Sunflowers

[Road Runner]

I recently bought a potted sunflower from the store. It is different from the sunflowers I have grown in the past and those were all from seeds. I have never seen potted sunflowers sold before. I wonder if this is a new variety and if it will be a perennial instead of an annual. I sure hope so. The tag on the pot didn't say either way only to water it often and plant it in the sun. The name on the tag was; SUNFLOWER Helianthus annus Ballad. Does the word annus in the name mean that it is an annual?

This variety is different because it has several flowers on the same stem. Thanks in advance for any and all answers. Sandy

[VMWOOD]

Check out

info on this plant.

Marv-Montezuma, IA

[dps]

A decorative annual. Really designed for pot culture, so you don't

*have* to plant it, although it might benefit from a larger pot. As far as I know, Helianthus are all annuals. Heliopsis is sometimes called false sunflower, and has perennial varieties, but all the ones I've seen are tall and have small to moderate size (4") flowers. The Ball PDF file (q.v.) specifies only moderate watering.

I haven't grown that variety (I don't grow the short ones), but the tall sunflowers come in two types: single flowers and multi-branching. Some sunflowers will put up a primary flower and then after that is cut will put up an array of secondary branches with smaller flowers. I suspect the short ones are the single-flower types.

Road Runner wrote: