Henny Penny Farmette

Grow giant sunflowers at the back of the garden or along a fence to support thick stalks and large dinner-plate sized heads

We planted a few sunflowers this year. One rises up maybe ten feet tall and its thick stalk supports a head the size of a toilet seat, no kidding. Sunflowers are beloved by many gardeners because they have myriad uses.

A few notable things about sunflowers: their lovely yellow petals can be used to make dye. Their stalk pith can be used to make paper. The seeds feed humans as well as animals and birds. And oil from the seed is used in cooking and also to create assorted cosmetic products and soaps.

Sunflowers come in a range of sizes

Growing sunflowers is easy and the plant itself is fairly trouble-free. They like their summers hot and long and thrive in plenty of sunshine. You can plant them along a fence to help support the giant heads and thick stalks or tuck the smaller sized sunflowers into beds. They aren’t fussy about soil and do best when watered deeply but not often.

They attract butterflies, bees, birds, and squirrels. Dry the heads by hanging them upside down. I like to buy organic, non-genetically modified seed and save it from the heads each year in paper envelopes to plant the next summer.