Black Russian Sunflower

Ordered some these seeds of this variety of sunflower. Has any one ever grow this or any other sunflower. Any tips or advice would be appreciated.


Black Russian ( photo / image / picture from Clay_22's Garden )



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I grow sunflowers every year. I agree with Eileen that they seem to thrive on neglect. I've tried starting/transplanting them, but they work much better direct sowing in the ground. The only thing I really do is make sure they have enough water in the beginning stages (until they are about six inches high). After that it's pretty much forget them and enjoy the show.

 

I don't know if 'Black Russian' is the same sunflower that black oil sunflower seed comes from, but it appears so. I use this seed in bird feeders and as chicken fodder, and any of these seeds that get missed on the ground sprout and grow, even seed left out in the dead of winter. The little mammals around here like the squirrels and chipmunks hide caches of these seed from my feeders in little holes everywhere and in the spring you see little sunflower seedling tufts popping up in the woods, in the lawn, in my flower pots... And they grow! The seeds that end up in decent soil, like the ones that grow in the back of one of my flower beds that I don't pull, they get to be about 10 feet high and some of the heads get to be a foot wide. The birds find them and they love to eat the seed, so I leave many of the stalks up and intact. I also harvest the seed and store it for later use. The blooms themselves are much loved by bees. They're a great sunflower to plant. The birds prefer the small seeded black ones more than the large seeded striped types I find too. I know my chickens prefer them over the striped ones too.

Oh! And of course, I cut the smaller side blooms and bring them inside as cut flowers. They smell very nice in the house if you get enough of them.

Can't say enough good things! They're a staple around here!