One day in April I sowed some sunflower seeds in pots and placed them on a windowsill.
Some time later they were big and brave enough to be planted out in the garden, in the newest bed.
The sun shone, it rained, and they grew. Can you see them among the other shrubs?
And they grew some more, and as I wrote in my post here, they got so tall so quickly that they were almost uprooted in a storm early July, so they got some nice robust stakes to prop them up…
As promised then, an update on the sunflowers…. Well, the bed has filled out tremendously!
The ‘Edge is a long curved bed that is being planted as an open ‘hedge’, marking the edge of the flower garden. As fillers this year I planted Sunflowers and Tithonia.
They are a mix of seeds I had left from previous years…
Oranges, reds and golden yellow are the theme in this bed…
The shrubs I put in are doing well and perennials are currently providing summer colour, but I will plant spring bulbs this autumn too.
A favourite combination is the Physocarpus ‘Lady in Red’ with these Monarda ‘Gardenview Scarlet’…
And this Heliopsis (‘Sommersonne’) is wonderful. It started flowering early July…
The Crocosmia (‘Lucifer’) goes nicely with the deep red Gaillardia ‘Burgunder’ and Cosmos Xanthos.
Here is the Gaillardia close up…
Heuchera ‘Black Pearl’ has proved to withstand baking sun without any scorching, so I will plant more of them later too.
The overall impression I have of this new bed is pleasant surprise, as well as astonishment at how quickly everything got established… the weather was ideal for a change!
And just to put the size of my sunflowers in perspective, here’s a photo of me hiding among them! 😉 (I am 1.7m in my shoes).
Have a good weekend and Happy Gardening!
Words and Herbs 
Simply beautiful…
I think so too Lisa. A joy to look at every day! 😃
Your garden has really filled out with so many beautiful flowers.
It’s amazing how rapidly it grew!
I loved this as much as lemonade in the shade.
Oh, that is such a sweet comment Flower. 😃 And now you have got me craving homemade lemonade…. 😉
Sunflower hedges are wonderful. I bet the birds will be happy when yours seed up. Loved seeing you amongst them!
I just hope some will indeed remain standing until the autumn. 😃
Lovely pictures !!
Thank you!
This bed is really taking shape, Cathy – and how intriguing to see you amongst the photos too (and without a hat!) 😊
😃 I decided that being in one of the photos in person was the only way to show how tall the sunflowers had got! (And my usual gardening baseball cap is far too scruffy to be photographed! 😉)
Do you still have (and wear) the hat your ‘gravatar’ is wearing (I have always thought of it as a leather one)?
Oh yes, that hat is still going strong! I use it when it is raining mostly. It isn’t leather, but a very sturdy fabric that I can spray with protector to make it water resistant. I bought it when we got our first dog for dog walks and it has proved its worth! 😃
They look fantastic! You have such a nice variety of shapes and colors, and I also think the birds will love all the seeds. Do you think you’ll try this again or are the shrubs filling in too fast? I’m amazed by how quickly everything is growing.
I’m trying to tie a few of mine in, but every year things fall apart into a mess once the season winds up. I kind of let it go anyway at that point 😉
I will try it again next year but on a smaller scale…. not sure it could ever look this good again unless we have another year. A few more shrubs are planned too, so there may not be many big gaps to fill. I know what you mean about letting things go. I think that is just starting to happen here….😉 We have already had some morning mists very reminiscent of ‘late summer’…
Oh these are totally my colours, warm reds, oranges and yellows: I love them all! Earth Walker is a beauty. Have you also tried Velvet Queen? Nice to ‘see’ you btw!
Can you believe I have bought my seed for next year already, and Velvet Queen is one of them! 😉
Haha, great! I’m trying it this year, it’s going to flower soon, can’t wait to see it.
The edge is beautiful and so full of flowers. They grow sunflowers commercially here but we have never been very successful with them. Seeing your edge makes me think we should try again next year. Amelia
I was lucky with the weather here, but I’d say it is worth trying as they do make such a great show. And the bees love them! 😉
Goodness, some are so big. It is impressive that they stand up like that out in the open. I grew only a few behind a sign, with the expectation that they would grow up and over the sign, which is about eight feet tall. The shade back there was too much. They just fell over before getting to the top. While that was going on, another unknown sunflower mysteriously appeared somewhere else in a landscape, and is doing well now.
I have staked all of mine after that storm early July… the wind is the problem here, and in dry years I do have to water sunflowers and they don’t do as well. I am amazed at their height though as well!
Love all your sunflower varieries. I have just two, Italian White and Lemon Queen, plus the Tithonia.
My Tithonia are wonderful this year – so glad I started growing them. All thanks to you Jason. I don’t think I have seen them on anyone else’s blog. 😃
Your sunflowers are just beautiful, Cathy. And to think you grew them from seed and nursed them on your window sill. You were definitely rewarded for your nurture. 🙂
They have been wonderful Debra. Yes, definitely worth the effort. 😃
This is an amazing garden, almost like a wall of riotous color.
Oh thank you Karen! That is precisely the effect I was aiming for! 😃🤗
Awesome work you 2 did there! Most of my sunflowers were eaten by rodents 😦
Oh no! We have mice and now the squirrels are eying our hazelnuts… there isn’t always enough to share as they get there first! LOL! Luckily nobody has nibbled my veg yet. Have a great week Eunice! 😃🤗
Keep them rodents at bay 🙂 Same right back at you Cathy!
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