Sunflower Waooh!

A compact, heavily branching plant smothered in dozens of classic golden sunflowers of 10 to 12cm, and it does not stop. Most sunflowers give you a defined summer performance. This one produces stems continuously from July to the first frosts.

Six plants will keep a household in sunflowers for four months. That is what it is for; if cutting is the priority in your patch, this is the variety. It is pollenless, so the dark disc stays clean and there is nothing to shed on a table, and it is self-supporting at 90 to 120cm, so there is no staking.

Sow one seed per pot from late March, because the taproot comes fast and resents disturbance, and plant out at 30 to 40cm, closer than the tall varieties, since the habit is bushy rather than upright. For a temporary flowering hedge, run a double staggered row at 25 or 30cm. Protect from slugs for the first fortnight, water deeply at the base, and feed every couple of weeks through midsummer.