I never really understood the interest in growing monster vegetables to see how big they can get. To me, the point of vegetable growing is to eat the things. But more often than not once a vegetable reaches gigantic proportions it is no longer edible.
But perhaps it’s akin to my fascination with sunflowers. I have grown short, bouquet-worthy sunflowers. I have grown stunning, nearly black sunflowers. I have grown dainty sunflowers. But what I really adore is a colossal sunflower. Towering sunflowers. The kind of sunflowers that makes visitors stop and say, “Is that real?”
Until this year the tallest sunflowers I have grown were Mammoth. They grew to about 8 or 9 feet, towering over the rest of the garden.
But this year I grew Titans—the biggest yet. I measured them this morning at 12 feet tall.
Visitors ask me if they are staked because it seems so improbable that a flower on a single stem that tall could stand up without assistance. But the stalks are nearly as round as my wrist, so they are standing tall all on their own.
Now, what’s bigger than a Titan?
Hi! I'm Robin Ripley author of Wisdom for Home Preservers, published by Taunton Press. I am also co-author of Grocery Gardening. Bumblebee is about my life in rural Maryland, my garden and my love of food, my little dogs and pet chickens. You can follow me on Twitter, Pinterest and Facebook. Thank you for visiting!
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Those are some cool sunflowers. Mine didn’t do much. I think the cooler weather and too much rain. I may try to grow more (shorter ones). Yours are lovely giants.~~Dee
.-= Dee @ Red Dirt Ramblings´s last blog ..Native flora perform double duty in the garden =-.
LOVE them. When I was a lad, I would see the very mature ones, the flowerheads of which were very droopy and bent with their seed loads, and say, “Look, they’re checking out their new sneakers!”
.-= dave bockman´s last blog ..Howdy Partner… =-.
Those tall sunflowers remind me of France. Is that what does it for you? They are awesome.
.-= Mr. McGregor’s Daughter´s last blog ..Feeling Austin- Texas =-.
Actually, it would be great to see them massed in the back field here, wouldn’t it? Now that would remind me of France!
Hi Robin. These are absolutely gorgeous! I’m so jealous! My Mammoth’s seem to have some sort of rust this year. Have you heard of that?
Hi Shannon,
These seem to have some sort of rust too. Now that I think about it, when I have grown Mammoth sunflowers they had some rust too. But the flower outruns it and I usually end up just picking off the yellowing lower leaves since I don’t want to spray near the fruits and veggies.
Robin
OMG, Wow! Those are tall sunflowers! Stunning! We grew the small ones this year. And I just got a packet of Mammoth ones that I am dying to try. How long did it take for these Titans to get that big?
.-= meemsnyc´s last blog ..Grapevines- before and after =-.
Hi Meems,
I went back to my Lee Valley garden journal to see if I recorded the date that I planted the seeds. Of course, I didn’t. But I did a lot of planting in mid-April (non-specific notes) and I think that’s when they went in.
Robin
Wow, Robin! Your Sunflowers have really become big 🙂 That’s impressive. Right now we’re trying to grow some too. It seems like they’ll become big too, but I’m wondering if they’ll become just as big as yours.
Do you have any good tips on how to make Sunflowers grow so tall?
Best,
Anette
.-= Anette the Gardener´s last blog ..Repotting Plants In a Container Garden =-.
Hummm. Tips? Well, give them plenty of room. Water regularly. Plenty of sun. That was helpful, huh?
Robin
That’s impressive, considering they were started from a seed in the spring. I’m adding Titans to my list for next year.
.-= Carol´s last blog ..Not Every Lily Is A Lily =-.
Wow, are those real? Seriously, I think I might need to try those next year!
.-= Leslie´s last blog ..Ideas I Am So Stealing! =-.
Who sells Titan seed? And have you tried Sunzillas? Renee’s sells them
.-= Kathy from Cold Climate Gardening´s last blog ..Garden Bloggers Bloom Day July 2010 =-.
Hi Kathy,
I bought these seeds from Baker Creek. If you try them you should know that there were only about 8-9 seeds in the package. They all germinated and it’s enough to fill the space, but that seems like a very few seeds to me.
I just read about the Sunzillas in the latest issue of the American Gardener. 16 feet! Those will definitely be on my list next year.
Robin
What a stunning sunny statement your sunflowers are. Bet the neighbours are impressed and the bees
Laura
.-= PatioPatch´s last blog ..A Garden Full of Wishes =-.
Hi PatioPatch. No neighbors here to see it! But the UPS guy likes them!
Those are fantastic sunflowers. We have sunflowers fields in our town – for oil production – but I don’t think they grow this tall.
.-= commonweeder´s last blog ..Cultivating Family =-.
Robin, do you harvest the seeds or let the birds do it? The squirrels would need ladders, I think.
.-= Susan´s last blog ..Crimson and clover =-.
I just leave the sunflowers in place over the winter. The birds always pick them clean. No real squirrel problems around here. I have baffles on the bird feeders.
Sunflowers make a garden so cheerful! I love your massive stand. The rains last year didn’t allow us a single bloom. So I’m reveling this year in our colony. They seem to watch over all the goings-on in the garden.
Thanks for sharing your source. I may try some giants next time around.
Love them!
I grew Paul Bunyan’s and they climbed to 14 feet.
Sending good wishes,
Sharon Lovejoy Writes from Sunflower House and a Little Green Island
Beautiful pictures. Didn’t plant any this year, but I love sunflowers. Can’t believe they are so tall.
I love your sunflowers. Ours didn’t do well this year–it’s been very cool. But last they were huge. Maybe next year will be better…
.-= Fallon Shay´s last blog ..Purple =-.
WOW!! i love those sunflowers!! it’s sooo awesome!
.-= BeekeepingSuccess´s last blog ..Hello world! =-.
Very impressive sunflowers!!!
I absolutely LOVE your site! I got hooked on it a couple weeks ago, reading previous posts and such. But I am very bummed that you haven’t written in over a month! The plants, tips, and good buys are very good handy in my book. Please keep writing!!
wow 12 feet, thats impressive!
.-= stone art blog´s last blog ..The ancient salt mines of Wieliczka- a blog post from Poland =-.