Sunflowers 🌻

Sunflowers – quite possibly my favourite flower! Every year, I marvel at how 20’ tall flowers with a stalks as thick as my thigh can grow in just one season from a tiny black and white seed.  

They provide some shade over my tomato plants so they don’t get scorched by the sun, they feed the pollen-loving insects that buzz around my yard, the blue jays and cardinals get a fresh treat right from the flowers when they turn to seed, and those squirrels that I love to hate enjoy the challenge of climbing them to feast on their centres.

In folklore, sunflowers symbolize loyalty, strength, and positivity — a plant that radiates light and absorbs it in return.

Since one of my goals was to use as much seeds from each year’s harvest to plant the following year’s crops, sunflowers seemed like they would be an easy one to grow and re-grow without having to buy seeds from the nursery.

What I learned: sunflowers will create their own hybrids from the many birds and bees cross-pollinating them.

Year one, I purchased seeds for giant sunflowers and for the ones that branch off to grow many blooms. I decided I preferred the giant sunflowers, so harvested the seeds from the tallest one (>12 feet), filling 2/3 of a 64 oz mason jar.

In the spring, I shared the seeds with friends, planted some early to sell as starters on FB Marketplace, and planted seeds in my front garden (avoiding the plot with the hydrangea – they are not friends with sunflowers!), my butterfly garden, and between the individual plots of my vegetable garden. (You may find recommendations against planting sunflowers among veggies, since their enormous leaves create so much shade, but my garden is lucky enough to receive full sun from 7am to 8pm in the summer, so a little shade is actually beneficial in my case. Use your best judgement when deciding whether to plant sunflowers with your veggies.)

The results: a wild combination of huge-headed flowers on multiple branches that were not strong enough to hold up the weight of the blooms! Many of them fell and snapped off on their own before they could bloom; many more were devoured by the squirrels before even opening; a few grew single tall flowers, but still without the strength to hold their own heads up.

Lesson learned: If you want to harvest sunflower seeds to plant next year, only plant one type of sunflower!

I did manage to grow 2 practically perfect hybrid specimens: their tallest stems were around 10’ with blooms about a foot across, with a couple of smaller, perfect flowers branching off further down.

Once the best one had lots of plump, ripe seeds, I cut it down to dry and harvest.

Here’s the method:

1. Watch for the centre of the flower to turn to seed. This is easy to spot, but you’re going to want those seeds to be very visible, and the little pollen-filled florets will start turning brown and falling off.
2. When most (at least 1/2 - 3/4 of the centre of the flower) of the seeds you can see are plump with that black stripe, use secateurs or a sharp knife to cut the flower off before the birds start feasting!
3. Trim the stem to only a few inches so you can lay the bloom flat & face-up to dry. I use a big tray with open sides for ventilation – it can get moldy/mushy if you leave it too long without fresh air.
4. Pull off the yellow petals and set them aside on a tray to dry out and use later for spells or crafts, whatever works for you, and wait for the brown florets to dry up so they easily fall off when you gently rub your hand over them (a day to three days).
5. Start pulling exposed seeds. Grab the biggest ones you can find with your fingertips and wiggle it a little as you pull, sort of like pulling out a loose tooth. Keep an open container nearby to collect the seeds (I like a loaf pan; fairly small, but still open to let the seeds air and dry). Depending on the size of your flower, you may not be able to collect them all in one sitting. My giant sunflowers sit on my kitchen island for a week or so, and I devote almost a half hour every morning to pulling seeds plus every time I pass by, I stop and pull out a dozen or so more seeds.
   This gets easier the more you’ve pulled, so keep at it. Check the underside of the flower often for soft spots or mold and work a little faster if you see any of that starting.
   You can also bend the flower backwards to expose more of the seed surface to grab.
6. Let them sit in the bowl you collected them in for about a week to fully dry out, stirring them around with your hand a few times a day. When they make that nice hard shell sound, you can store them in a big envelope or a mason jar until planting time next year.

If you are looking for a spiritual/witchy use for those petals you’ve set aside, try brewing a tea of sunflower petals in water, and use it to sprinkle around your altar or sacred space to increase energy for solar-related spellwork.

You can use sunflower petals in a ritual bath for a pick-me-up if you are grieving or simply feeling down. Be cautious with your intention with this one, though, as sunflower baths can also be used to help boost fertility.

Take a look at the Witchy Stuff tab for instructions to create a Solar Blessing Jar with your petals and a few other ingredients you probably already have.

Every season, sunflowers remind me of one simple truth: growth takes time, but it’s worth it.

You don’t need perfect conditions to thrive — just the courage to reach for the light and stand tall where you’re planted.

If you’ve never grown sunflowers before, I recommend giving it a try next spring. There is nothing like looking up at a 20-foot flower that started as a seed in your hand, knowing you helped make it happen. 🌻

⭐❤️