Guess what I got in the mail???
We participated in the Great Sunflower Project last year and it was a wonderful experience. I encourage all who can grow and observe sunflowers to participate. I know it seems early to start thinking about growing sunflowers, but this is really the time of year to start the planning aspect of the garden.
Get more information about this fun summer activity here: Great Sunflower Project.
I just wanted to let you know that they are charging $3 this year.
-Phyllis
Phyllis,
Or you can find the Lemon Sunflower seeds to plant on your own if you have them locally. I didn’t want to bother so I was very happy to invest the $ for the seeds, just as a convenience. 🙂
They also accept data from other sunflowers if you send it separately. We did that last year as well.
Thanks for the note.
Yay! We are in! Looks fantastic!
Thanks for posting this! I think the boys would really enjoy doing this. I have the perfect spot to plant them, but it’ll mean digging up my marigolds :o( Oh well…I can plant the marigolds in another place! :o)
On a side note…we planted sweet peas last fall and they have climbed to 8 feet! They are in full bloom and are soooo beautiful! :o) Seeing bees at them already!
I didn’t know about this project, but we already have our seeds ready for this year. My son loves growing sunflowers, especially the mammoth ones!
Alex,
You could grow your sunflowers and then use the ideas for counting for your own enjoyment and records. We enjoyed sitting quietly and just waiting to see the first bees come and watch their movements.
You could really do the bee counting with any of your garden flowers.
Oh, I can hardly wait until my garden is grown!
Thank you for this post, we are in….at least we are planning on it!
Thank you!
This will be our first year to participate and we’re really excited! We just got our seeds!
Barb, thanks for the post! We love sunflowers and bees! We have planted around 2 dozen Mammoth russian sunflowers. Will these be okay to use or do I need to buy the lemon sunflower seeds?
~Amanda
Barb,
Thanks for the link. I ordered my seeds last night and we are very excited to do this study!
I wonder if bees would find their way up to our high rise apartment balcony? We did have quite a show last year from a couple mantises, walking sticks and even a giant Asian wasp.
BTW, there is a bee identification link on the Sunflower Project sight that is nicely done. Shows the difference between a couple types of bees and wasps or flies.
Thanks for the reminder! We did this last year, too, and I meant to order mine… or look at the store and I haven’t done either. Oops!