Sunflower

Sunflowers are the most openly joyful plant in the garden: tall, generous and impossible to misread, from 2-foot dwarfs to 12-foot giants, in yellow, orange, bronze, cream and near-red. They are native to North America, from the Plains to the Southwest. Direct sow after last frost into warm soil, an inch deep and 12 to 24 inches apart, and they flower in 70 to 80 days; sow every two weeks until midsummer for a harvest into autumn.

For cutting, branching varieties give far more stems per plant than single-stem types; look for 'Lemon Queen', 'Soraya' or any branching strain. The single-stem ProCut and Sunrich series give one perfect flower each, fast, and are sown close together. Pollenless types keep the vase clean. Give them full sun and average soil that drains; they tolerate poor ground and dry spells once rooted, though the big types want deep water in a drought.

Cut when the petals are just lifting away from the face and the disc is still tight, early in the morning; left too long they drop pollen and the vase life collapses. Bees of every kind work the open discs, and the seed heads left standing feed goldfinches, chickadees and nuthatches through fall. Deer, squirrels and birds take the seedlings and the seed, so protect both. The giant types need a stake in a windy spot.