This fairly large sunflower (it was actually a triple-headed sunflower) came up as a volunteer in my herb bed. I thought it was going to be a dwarf sunflower at first; I would guess that it reached at least 9 feet tall. The birds have been snacking on the seeds, and I wanted to save a couple to see if they produce similar plants next summer. Niko decided to investigate it after I brought it in.
Our sunflowers all ended up blooming 30 days *ahead* of schedule this summer, most likely due to the incredible amount of rain we received in July, and also really hot temperatures in June and July. It looks like we’re going to have to buy some sunflowers for the wedding this September, but hopefully we’ll still have a few to use from our garden then.
We’ve got a dozen or so dwarf sunflowers that are ready to bloom in the next few weeks. The birds planted them for us all around our bird feeder and we didn’t have the heart to cut them down. If the timing is right, you’re welcome to them.