Sunflower, Russian Mammoth (Helianthus annuus), packet of 30 seeds, organic

Family:  Aster (Asteraceae)

Annual.  60 days to maturity.

Single-headed sunflowers to 12 feet, with fat flowers to 14 inches across, bearing striped seeds that are the best kind for eating and for feeding to birds. They can be planted to make a living fence, albeit a fence that lives through the summer only.  Striped-seeded sunflowers can also be used for making sunflower oil. This is one of the best oil plants that can be easily grown by gardeners in the temperate north.  Native American peoples extracted the oil by boiling the seeds in large pots, whereupon the oil rose to the surface of the water and could be skimmed off.  Think about it.  How would you do in your household without cooking oil?  It’s an ancient commodity, and it behooves us to maintain the ability and the right to make our own.  Direct seed in the garden after the soil has warmed up in the spring or early summer.  Put sunflowers to the back, as they tend to block access if you put them right in front.  You can plant scarlet emperor beans at the same time, and they will run up the stalks.  Normally sunflowers are thinned to at least a foot between each plant, and the rows are spaced about 3 feet apart.  These Russian sunflowers under the right conditions will grow to 12 feet tall, with large heads filled with the meaty seeds.

30 seeds/pkt., Certified Organically Grown