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| I have an area about two ft by 10ft. I would like to plant sunflowers there. It's at the end of my driveway and across from it is a trellis (one side of the bed is my driveway, the other is the trellis). I would like to get some idea about what to plant on the trellis. I prefer something edible or perhaps a medicinal herb that blooms all season. My first question is will the trellis block too much light for me to grow sunflowers? My house faces West. Since I've never planted them, I have no idea how long sunflowers last. I would like to keep that area full of sunflowers by continuously planting from now until early summer. Is this a big enough, and sunny enough spot you think? (2nd question)
The trellis forms a courtyard which leads to our pool area so I'm having a hard time figuring out what to plant on the trellis so it will be pretty all year. (3rd question) The courtyard is concrete so other than this trellis I will only have one planter and its full of portulaca (spelling?) that comes back every year. Thanks for your help! |
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| Sure it's big enough; the flowers grow straight up, so you just need a spot big enough for their stems. Sunflowers (duh) like a lot of sun. Best ones I ever had were in some old fill dirt that got blistering hot western sun all day. Depending on what variety you'll be planting, you don't have to worry about other things shading them; if it's a sunny spot, THEY will shade everything ELSE. On your trellis, you might try something like clematis, which likes sun on the vine, but likes it's roots to stay damp; so the roots are down under the shade of the sunflower leaves, while the vine grows up the trellis. Oh, and sunflower will bloom all summer long until the frost comes, no need to re-sow. There's really no way for us to tell if your spot is sunny enough, it depends on so many factors, like what other things shade it (house, trees, etc). But if it gets the same amount of sun that keeps your portulaca happy, that sounds like a good deal of sun to me. |
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- Posted by oilpainter 3 (My Page) on Wed, Mar 24, 10 at 22:02
| If your house faces west and this bed ends at your driveway does this mean your bed runs north and south? If it does which end is your trellis on the north or the south. If it's on the north end and you are growing regular sunflowers--they can grow 5 feet tall-- then the sunflowers will take all the sun and shade the trellis.If the trellis is on the south end the trellis will shade the sunflowers. If on the other hand you grew dwarf sunflowers on the south side and Clematis the trellis, to the north of the sunflowers it would be perfect. Dwarf sunflowers grow no bigger than 3 feet and that would be the perfect height to shade the Clematis roots. |
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| There are many different varieties of sunflowers. What you should look for, since this is more of a display area, is not the kind that get a single main head, but rather the kind that are intended for flower production and cutting. If you keep the spent flowers cut off, they will continue to bloom for most of the season. The single headed plants are pretty ratty looking by mid August. For a vine, try planting one of the runner beans, scarlet, or pink. Edible pods and then edible seeds if you let them mature. The flowers are attractive to humming birds also. Plus, they are an annual so if you don't like them or they don't do well, you are not stuck with them next year. Good luck! Steve |
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