Growing Mexican Sunflowers

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bellerayne Boca Raton, FL Jul 13, 2013

I recently acquired seeds for the Mexican sunflower. However, I looked up planting it and it is recommended that you plant them 2.5 to 3 feet apart. I live in an HOA and so can only have potted plants. If they are outside of my porch, they will get cut down. Is it really necessary to have them spaced so far? Can I just put a bunch of them in a long planter? Or will this inhibit growth?

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Diana_K Contra Costa County, CA(Zone 9b) Jul 13, 2013

They get big.

Imagine blowing up a large garbage bag like a balloon. That is how big they get. The taller varieties get as big as 2 garbage bags stacked on top of each other.

Now find planters large enough for the large root system it takes to support that large a plant.

Now plant them far enough apart that they are not crowding each other too much.

If you want a plant that is suited to smaller spaces, then do some research into dwarf sunflowers like Teddy Bear, and smaller plants like Blanket Flower, Black Eyed Susan, Echinacea (smaller varieties), Dwarf Zinnia and so on.

This message was edited Jul 13, 2013 4:14 PM

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bellerayne Boca Raton, FL Jul 14, 2013

In the bag I received them in, it says this variety grows to about 4' tall, and that once they are 5" long to move them into a 1-gallon pot

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PAgirl60 Tobyhanna, PA(Zone 5a) Jul 15, 2013


I grew Mexican sunflowers last summer from seed. They were Burpee SUNDANCE variety, a shorter version (growing height 3 feet) than the TORCH. I grew them in a large round 16" diameter flower pot. I think there were about 4 - 5 plants in the pot, spaced maybe 6-8 inches apart. They did great for me. I would have grown them again this year, but it was already too late in the season to start them in my PA zone 5a.

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