Sunflower Experience, 2025

I ordered three types of sunflower seeds last winter. 

First is Valentine. This is pale yellow, 3-4" blossoms, up to 5 feet tall. 

Second is Holiday. This was supposed to be more traditional in color, although the flower size is still only 3-5", 5-6' tall.

The third is Autumn Beauty. This one has the darker flower, up to 8" across, and can get over 8' tall. 

I started seeds of all three indoors, earlier than I should have. I up-potted them in late April/early May, but it was so cool this spring that I didn't get them in the ground soon enough. 

I have also started all three from seed in a raised bed, in late May.

The shortest variety, Valentine, transplanted just fine. I don't particularly like them, though. You can't see the flowers all that well because of how thick the stems are. Definitely for cut flowers, which I don't really do. I don't think this one has pollen either, another reason I wouldn't plant it again. (Note to self: read descriptions more carefully!)

The middle one, Holiday, does not appear to have transplanted all that well. The flower at the top is very small. It is developing branches down the stalk, but those flowers will likely be even smaller. 

The tall one, Autumn Beauty, also does not appear to have transplanted well. The flower at the top is small. It is developing branches down the stalk, but those flowers will likely be even smaller. 

The flowers I planted in the raised bed are much more vigorous. So obviously transplanting sunflowers is not a great idea. Which is unfortunate, because last year none of my direct seeding worked --between chipmunks and earwigs, I didn't have a single sunflower plant. I did buy some wire cloches last year, for other plants, so maybe next summer I can try to protect the seedlings that way, at least from the chipmunks.

I'll likely come back and edit this post with more information about the flowers after the direct-seeded plants bloom.

 

Lots of Color

The area is getting lots of color now, from tulips, daffodils, redbud trees, fruit trees, etc. It got a bit too warm for a couple of days, but now we have a stretch in the 60s again, so the spring flowers will have a few more days before wilting from heat.

 

Spring has been slow this year, but the plus side to that slow warm up is that blooms on trees and shrubs never got set back by a frost or freeze. We only have a redbud tree, but in the general area I've seen flowering almond, rhododendron, and lots of flowering fruit trees, and they are all really full of flowers.

My favorite daffodils are always the ones with the dark center cup. 

 

The bicolor tulips in front here were added a few years ago, and only have blooms every so often. The tulips in the background are darwin hybrids. They started out as a bulb mix with red, pink, and white. Now, almost 20 years later, they've reverted to mostly yellow, but they are still a cheerful sight.

 

Spring Ephemerals

 We have a few spring flowers showing now. I think everything is going to bloom at once this spring, because of the cooler temperatures holding the earliest flowers back.

 

 

This is my first year with some iris reticulata, and it certainly is a beautiful vibrant purple. 

Snowdrops are finishing. I have some new crocus that still haven't bloomed yet, although the older crocus I have has come and gone already. Scilla and glory-of-the-snow are looking gorgeous right now. Daffodils are showing buds, but only a few are showing yellow yet, and only one flower of my earliest type has bloomed. Bluebells have buds. 

I can see the beginnings of the bleeding hearts, and the species tulips all have leaves up, but no buds yet. 

I have definitely lost some things this winter as well. The garden that the turkeys kept digging up has several dead plants. I planted my first hydrangea last summer, which is supposed to be okay growing with black walnut, and I don't see any budding on it yet. On the plus side, the Sweet William is coming back in both areas where I planted it, and I'm hoping it will take over in those places!

Also, I had to chase my first stupid rabbit out of the garden this morning. So far no obvious damage though.

Spring is getting here :-)

Yesterday I picked up my first load of mulch, along with some mushroom compost and potting soil.

I put the bags of mulch in an area that was the remains of a raised bed that I raked out but never got mulched last fall. It's going to be nice weather the rest of this week, so I'll open and spread them soon. The potting soil is for potting up the annuals I'm growing from seed. I've started some early, so they'll be farther along when they go in the ground, but I'll need to pot them up once before that.

Our soil temps are still pretty low, and not much is even poking up yet. That is likely because of the second blast of polar air we had in February, but it is going to be warmer than average this week so perhaps spring bulbs will start showing tips soon. 

My white hellebore had opening buds in December, but they were killed by the cold temps in January and February. I cut back the old foliage and dead flower buds today, but I don't know if it'll put out any new buds. The pink hellebore has something coming up, but I don't know if it'll be flowers or just leaves (like last year). 

Seedlings of four different salvias and pentas are coming along. This week I'm going to seed zinnias and sunflowers.

 

Returning Light

When I woke up this morning at 7 am, it was completely light out! Such a relief! And hopefully this past week is the last polar lobe we'll have to go through.

The world is in a dark time, but there are still joyful parts, and maybe it's more important now than ever to embrace them.

I've started some seeds: salvia and pentas. The red Summer Jewels sprang right up and already have a set of true leaves. The various blue salvias are proving to be very slow germinaters in comparison, but there are some coming up. 

Pentas are so funny --I have never in my life seen a tinier seedling. They are just microscopic for quite a while. I'm actually leaving them on the heating pad to see if they will grow a bit faster in warm soil. Last year they had hardly any growth by the time I had to get them in the garden.

I've started all of these a bit earlier than in past years, and I'm hoping to pinch and pot up at least the salvias in order to get blooms sooner. Last year's blue salvia didn't start blooming until September. 

I have zinnias, sunflowers, and tomatoes to start in March. Last spring the chipmunks ate all the sunflowers I seeded outside, so this year I'm starting them inside, and then caging them outside until the critters find them unappealing. 

Rob is slowly regaining some strength, and his PSA is holding steady at under one. For now, the hormone treatment is doing its job, and we go in to check numbers every three months.