Succession Planting Sunflowers
When planting sunflowers, depending on the variety you are planting, you will like to succession plant them or not to get an extended blooming season.
ProCut sunflowers for example, is a type of sunflower widely used by florists for bouquets due to their many qualities. ProCut sunflowers are a single stem plant that will produce only one flower per plant, but the flower is pollen-less and the stem is strong. ProCut sunflowers are not so big, depending how far apart you plant them, and so they can be easily stuck in flower arrangement. They also grow quickly compared with other varieties, these will bloom is about 55 to 60 days. ProCut sunflowers also come in a widely variety of colors
On the other hand, branching sunflower ca be quite tall, up to 15 feet tall with flower heads larger than a foot in diameter. These heirlooms sunflowers do have pollen and one plant will produce many flowers. They also come in a wide variety of colors.
When succession planting sunflowers, you have to consider when will be your first and last frost. Plant your first round of seeds after all danger of frost have passed. If you have the space and resources, you could start them inside a few weeks before your last frost and then transplant them once all danger of frost has passed.
Plant your second round of seeds one or two weeks after you planted the second and so on. The last succession planting should be about 60 to 80 days before your first frost. That way your last succession planting will bloom before your first frost. Know that there is a risk of having an early frost, so I’ll suggest to be conservative with the last succession planting.
