We wondered just how high our giant sunflower would grow. We think it came from a packet of assorted flowers that Nancy scattered along the garden, but unlike other sunflowers that top out at two or three feet, this one went for the stars and reached 11 feet. The reason I know this is because we secured it to a ten foot pole and it grew another foot. The head of the sunflower spread about 10-inches, including petals, then stopped. But then we noticed two more smaller sunflower heads popping up. This is a sunflower that never says die.
The plant was so tall that I don’t think the squirrels even knew there were seeds up there, and they left it alone. But the goldfinches figured it out. I saw a little yellow beauty perched atop the larger head this morning.
Giant sunflowers are fun plants. I think next year we might plants several of these tall beauties on purpose.