Sunflower - ProCut Plum

HELIANTHUS ANNUUS

Hands down my favourite sunflower! Buttercream tips fade into muted plum brushings on the petals, with a dark pollenless (aka not so messy, longer lasting) centres!

The ProCut sunflower series are bred specifically for cut-flower production. They're a single-stem type so don't pinch as they won't branch out & flower.

You can manipulate single-stem sunflower sizes by changing how close you plant, and how much you water. I prefer smaller blooms as they're easier to work with in bouquets, so I plant super close (about 10cm apart in the row, and about 15–20cm between rows) - if I had them in a tunnel or lived somewhere drier I could also help keep them smaller by barely watering them once they started taking off.

If sowing direct make sure you keep the birds & mice from finding them - covering their bed with shadecloth helps with birds until they're well germinated. If transplanting, don't let them linger in their trays for too long before planting out.

Succession planting every few weeks is recommended, as each succession will flush out within only 1-2 weeks.

Support is recommended - I just corral around the whole bed, and try not plant them in the most exposed bed - ex-cyclone Fehi+Gita still haunt me after they flapped my first suns around something fierce at my old much more exposed farm, so I've been cautious with them ever since!

APPROX 18 SEEDS - TREATED