Sunflower Facts: 13 Reasons to Love Sunflowers More

It is hard not to smile when you see a sunflower’s huge head basking in the sunshine. Synonymous with summer, their bright petals and tall stature make these annuals hard to ignore. Turns out, sunflowers are much more than a pretty face. We found 13 interesting facts about these sunny beauties, from the seeds that rode to space to the spiral math hidden in every bloom, and a few growing notes to send you out to the garden.

Meet the Sunflower: Helianthus

The sunflower belongs to the genus Helianthus, a name that joins the Greek words for sun and flower. The familiar tall garden kind is Helianthus annuus, an annual native to North America that has been grown for food, oil, and beauty for thousands of years. The University of California, Davis has studied how these plants turn to face the sun, a behavior we cover in fact number five. Keep reading for 13 reasons to love them even more.

1. Sunflowers Appear on the Kansas State Commemorative Quarter

The official state flower of Kansas is the wild native sunflower, which is why its nickname is “The Sunflower State.” On the Kansas bicentennial commemorative quarter, an American buffalo stands beside the wild, native sunflowers found throughout the state. The design symbolizes past frontier days, vast prairies, life, and a golden future.

2. Sunflowers Were Historically Used as Medicine

Across the continent, Native Americans used every part of the sunflower for various healing remedies. The Cochiti cut fresh plant stems and applied the juice to cuts and wounds to promote healing without infection. The Cherokee made an infusion of sunflower leaves to treat kidney ailments. The Dakota used leaf infusions to treat chest pains. The Zuni used a poultice made from the plant roots to treat snakebites.

3. Sunflowers Were Used to Predict Upcoming Harvests

The Hopi in the Southwest believed that when the sunflowers were in abundance, it was a sign that the harvest would be abundant too. Prairie-dwelling Teton Dakota Indians had a saying, “when the sunflowers were tall and in full bloom, the buffaloes were fat and the meat good.” Folks have read the land this way for generations, and we like keeping the saying alive.

4. The Tallest Sunflower Is Listed in the Guinness Book of World Records

Sunflowers can grow to about 12 feet in height, but the world’s tallest recorded sunflower reached 30 feet, 1 inch. It was grown by Hans-Peter Schiffer in Karst, Nordrhein Westfalen, Germany in 2014. That is roughly the height of a three-story house, grown from a single seed in one season.

5. Sunflowers Follow the Sun

In the morning, as the sun rises, young flower heads face east. They turn and tilt their heads toward the sun throughout the day, following it until sunset, a habit botanists call heliotropism. Here is a fun fact: during seed production, the heavy, mature flower heads are less likely to move. The stiff, mature stem keeps them stationary, usually facing east, which warms the bloom early and brings in more pollinators.

6. Not All Sunflowers Are Yellow

Sunflowers are loved for their huge, sunny yellow blooms. Yet there are gorgeous deep red, burnt orange, and purple varieties available. The Velvet Queen sunflower variety has striking, velvety mahogany-red 3 to 4 inch blooms, with a touch of gold. There are also pale varieties such as the Italian White. You can buy sunflower seed packets containing several varieties that will yield a colorful sunflower field wherever you plant them.

7. The Sunflower’s Flower Head Is Made Up of Thousands of Little Flowers

Each sunflower is made up of 1,000 to 2,000 little flowers. The seeds develop in the center of the flower head in what are known as disk florets. They are able to self-pollinate but are often pollinated by wind, bees, butterflies, and other insects. Bees and butterflies are attracted to the middle “eye” of the sunflower, so growing sunflowers encourages their presence and helps these beneficial pollinators thrive.

The Fibonacci Spiral Hidden in Every Bloom

Look closely at those disk florets and you will see they are not scattered at random. The seeds line up in two sets of spirals, one curving clockwise and one curving counterclockwise, in a pattern that follows the Fibonacci sequence, the same string of numbers (1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, and on) that turns up in pinecones and pineapples. The arrangement lets the head pack the most seeds into the least space without crowding. It is plain math doing the work, the kind of order the Almanac has always found worth pointing out.

8. A Single Sunflower Can Have Up to 1,000 Seeds

The black seeds are used for making sunflower oil, bird seed, a healthy snack food, or growing microgreens (see number 12). They are rich in protein, potassium, magnesium, calcium, iron, and the powerful antioxidant vitamin E, which helps prevent cancer and heart disease.

9. Sunflower Seeds Make a Good Peanut Butter Substitute

The seeds are ground into a delicious, creamy spread known as sun butter. It is a great alternative for those allergic to peanuts, and it spreads on toast or stirs into a sauce just the same.

