Grow Sunflowers For These Benefits

Add sunflowers to your yard; and do yourself and the planet a solid.

Why should you add Sunflowers into your garden?

I think most people know about sunflowers and how they track the arc of the sun as it traverses the sky during the day. If you didn’t know that, it’s another little interesting tidbit of why they add character into a garden or yard.  On top of that character quality, the leaves are edible, the flower petals are edible, and the seeds are edible. However, you need to have the right type of sunflower(i.e. Mammoth varieties) to eat the seeds. Although humans require the Mammoth variety, all the types of  sunflower seeds(black and striped)are eaten by birds and distributed; but humans typically eat the larger striped ones. Birds even feed on the leaves to supplement their diet.  Most people do not eat the flower petals or the leaves of the sunflowers, but they should start. Sunflowers are easy to grow and provide an easy opportunity for a  backyard farm to table plant.  They are multi-purpose; attracting bees to your yard, providing food for the birds, or you if you get it before them. After it blooms, and even after the birds eat the leaves, you will have the petals to enjoy or garnish a dish with.  Growing sunflowers from seed is fairly easy as well, and they cost quite a bit at the store.  

Here’s a quick recap on the benefits of growing sunflowers:

1.     Can save money, by not buying flowers at the store

2.     An easy candidate for a backyard, farm-to-table opportunity

3.     Edible flower petals make beautiful garnish, as seen on salad image above

4.     Helps the bees

5.     And the birds, as seen in images below

6.     Multiple uses throughout its lifecycle

7.     Heat tolerant

8.     Add personality to your yard as a sun tracker

9.     Can pick the flowers to bring inside for the Fall season

10.   Many varieties to choose from

11.   Can also dry the seeds in a small pot and let the birds pick at them, as shown below