I was thinking of adding some sunflowers to my garden this year. Are they difficult to grow? TL

Sunflowers are a great addition to gardens. It’s challenging to find a larger, more beautiful flower to have in your garden. Plus, they can provide a source of food for people and animals if you are so inclined.

One interesting thing about sunflowers is that what appears as large, yellow petals, surrounding the flower, are not petals at all but instead are large protective leaves. The flowers are much smaller and concentrated together in what is called the flower head. The hundreds of tiny flowers are called florets. You may recognize this term from recipes calling for broccoli florets.

Another interesting thing is that the flower head tracks the sun during the day. This process is called heliotropism and helps the flower head absorb as much sun as possible.

Our soil is a little too cool to plant sunflower seeds right now, but once the soil temps get up above 60 degrees, you should be good to go. As we wait for warmer temps, it’s a good time to get your sunflower seeds.

While we typically think of sunflowers and yellow, they actually come in a variety of colors. Just check out some of the seed catalogs and get ready to be surprised.

When planting your sunflower seeds, place the seeds about 6 inches apart at a depth of 1 to 2 inches. Once germinated, thin to about one plant every 12 to 15 inches. If you have good luck germinating your seeds, you can start with seeds 12 to 15 inches apart. And don’t forget your sunflowers are going to get tall. We grew some at our Seed to Supper farm last year and they ended up between 5 and 6 feet tall.

Not only will sunflowers attract beneficial pollinators to your landscape, but they can also serve as a “trap crop” to lure unwanted insects away from the vegetables in your garden.

Sunflowers typically don’t have a lot of disease issues, but powdery mildew can be a problem. If you find powdery mildew on your sunflowers, a little copper fungicide should do the trick.

If you hope to be able to eat some of those sunflower seeds, plan on them reaching maturity in early fall. Signs of maturity will be when the back side of the flower head starts to transition from green to a yellowish brown. The flower head also stops following the sun and begins to point its head toward the ground. At this point the tiny little flowers will have dried and fallen, revealing the mature seeds.

To harvest, remove the flower head from the plant and place it in a well ventilated, warm place for a few weeks to dry out. Once they are dry, you can remove the seeds by rubbing two flower heads together or by putting on your garden gloves and brushing out the seeds. Or if you want to use your sunflowers as a food source for birds, you can just put that flower head out in the bird feeder and let the birds do the work. Good luck!

You can get answers to all your gardening questions by calling the Tulsa Master Gardeners Help Line at 918-746-3701, dropping by our Diagnostic Center at 4116 E. 15th Street, or by emailing us at mg@tulsamastergardeners.org.  Photo: OSU Ag. Communications