August Sunflowers in Poland

Sunflowers, North American natives, brighten Polish garden plots and yards. Eight planting and design tips ensure sunflower success in any temperate climate.

I recently returned from a two-week vacation of cultural exploration mostly through the rural roads of Poland. Twenty-seven of us, organized by the The Polish Center of Discovery and Learning at Elms College, Chicopee (MA), traveled from Warsaw through Sandomierz, Tarnow, and Zakopane to Krakow.We saw farmers and their families putting-up hay, weeding vegetable fields as well as small plots and gardens of sunflowers.

Flower vendors on market squares like that in Krakow displayed buckets full of sunflowers, craft shops exhibited handwork depicting sunflowers and everywhere people carried gift bouquets that usually featured at least one sunflower. One of the nicest,items I bought for the equivalent of a few dollars was a 10-inch stemmed sunflower bloom made from natural hay and that dyed a yellow-gold.

Walking with a friend who is a Polish scholar through one of the market places, I commented on how much pleasure I took in all the sunflowers especially since they are native to North America, and not Eurasia. His head shot up as he expressed disbelief, "But I always associated sunflowers with Poland."

So, there on a sunny Polish afternoon, I told him about the origins of sunflowers, and their long and ancient trip to his part of the world. I promised to send a copy of my article Movies, Landscapes and Sunflowers to him, so he could learn even more about sunflowers.

You may not have a field in which to grow annual sunflowers, but they can be a part of your garden landscape. August is a good time in temperate zones to plan next season's garden of sunflowers. Good sources of great numbers of sunflower seed varieties are:

• Burpee Seeds,
• Renee's Seeds and
• Johnny's Seeds

Here are eight tips to keep in mind as you plan on how to show off a sunflower patch in the summer of 2008:

1. Sunflowers need full sun to produce brilliant color, critical foliage and strong stems.
2. Sunflowers also need a moderate amount of water in well-draining soils to thrive.
3. Sunflower heads will almost always face East, the direction of the morning sunrise.
4. Plant many different cultivars (cultivated varieties). How many depends upon available space. Different forms, colors and heights add dynamic interest.
5. Sunflowers grow best in medium and large beds when planted in ladder-fashion – tall kinds at the rear, shortest near the front and mediums in the center of the bed. This way there is no danger of tall varieties shaded out the smaller ones.
6. A hedgerow of tall sunflowers – some giants like Russian Mammoth grow to heights of up to 15 feet – can make up a barrier or focal point. In very little time, you can create a living fence of golden-yellow flowers and bright green leaves and stems.
7. Plant as many different varieties as possible - Different forms, colors and heights add visual interest in the garden and vase
8. Stagger seed plantings over time in early summer weeks. This will guarantee blooms all through summer and into fall. Planted this way, sunflower gardens stay dazzling all season long.

A Bonus: Flocks of colorful seed-eating birds attracted to mature sunflower seed heads is an added bonus when you grow a sunflower patch or hedge.

©Text by Georgene A. Bramlage. 2007. Reproduction without permission prohibited.