On Tuesday we talked about gardening for birds and today let’s talk about one of our feathered friend’s favorites - sunflowers.

More often than not, when we purchase bird seed from the store, that seed mix contains sunflower seeds. But there’s no reason why you can grow your own sunflowers to provide seeds for the birds. Plus, you’ll get the extra bonus of these giant, beautiful flowers. I say flowers, but those giant flowers at the top of the stalks are actually a grouping of hundreds of tiny little flowers called florets and each of those tiny little florets produce a seed. The large petals are colorful protective leaves.

Some might assume that the sunflower gets its name from those giant yellow flower clusters, but it actually comes from the way the flower head tracks the sun during the day. The process of the flower head tracking the sun is called heliotropism, and it helps the plant process as much as the sun’s energy as possible.

Two-inch soil temperatures are still a little chilly, but within the next couple of weeks we should have soil temps above 60 degrees and be ready to plant. Either way, when you plant your seeds, you will want to plant them in a location that gets full sun.

If you plan on planting several (and who wouldn’t) place your seeds about 6 inches apart at a depth of 1 to 2 inches. Once they germinate, you can thin them to about every 12 to 15 inches. If you are going to plant a lot of sunflowers, in multiple rows, plan on about 2 to 3 feet between the rows. Sunflowers are pretty easy to grow, but you will need to keep them watered.

Oftentimes, sunflowers are considered a “trap crop” meaning that they can help to lure unwanted insects away from your vegetable crops. Unwanted insects in this category would include leaf-footed bugs, aphids, and stink bugs.

Sunflowers can fall victim to powdery mildew or rust, but healthy plants fair pretty well. If your sunflowers do develop one of these diseases, organic pesticides such as copper fungicide or neem oil would be good to use. If using neem oil, try on a small area first because warm temperatures, combined with horticultural oils can do damage to your plants.

You should be able to harvest the seeds from your sunflowers in the early fall. They will be mature when the back side of the head starts to change color from green to a more yellow brown. The flower head will also stop tracking the sun and simply bow it’s head.

When it’s time to harvest the seeds, cut the seed heads off, leaving about a foot of stalk attached and hang them in a warm, dry, well-ventilated place for a few weeks. Once the heads are dry, you should be able to rub the seeds off with your gloved hands or by rubbing two seed heads together. Or you can just place the seed head in your bird feeder and let the birds have at it. Good luck.

You can get answers to all your gardening questions by calling the Tulsa Master Gardeners Help Line at 918-746-3701, dropping by our Diagnostic Center at 4116 E. 15th Street, or by emailing us at mg@tulsamastergardeners.org. Photo: OSU Ag. Comm.