Van Gough Sunflowers

I wish for the life of me I could recally the variety. They were from the 'seeds of Italy' seed packets you see in many UK garden centres. If I find the variety I will post it on here. I grew these very successfully in 2009. They were the last of all the varieties that I planted to bloom. They are a bit like teddy bear sunflowers but obviously there is the benefit that they are not dwarf flowers. They look stunning mixed with traditional sunflowers and placed in a plain vase.

Moulin Rouge sunflower - can't be beaten for colour!

Love the colouration on these fab flowers. These are quick and easy to grow but the petals dont last as well as the yellow varieties. Relatively tall but spindly stems. Top flower is a Mezzulah and the bottom 2 are the orangy red Moulin Rouge variety.

More sunflowers! Including bonsai Mezzulahs

Here is my attempt at growing the Mezzulah sunflower bonsai style - containing the roots in the small pots so that they can only grow so tall. The result is perfectly formed twins which stayed blooming in my porch for about a month. These were grown indoors throughout their lifetime.

Mezzulah Sunflowers

Here are some Mezzulah shots from 2009. These are fabulous large head sunflowers which produce lots and lots of large seeds. The seedheads become so heavy by October the sunflowers usually are bent double with the weight of the seeds. The seedheads are often the size of a large dinner plate. Amongst my fave variety of sunflower!
Above is the unfurling 'Black Beauty' sunflower. The flowers are sold by Laura Ashley seeds but you may be able to get them through other suppliers. They grow in tall clumps of flowers with several flowers to a stem. They take a bit longer to grow than typical yellow sunflowers in my experience. Under bright light or a camera flash they appear a deep marroon colour - a fantastic addition to any cottage garden.








Above a tall pot grown sunflower.....it is possible to grow them tall in medium sized pots if you choose the right variety. Right at the top you can see my 'mini field' of sunflowers I grew on the veggie patch in 2009. They made me smile all summer long : )

The fab thing about sunflowers is that you can't help but smile when you see one

Some of my sunflowers

Cottage Garden 2010

Hello and a warm welcome to my blog. This is a new blog. I plan to upload some pictures of some of the happy things in my garden : )