My 5 Favorite Sunflower Varieties for the Cutting Garden
Be bright, sunny, and positive. Spread seeds of happiness.
Rise, shine, and hold your head high.
- Advice from a Sunflower
Sunflowers are known as “happy” flowers and I can’t argue with that!
Sunflowers have always been one of my favorite flowers. Their bright colors just bring me joy, which is why I knew for sure I’d be including sunflowers in my cutting garden!
There are two types of sunflowers — branching types and single-stem types. I prefer single-stem sunflowers for the cutting garden as they produce sturdy stems, have a long vase life, and make great focal flowers in bouquets.
Here at Flowerville Farm, we grow mostly ‘ProCut’ Series Sunflowers. ProCuts are pollenless hybrids that do not produce pollen, meaning they won’t drop pollen on your counter or table when you bring home a bouquet with these sunflowers in it!
While ProCuts do not produce pollen, they do produce nectar, so they are still great for bees and other beneficial insects in the garden.
Additionally, ProCuts are fast-blooming and day length neutral, so they can be grown summer through fall.
As a result, sunflowers are a great addition to the vegetable garden and a must-have in the cutting garden!
Below, I share my 5 favorite sunflower varieties for the cutting garden. Enjoy!
1. ProCut Gold Lite
These are our absolute favorite sunflowers that we grow here at the farm! Unlike classic sunflowers with black centers, these have gold and green centers. They are among the most vibrant flowers that we grow and we can’t get enough of them!
ProCut Gold Lite Sunflower with visiting bees in our cutting garden.
2. ProCut Horizon Upright
These sunflowers have upward facing blooms and are great for 360 degree bouquets with a single focal sunflower. They have vibrant, orange petals and a black center. I love using them in bouquets!
ProCut Horizon Upright Sunflower in one of our Blooming Joy Mason Jar Arrangements.
3. ProCut Orange Excel
A vibrant, pollenless sunflower with the classic look — deep orange petals and a black center. These are great for summer and fall bouquets and are loved by florists. We love them!
ProCut Orange Excel Sunflowers in one of our Pumpkin Bouquets.
4. ProCut White Lite
Another gold and green-centered variety with white petals that have a wintery feel to them. We are excited to offer these unique sunflowers late this fall!
Photo Courtesy of The Gardener’s Workshop where we purchase our seeds. Ours have not bloomed yet.
5. Teddy Bear
Teddy Bear Sunflowers are a short, branching type of sunflower. While the stems are not super long, they are fluffy and a fun addition to small summer bouquets. They’re also fun to grow with kids!
Branching Teddy Bear Sunflowers in our cutting garden at Flowerville Farm.
There you have it, my 5 favorite sunflower varieties for the cutting garden! If you’ve never grown sunflowers, I encourage you to grow some for yourself or as a project with your children or grandchildren. They’ll love it and so will you!
Our son with one of our ProCut Gold Lite Sunflowers we grew in our cutting garden this year.
BONUS: SUNFLOWER FUN FACTS
Young sunflowers track the sun’s movement throughout the day, looking east in the morning and west at sunset. This phenomenon is called ‘heliotropism.’
One sunflower is actually made up of thousands of tiny flowers. The yellow/gold/orange petals of a sunflower are called ray florets and their role is to attract pollinators. The face (or disc) of a sunflower is made up of thousands of tiny flowers called disc florets. These produce pollen and nectar.
Pollenless sunflowers produce only nectar, but can be pollinated by insects coming from pollen-producing sunflowers.
You can control the size of your sunflowers by how close you plant them together. Want small sunflowers? Plant them close together. Want big ones? Plant them farther apart.
Sunflowers are native to North America. This means they’re great for pollinators, so be sure to include them in your garden!
Sunflowers are daisies. Sunflowers belong to the daisy family Asteraceae. This family has over 1,500 genera and more than 20,000 named species! Other members of this family include chrysanthemums and lettuce.
There is no other flower that has the words “flower” in its name.
The tallest sunflower was recorded in Germany in 2016, measuring 30 ft 1 in!
