Helianthus, Maximillian Sunflower, Prairie Sunflower 'Santa Fe'

Going with a positive rating for now. In the first season with this plant I moved it in mid summer and it went into shock, but recovered ...Read Morenicely. In the second season it was a mammoth — at least eight feet tall. Unfortunately just a week or two into its blooms we had an early wet snow and frost that knocked about half of this monster down and damaged most of the blooms. I am hoping this is an aberration, though, and will be adding more in the spring. Does well for me with no extra care or attention.

Love this plant! I purchased one last year as an addition to my xeriscape garden and it has done amazing. The first year it just put ou...Read Moret one tall stalk, but this spring it came back with about a dozen stalks and has grown three feet tall. This is especially impressive considering that we (Colorado) are in a drought and severe heat wave. I've given it some supplemental irrigation (every two weeks), but it seems to be one of the most xeric plants in my garden. I suspect it would do well on even less water but I'm hesitant to try before it is more established.

The only caveat so far is that the tall stalks bend in heavy winds, but I suppose this could be easily remedied by staking or planting in a protected area (I moved mine against wall this spring).

Looking forward to the blooms this fall. :)

I bought this plant last year and only planted it in an 8" round container. I left it in the back of my house by near our gathering area...Read More which is mosly sunny and watered it about every 2 or 3 days whenever I took the hose out to water the rest of plant beds and garden areas.

It grew to about 5 feet high, on 3 branches, with many colorful and bright yellow blooms. But in september it broke from the wind and started dying down. I left it outside in the pot this winter and hopefully it will come back again this year. It is a nice plant. If I had protected it better from the wind it would have gotten taller I'm sure. If it comes back I am going to be planting it staked, in a show off area.

NEGATIVE
For the past two years I've had this cultivar, it hasn't made it to full bloom. Apparently, our growing season is too sh...Read Moreort (120 days--zone 4) as our first frost hits us just about the time the blooms start to open. I am planning to order the cultivar 'Dakota Sunshine' as this one is claimed to bloom within a shorter growing season. It is yet to be proven.

POSITIVE
A VERY BIG plus for this plant is the fact that it withstood our nasty grasshopper plague we've had this past year...I would say with less than 1% grasshopper damage. Ninety to ninety five percent of my perennials were eaten down to the nub and many of our young trees were skeletonized and/or stripped of their bark. So, this says alot about the sunflower's exceptional vigor and resistance to the six-legged terrors. I would recommend this robust perennial especially if you have bald areas you would like to fill quickly and substantially...only get a cultivar that is best suited for your particular growing zone bloom-wise.

As a side note, two other plants that survived the grasshoppers mostly intact were false hollyhock (sidalcea) and twilight coneflower (however they devoured and killed my sundown coneflower). I don't use pesticide and organics didn't even phase them.