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The sunflower, with a scientific name Helianthus annuus, It is one of the most striking and appreciated plants, both for its spectacular flower, which is actually an inflorescence, and for the oil and the seeds that are obtained from it, the sunflower seeds. It is an astereous plant that has its origin in Central and North America, but is currently cultivated throughout the world. It is a very fast growing annual plant that can reach up to 3 meters in height in its largest varieties. It is characterized by its heliotropism, or the ability to rotate facing the sun when the plant is young, and it has been cultivated since ancient times, currently believing that the first to domesticate it were the inhabitants of Mexico around 2,600 BC. C.
Currently there is a great variety of sunflowers that differ in size as well as in shape and color. And what are the colors of sunflowers? Although we surely think of yellow, the truth is that its petals can be from yellow to brown, orange and dark shades of red. If you want to know some of the different types of sunflowers, keep reading us in this Green Ecologist article.
Big smile
The sunflower Big smile is one of the most popular of those considered dwarf sunflowers. It is a sunflower with very intense yellow petals, with the characteristic brown center. It is a small sunflower that tends not to exceed 30 cm in height, highly appreciated for its sweet aroma and its great decorative value, since its inflorescences are very showy and beautiful. It is commonly cultivated potted or small garden spaces.
Teddy bear
The sunflower teddy bear, or teddy bear in Spanish, is a variety of dwarf sunflower very striking looking. Its inflorescences are very different from the sunflower that we all think of when we mention the plant, and it is that they have a large number of petals elongated of different sizes that give it a spongy and soft texture, without the typical large brown center, which in this case is small and of a greenish-yellow tone.
Sunspot
The sunflower variety Sunspot It can be found in very different sizes, from half a meter to two meters, although all of them stand out for having a remarkably large inflorescence, which produces large amount of seeds.
Music Box
The sunflower Music box it's a kind of ornamental sunflower It is cultivated for the great decorative value of its inflorescences. This plant has ramifications and its petals show a gradient with different shades of red, orange and yellow of great intensity, which are impossible to miss.
Russian giant
The sunflower Russian giant it is very representative of the image that comes to mind when most of us think of sunflowers. It is a large plant that can reach up to 3 meters high and it is the product of Russian research in search of a sunflower that would produce a large amount of oil. Its center is brown and is surrounded by large yellow petals, with a very bright color. It is a very strong and resistant plant that needs little care and where the most important thing is, as in many others, that it receives a lot of sun.
Moonwalker
The types of sunflower Moonwalker it's another sunflower from big size, although it is far from the sunflower Russian giant. It usually grows up to a meter and a half tall and is characterized by its petals of pale yellow color, surrounding a dark brown center, as you can see in this image.
Velvet queen
The sunflower Velvet Queen It is one of the most striking types of sunflower that exists, since the petals of its inflorescence take on a showy burgundy color, which gives way to orange and dark brown in its center. It is a large sunflower that can reach up to 2 meters tall and that, in addition, produces a very particular aroma.
What care does a sunflower need
These are the basic sunflower care:
- As the name of the plant suggests, the most important thing with these fast-growing asteraceae is to give them as much sun exposure as possible. Always place your sunflower, both in pot and outdoors, at a point where it receives as many hours of light per day as you can, with a minimum of 6 hours of direct sun.
- When it comes to watering, they are very undemanding plants. So much so that it is only necessary to water them during their flowering. Unless the weather is extraordinarily dry, water your sunflower in the two weeks before and after flower production.
- They also need a soil with a very good drainage to avoid the excesses of humidity that harm them. Give them a sandy soil, light and rich in organic matter, especially in phosphorus and potassium, so that it can find the necessary nutrients for its rapid growth without difficulty.
- Many ornamental sunflowers bloom in just 70 days after being planted, and while most of them do so in summer, some species keep their flowers until fall.
We encourage you to learn more about it with these other Green Ecologist gardening guides on How to Plant Sunflowers and How to Care for Sunflowers.
If you want to read more articles similar to Types of sunflowers, we recommend that you enter our category of Outdoor Plants.
