Now is a great time to get started on this project!  We had so much fun planting ours.

Sunflower Design

This is one of the sunflowers that grew up around the sunflower house.  It was a Russian Mammoth that was on top of a stalk about 10 ft tall and the seed head (minus petals) was the size of a large platter!  I love the patterns. We had sunflower of every shape and size around our sunflower house, but we had the Mammoth at the corners and once every foot to provide the structure of the house.

Building a sunflower house is so easy.  Just dig a small trench (ours was in the shape of a square) but leave a space for a door.  Plant the sunflower seeds in the trench according to the package directions.  We also planted morning glories to grow up the sunflower stalks.  The original idea was that the morning glories would grow up the stalks and then we could tie strings across from side to side at the top to make a roof.  The morning glories never quite caught up with the sunflowers, but that’s OK.  They sure were  pretty.

Samantha's Sunflower House

This is a picture of Samantha’s Sunflower House just as it was beginning to really grow.  As the flower heads matured, it was so much fun to watch the birds try to free the seeds.  What a great summer playhouse!

For Samantha’s birthday that year, we had  a garden party and sat in her sunflower house to read the book “Sunflower Houses” by Eve Bunting. We also gave sunflower seeds as party favors!

We have not had a summer without sunflowers ever since!  Here are some more of our sunflower pictures.

Multibloom Sunflowers

Unopened Sunflower Bud

How high is the sun?