Plant Cultures:
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Downy Sunflowers Plant Culture
Sun: Sun to part-shade
Soil: Well-drained average soil– happy in poor, gravelly soil too! Think roadsides & dry prairies.
Water Use: Low– drought tolerant once established.
Height: 2-4’ tall
Spacing: 1-3’ apart for air flow
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False (Oxeye) Sunflowers Plant Culture
Sun: Sun to part-shade
Soil: Sandy loam but happy to try moist sunlit locations.
Water Use: Low– drought tolerant once established.
Height: 3-5’.
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Maximilian Sunflowers Plant Culture
Light: Sun
Soil: Moist to moderate soil; tolerant of wide range from average to sandy. Homing this sunflower in fertile soils produces weak stems making plants fall over.
Water Use: Low– drought tolerant once established.
Height: up to 10’ tall
Spacing: 1-3’ apart for air flow
Birds love NATIVE sunflowers too as their central disk & flower petals produce seeds. Maximilian Sunflowers have disk full of seeds plus 19 petals with seeds!
Don’t forget to leave the stalks alone until Spring for sheltering overwintering insects!
** makes a nice cut flower too but let flower heads go to seed for feeding the birds**
Fun Fact: Native sunflowers are actually members of the Aster Family but placed in the Helianthus family due to their button-like disks that hold abundant pollen & nectar for pollinators.