusHelianthus, includes both annual and perennial varieties ofsunflowers. As their name implies, sunflowers generally preferfull sunlight, so it is important for gardeners to choose thesunniest part of their garden when planting these stunningplants.It is also important to take the adult size of these plants intoaccount when planting them, and to space them accordingly. Mostvarieties of sunflowers are quite large, so it is important tospace them widely so they will not crowd each other out andcompete for nutrients.Since sunflowers are so large and sturdy, many gardeners like touse ...
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...them to border vegetable gardens, and a vegetable gardenbordered by sunflowers is certainly a beautiful sight.The blooming period of sunflowers typically extends from latesummer to early fall, and the growing requirements for theseplants are generally easy to meet. Most varieties of sunflowersrequire only a well drained, modestly fertile soil in order tothrive. It is generally a good idea to amend the soil witheither aged manure or a good quality commercial fertilizer. Itis best to sow the sunflower seeds directly where they areintended to grow, since they set seed quickly and start tosprout very fast.While sunflowers may be easy to grow, their seeds are popularwith many unwanted garden visitors, particularly rabbits,squirrels and insects. Due to this popularly with common gardenpests, it is best to sow three times as many seeds as areneeded. Planting extra seeds will allow the four legged visi...
...orsto your garden to eat their fill while still providing abeautiful garden full of sunflowers.Sunflower seeds are best planted about a foot apart. Sowing theseeds this far apart will allow the adult plants to grow thelargest heads. If you plant sunflowers closer together they willdevelop smaller blooms and may never reach their full potential.If you are growing sunflowers for those monstrous blossoms, itis important to give them plenty of space to grow.When working with annual varieties of sunflowers, it isimportant to rotate the planting area. This will keep the soilits healthiest and allow the sunflowers to achieve their bestblooms.There are many places to buy quality sunflower seeds, includingthe internet, mail order houses and local garden centers. Aswith any flower seeds, it is important to follow the plantinginstructions carefully to achieve the best results from thesespectacular plants.
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