Ring of Fire Sunflowers
This stunner is a must have for your fall garden. The bicolored single petal flowers can grow as large as 5-6 inches in diameter. These flowers develop a dark red base at the bottom of each petal and have golden yellow tips. The center of the flower is a dramatic dark disk. Although this lovely flower takes a little longer, approximately 70 days, to bloom than traditional sunflowers, they are well worth the wait. They have a branching nature and will form a few flowers on each stem.
Add this variety of sunflower to a vase of greens and a few traditional sunflowers with their orange petals and brown center ( like procut orange) and prepared to be Wowed!
This annual flower is drought resistant once established and needs to be planted in full sun. It can be planted from seed directly into the soil once the risk of frost has passed.
Plant close together ( approximately 1 inch apart ) for smaller blooms (3-4 inches wide )
Plant further apart ( about 3-4 inches ) for larger blooms approximately 5-6 inches across
Stems are approximately 12-24 inches tall
Makes for a great cut flower. Make sure to always cut fresh flowers either in the early morning before the heat gets to them or early evening after they have a chance to cool down a little. Cut stems on an angle for maximum water absorption and keep away from direct sunlight and heat sources.
This variety is pollenless so you won’t have any messy yellow powder to clean up. Bees and butterflies still love this flower even without the pollen since it has sweet nectar for them. You can see the clear nectar droplets in the center of the flower below.
These babies look terrific when planted in odd numbers in groups of 3 or more in a garden. They also look great as a mass planting in straight rows.
Ring of Fire Sunflowers are day length neutral which means their growing pattern is not affected by the shortened hours of sunlight in the fall. You can plant these seeds all summer long to get continued blooms from each new batch that comes up right up until the middle of fall.
A true fall flower garden crowd pleaser!
My friends at Happy DIY Home just published a comprehensive guide on how to grow sunflowers. It is completely free and you can find it here: https://happydiyhome.com/how-to-grow-sunflowers/
Seeds can be purchased at …