This isn’t the first year I grew Tithonia, also called Mexican Sunflower. This plant sure makes an impression in my garden this year making me think twice about letting seeds go to waste. When I picked the beautiful blooms in the summer for bouquets I was sure to save the dried flowers for their seeds. In this post, I’m going to share with you images from the garden and tips on saving the sunflower seed.
Mexican Sunflower In My Garden
Maybe it was the long winter we had in 2014 and how the soil seemed to take FOREVER to warm up before the seeds started to grow. This year the daisy-like flowers that towered in my garden to about 5 feet tall were a bloom I want to hang on to as long as possible. The plant started bloom mid-July and lasted until the hard frost in late October.
I think they look cool even after a few hard frost in the garden. The best thing about growing these sunflowers is they are disease resistant, bugs and deer seem to leave them alone.
When I look back on the past twelve years and all I’ve grown out in my country garden I can’t believe all the seeds I didn’t save and so easily could have. The hardest part of saving the sunflower seed for me is remembering to plant them in the spring. Keep in mind, not all seeds will produce like the original unless you are using an heirloom seed.
You will need
- a dry location
- container to store seeds
- marker to label the seed package
- a dried seed head
I’m looking forward to sharing these sunflowers as they grow next summer with you so be sure to follow my blog and connect by leaving a comment.
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I am excited to find out more about what sunflowers you enjoy growing in your home garden. If you grow the Mexican Sunflower please share a photo with me on social media using the links below. You can find me at @brenhaas on your favorite social media platforms. I can’t wait to share more with you soon.
Happy Sunflower Saving,
4 Responses
Bren,
I love (tithonia) Mexican sunflowers! I prefer Burpee’s shorter variety, Sundance. They only grow about 3 feet tall. Perfect for large pots! My only complaint is, I wish their bloom time started earlier than late July, early August. Up here in the Pocono Mountains, our growing season is relatively short. We really don’t have much of a Spring. We’ve had snow flurries as late as mid-May. Oh, we do get our mini heatwaves, but they don’t last long. I do have to admit though, we have an absolutely beautiful Autumn season. Winter is equally as lovely, but … long. And Summer, it seems like it’s gone in a blink of an eye!
Happy gardening,
Janie
These are such cheerful flowers.
Have a lovely Christmas holiday season.
FlowerLady
I love that orange. Seed collecting is something I’ve done for a very long time, but I like you, forget to plant them sometimes! I also get enticed by the colorful new seed packets that you see hit the shelves about late January or February. I collected a lot of seed this year and I’ve actually got a plan. I purposefully took photos of the flowers I knew I was going to take seed from and I plan to print them out and tape the picture to the envelopes of seed. Now I just need time to do it! Thanks for sharing your Mexican Sunflower!
Great tips …. thank you Jaime! I can’t wait to pick up a few packages of seeds for next summer along with the ones I saved from the plants in 2014.