Description
Valentine is a very handsome sunflower. Soft, primrose yellow petals surrounding a chocolate brown center. It's hard not to love it. This variety doesn't drop its pollen so you won't be wiping up pollen from underneath your flower vases. It still great for the bees though - producing pollen and nectar for them to forage.
Sunflowers have earnt their name because of the way their flowers follow the trajectory of the sun over the course of the day. Although sunflowers look like a single bloom, botanically, they are actually an inflorescence made up of hundreds of little florets. There are disc flowers which make up the main central part of the flower head. These are fertile and turn into seeds. Then there are the ray flowers around the edge of the head which look to us like petals and are completely sterile. The disk flowers open sequentially from the outside in over 5-10 days.
Sow: Mar-April undercover, May-June outside.
Plant: 4-6 weeks after sowing at 60cm. Wait until risk of frost has passed.
Harvest: Pick stems when flowers are half open. 80cm stem length.
Vase: Expect a vase life of at least 1 week.
Notes: Plant seedlings deep - this will help with their stability because sunflowers can grow roots from their stems. Plants can grow to 1.5m - you might need to stake them.
~25 seeds
SunVal-00060-MOL-OG
98% Nov 24