10. Sunflowers Have Inspired Numerous Famous Paintings

Sunflowers inspired master painters and modern artists alike. Dutch artist Vincent van Gogh (1853 to 1890) is famous for many works, especially his Sunflower Series. Yet van Gogh’s were not the only famous ones. Diego Rivera, Claude Monet, and Paul Gauguin painted sunflowers too. Gauguin (1848 to 1903) admired van Gogh’s sunflower paintings so much that he painted a portrait of Vincent van Gogh painting sunflowers in his 1888 work, The Painter of Sunflowers.

11. Sunflower Seeds Went to Space

US astronaut Don Pettit brought many seeds, including sunflower seeds, to grow in the International Space Station in 2012. He shared his zero-gravity garden with readers back on Earth, proof that the cheerful sunflower will reach for the light even with no horizon to follow.

12. Sunflower Microgreens Are a Tasty Superfood

Sunflower microgreens have a nice crunchy texture and pleasant nutty flavor. “Sunnies” are a great snack food, tasty in salads, and work well chopped into fruit salads or yogurt. They are nutrient-dense, rich in essential amino acids, vitamins A, D, E, and the B complex, plus calcium, iron, magnesium, potassium, phosphorus, and zinc. Their nutrient profile supports immune and digestive health.

13. Mammoth Sunflowers Have a Head That’s More Than a Foot Wide

The stately Mammoth typically takes 75 to 90 days to bloom. Its enormous head reaches more than 1 foot across, which makes it a favorite with children and a reliable source of seed for next year and for the birds.

How to Grow Sunflowers in Your Garden

Sunflowers are about as easy as a flower gets. Sow the seeds directly in the ground after the last spring frost has passed and the soil has warmed, usually mid to late spring depending on your region. Pick a spot that gets full sun, six to eight hours a day, since these plants earned their name honestly. Sow the seeds about 1 inch deep and 6 inches apart in well-drained soil, then thin the seedlings so the tall varieties have room to stand.

Tall types like the Mammoth may need staking in a windy yard, and a layer of mulch keeps the roots cool and the weeds down through the heat of summer. Sunflowers welcome bees and butterflies and pair well with pollinator favorites and good garden neighbors, so see our companion planting guide before you map out the bed. For more on choosing showy garden additions, see our roundup of weird and unusual plants and flowers, and time your planting with the Gardening by the Moon Calendar. Flowers are an above-ground crop, so the old rule favors planting during the light, or waxing, of the Moon.

Want to Harvest Your Own Sunflower Seeds?

If you have lots of sunflowers growing in your garden, you will want to dry some to enjoy later. Birdwatchers may want to leave at least one flower head in the garden for wild birds to eat through the fall.

Sunflower seeds are ready to harvest when the flower petals start to fall off. The head will droop and the back of the flower head will turn yellowish-brown.

To collect and dry the seeds, cut the head off and place it in a paper sack, muslin bag, or pillowcase. Tie the bag with twine and hang it in a dry spot with some air circulation, such as your garage, tool shed, attic, or barn rafters. Once dried, remove the seeds. You can eat them raw or roast them. Be sure to save some seeds in a cedar box for next year’s planting.

Sunflower Facts: Frequently Asked Questions

Why do sunflowers follow the sun?

Young sunflower heads track the sun from east to west across the day and swing back overnight, a habit called heliotropism. Once the heads mature and grow heavy with seed, the stiff stem holds them still, usually facing east. Facing east warms the bloom early and helps draw in more pollinators.

How many seeds does a single sunflower produce?

A single sunflower head can hold up to 1,000 seeds. Those seeds form from the 1,000 to 2,000 tiny flowers, called disk florets, packed into the center of the head in a Fibonacci spiral pattern that fits the most seeds into the least space.

What is the tallest sunflower ever grown?

The world’s tallest recorded sunflower reached 30 feet, 1 inch, grown by Hans-Peter Schiffer in Karst, Nordrhein Westfalen, Germany in 2014. Most garden sunflowers top out around 12 feet, so that record is about the height of a three-story house.

Are all sunflowers yellow?

No. Along with the classic sunny yellow, sunflowers come in deep red, burnt orange, and purple. The Velvet Queen variety has velvety mahogany-red 3 to 4 inch blooms touched with gold, and the Italian White is a pale, creamy alternative. Mixed seed packets give you a colorful field in one planting.

Are sunflower seeds good for you?

Yes. Sunflower seeds are rich in protein, potassium, magnesium, calcium, iron, and vitamin E, a powerful antioxidant. Ground into sun butter, they make a creamy spread that works well for anyone allergic to peanuts, and sprouted as microgreens they add amino acids, vitamins A, D, E, and B complex, and minerals like zinc and phosphorus.

When are sunflower seeds ready to harvest?

Seeds are ready when the petals start to fall, the head droops, and the back of the head turns yellowish-brown. Cut the head off, place it in a paper sack or muslin bag, hang it in a dry, airy spot, then remove the seeds once they have dried. Eat them raw or roasted, and save some in a cedar box for next year.