To me, summer isn't summer without sunflowers in the patch and in large vases spread thru the house.
I put in three different types - Solar Flash - a sunflower that's bronze in the centre with a yellow outer ring, Royal Velvet - its dark, very dark and Dwarf Sensation - a classic yellow sunflower in dwarf form.I have grown Solar Flash and Royal Velvet before and loved them - I prefer the bronzey shades. I bought the Dwarf Sensation a long time ago now and never planted them - very dumb of me - consequently they 'expired' back in August, I wonder if any will come up? The Royal Velvet were also out of date. Some years I didn't sow the seeds at all - they self seed really well and pop up in all sorts of interesting places - but now that I have moved to a new patch, planting seeds was necessary.
I like to try to partly shade my veggies with sunflowers - particularly those that can do with a little protection - like cucumber, lettuce and rocket. I also love how they draw bees to the patch, they also attract cockatoos and parrots. This all sounds good right? Well this kind of works in suburban Sydney, but is this sensible for the bush?
Our new place has lots of sulphur created cockatoos, galahs and various parrots - Eastern Rosellas, Crimson Rosellas, Red rump parrots and many more. The sunflowers will attract these birds to the patch and I suspect that might be a problem here. There are so many of these beautiful birds, perhaps attracting them is not a good idea? Better put bird nets on my fruit trees.
I love the idea of shading delicate plants with sunflowers, their heads will do that really well. As soon as I saw your post I realised my omission in not planting any yet. I'll make sure I put some next to the lettuces, thanks!
ReplyDeleteExcellent, I cant wait to see images of them in your patch.
DeleteGo for it! What's the worst that can happen? I hope your sunflowers succeed. In my experience seed packet expiry dates are more like a 'best before' date - some will likely still be good, but instead of an 80-90% germination rate you might now get more like 50-60%, but something should still come up!
ReplyDeleteExcellent - I planted many more than I hope will come up so it might all work out ok then!
DeleteI'm with Bek I reckon you'll get some to germinate, as for the birds well I say 'let them eat cake' or seeds at least. My thinking is that the biggest danger is how far they'll spread the seeds and where you'll find sunflowers coming up next year. Sounds fun....
ReplyDeleteIt is a pleasure to see them enjoying themselves so much anyway. A King parrot decided it liked my succulents yesterday and had a juicy munch on the newer leaves!
DeleteI say Go for it! too. I think the worst that could happen is that you have a more nature friendly garden one year than you actually anticipated. If the birds turn out to be too much of a problem, redesign for 2014. Oh, and I agree with Bek and Liz that most of the seeds should still germinate.
ReplyDeleteI love the idea of shading my cucumbers with sunflowers.
Yes, let's see what happens.
DeletePlant those pretties, a summer without sunny sunflowers will seem too dull. I like the new background changes on your blog page
ReplyDeleteThey are in and I can't wait for their bounty. I figure I needed to change the background seeing as there are no back fence within at least 30 voo' ees!
Delete