I have a miniature sunflower I like very much that is only about an inch accross and about 10 inches tall. It is really very very small, especially when compared to Barbara's of Gardening in Mannheim, Germany's sunflowers in her post
here. Hers is 12 ft tall with up to 20 blossoms per stalk!
Have you ever grown or seen a sunflower as tiny as this size ?
The seeds came from the highlands. Somebody gave them to me. I placed 10 seeds in a potting mix on 8th July 2010. I was overjoyed when all the seeds germinated the next day. They grew fast.
When the second set of leaves appeared, I applied a general purpose liquid fertilizer. The leaves look fat and juicy.
“My Miniature Sunflowers”, a copyrighted post, was written for My Nice Garden blog by Autumn Belle @ http://www.mynicegarden.com/ on September 5th, 2010.
I notice that my plants began to grow taller and taller but the stems were long and slender. There were very few leaves. Soon I saw flower buds but there was only 1 flower bud for each plant. The stems were so thin that they could hardly support their flower heads. So I tie them to a bamboo stick for support. I also moved them to full sun hoping that some solar energy will be good for them.
This is the best I could get from my sunflowers. Today, after almost two months of growing, they have reached the end of their life cycle. They are strerile and left behind no seeds. Their vital statistics:
Height: 8-10 inches
Diameter: 1.5 inches
No. of blooms per plant: 1
No. of leaves: 6 - 8
I miss my little ones and I will try to grow another batch. This time I'll grow them in a cooler place near the shade. Any suggestions?
