Helianthus annuus 'Red Sun' is a Half-Hardy Annual and the purest, most saturated red-flowered sunflower variety in the Bishy Barnabee's range — selected specifically for the clarity and intensity of its crimson-red colouring, which represents a distinct colour expression from both the graduated bicolour of Ring of Fire and the near-black depth of Chocolate. It is the tallest variety in the range, with a vigorous, branching habit that produces multiple large blooms per plant throughout the summer.

Why 'Red Sun' is Different from Other Dark Sunflowers: The colour distinction within the dark sunflower group is worth understanding clearly. Chocolate produces near-black mahogany with warm brown undertones — the deepest, darkest tone in the range. Ring of Fire produces a gradated bicolour with mahogany at the base graduating to golden yellow. 'Red Sun' produces a clean, pure, mid-tone crimson-red that sits between the warmth of Ring of Fire and the depth of Chocolate — neither brown nor orange, neither near-black nor bicolour, but simply, purely, unmistakably red. It is the most outwardly vivid and most immediately legible colour in the dark sunflower group.

The Four Sunflowers Together: The Bishy Barnabee's sunflower range now spans a complete tonal journey — from the golden pompom of Teddy Bear through the blazing bicolour of Ring of Fire, the pure crimson of Red Sun, and the near-black velvet of Chocolate. Growing all four together creates a late summer display of extraordinary richness and depth, with each variety contributing a distinct colour note to a coherent warm palette that runs from gold through amber, crimson, and mahogany.

Wildlife Value: As a single-flowered variety with a fully open disc, 'Red Sun' provides excellent pollinator access — bees and hoverflies visit the central florets freely throughout the season. The large seed heads that follow are a valuable winter food source for finches and sparrows, and the tall dried stems hold seed heads high enough to be accessible to birds even in light snow.

'Red Sun' is grown in the same way as Ring of Fire and Chocolate — the same individual pot sowing, same transplanting timing, same staking advice — with the additional consideration that its extra height makes early staking particularly important in exposed positions.

How to Sow:
Sow indoors from late March to April in individual 7–9cm pots, one seed per pot approximately 1–2cm deep. Individual pot sowing is essential for all sunflower varieties — the taproot resents disturbance and pot-grown transplants establish dramatically faster than tray-grown ones. Maintain a temperature of 18–22°C. Germination typically occurs within 7–10 days. For direct outdoor sowing, wait until after the last frost and sow in the final position from late April to May.

Transplanting:
Plant out after the last frost from late May to early June after a thorough hardening-off period. Space plants 45–60cm apart. Full sun produces the most vivid, most saturated red colouring — plants in partial shade tend toward a duller, less intense tone. At 150–180cm, 'Red Sun' is the tallest variety in the range and benefits most from early staking — insert a sturdy cane at planting time and secure as the plant grows rather than waiting until the stem is fully extended.

Ongoing Care:
Water consistently during dry spells and feed with a balanced liquid fertiliser fortnightly from bud formation. For cut flower production, pinch out the central terminal bud at 60–70cm to encourage lateral branching and a longer succession of cut stems. The pure red colouring photographs most vividly in bright, overcast light rather than direct harsh sun — the colour reads with particular intensity on cloudy-bright days when shadows are soft and the saturation of the petal is fully visible.

End of Season:
Allow seed heads to mature fully on the plant through autumn — the oil-rich seeds are an outstanding food source for goldfinches and other seed-eating birds through the lean winter months. The tall, dried stems of 'Red Sun' remain standing well through winter, holding the seed heads high and accessibly above the soil even after the first frosts.

The pure, vivid crimson of 'Red Sun' is one of the most powerful colour anchors in the late summer border — these companions from our range create the most dramatic and most beautiful contrasts with its saturated red tones:

• 🌸 Ammi Majus: The White Contrast. The relationship between pure red and pure white is one of the most powerful and most classical in the entire colour vocabulary — bold, vivid, and immediately legible. Ammi Majus alongside 'Red Sun' provides exactly this contrast: the delicate white lace of the umbels against the saturated crimson of the sunflower petals creates a combination of maximum visual impact that works equally well in the border and the vase. In an arrangement, a Chocolate sunflower, a Red Sun sunflower, and a generous cloud of Ammi Majus is one of the most striking and most talked-about combinations the cutting garden can produce — three plants, two colours, one unforgettable bouquet.
• 🌀 Echinops 'Veitch's Blue': The Blue Counterpoint. Red and blue-grey is a combination with deep roots in the decorative arts — appearing in Dutch master paintings, William Morris textiles, and the finest cottage garden plantings of the Arts and Crafts era. Echinops brings exactly this quality alongside 'Red Sun': the cool, spiky, architectural steel-blue globe heads in direct chromatic opposition to the warm, open, saturated crimson of the sunflower. Both are structural plants of considerable presence, and the combination at the back of a late summer border — tall red sunflowers rising above a foreground of steel-blue Echinops globes — is one of the most genuinely beautiful and historically resonant plantings available from annual and perennial seed.
• 🌼 Borage: The Classic Complementary. Blue and red is the complementary relationship in its warmest, most direct form — and Borage alongside Red Sun brings it to life with a naturalness and abundance that more formal plantings cannot match. The electric blue of Borage stars at mid-height against the vivid crimson of Red Sun above creates a combination of considerable energy and warmth, entirely at home in a cottage garden border and entirely without contrivance. Both are outstanding for pollinators, both are unfussy about soil, and both produce their finest effect when grown with a generous hand rather than in carefully measured quantities.
• 🧡 Calendula 'Art Shades Mixed': The Warm Harmony. Calendula Art Shades alongside Red Sun creates a warm, richly toned late summer palette that moves from deep crimson through amber and apricot to cream — a progression of warm colours in the red-to-yellow spectrum that is deeply satisfying and entirely coherent. The Calendula at mid-height picks up the warmth of the sunflower above and steps it gently down through progressively lighter tones, creating a layered planting with genuine colour depth. Together with Borage at the front and Red Sun at the back, Calendula completes a warm-cool-warm three-layer combination that is one of the most rewarding border compositions the cottage garden offers.

Sow indoors from late March for vivid crimson flowers from July — then enjoy the tallest, boldest, most purely red display the summer border can produce through August and September.