ROYAL VELVET SUNFLOWERS! A DAZZLING DISPLAY IN A SHORT TIME! POLLENLESS FLOWERS FOR THOSE ALLERGIC TO BEES/POLLEN.

Sunflowers ‘Royal Velvet’ are not only breathtakingly beautiful but also beneficial in the garden, attracting pollinators such as bees and butterflies while providing a dramatic focal point. Their seeds can be saved, roasted, or fed to birds, making them both decorative and useful.

Sunflowers originated in North America, where they were cultivated by Indigenous peoples as early as 3,000 BCE for their seeds, oil, and use in ceremonial life. The cultivar ‘Royal Velvet’ is a modern ornamental variety bred in recent decades, most likely in Europe or the United States, as part of the ongoing effort to create sunflowers with unique colours, heights, and forms for the cut flower and garden market.  ‘Royal Velvet’ is admired for its rich, deep, velvety burgundy to purple petals that contrast dramatically with the dark central disc, making it a popular choice for home gardens and floral arrangements.

Medicinally, sunflowers as a species have long been valued. The seeds are rich in vitamin E, healthy fats, protein, magnesium, and selenium, which all contribute to heart health, skin repair, and general vitality. Traditional medicine made use of sunflower leaves and flowers in herbal teas thought to ease chest congestion and fevers, while sunflower oil has been used for centuries for wound healing and skincare.

How to grow:

Plant them in spring through to early summer once the danger of frost has passed and the soil has warmed. They require a full sun position and thrive in well-drained, nutrient-rich soil. Sow seeds directly where they are to grow, placing them around 2 to 3 centimetres deep and spacing them about 30 to 40 centimetres apart to give the tall plants room to develop.

Germination usually occurs within one to two weeks, and the plants grow rapidly, often reaching heights of 1.5 to 2 metres depending on soil fertility and water availability.

Consistent watering during dry spells helps produce strong, tall stems, but care should be taken not to overwater, as sunflowers dislike soggy conditions.

Taller plants may benefit from staking if exposed to strong winds. The flowers appear in mid to late summer, producing large, dramatic blooms that last well as cut flowers if harvested when the back of the head is just beginning to turn yellow.