Murphy on Sunflowers or,
another round of Murphy's Free For All
  Pictures:  I don't have pictures of all the sunflowers listed in the buyer's guide. If you have a picture of any of these please email it to me and I will get it in the guide. Thanks.  
     
  Gallery:  If  you have a sunflower picture that you would like included in the gallery email it to me and I will include it!  
     
  Sunflower art prints:  Please visit my gallery of award winning and popular sunflower photography. In addition to individual sunflowers there are panoramic photographs of sunflower fields. While you are there take a look at my Ireland and Automotive photographic prints.  
     
  2006  
  These are the varieties I planted this year:
Mammoth,  Sunshine,  Hallo,  Strawberry Blonde,  Evening Sun,   Lemon Queen,  Moonshadow,  Autumn Beauty,  and Lemon Chiffon.		  
     
  2005  
  Again to my dismay I planted very late. I planted sunflower seeds and tomato plants on June 15! It ended up being a good season. I was enjoying both sunflowers and tomatoes well into October.

These are the varieties I planted this year:
Kong,  Mammoth,  Velvet Queen,  Earthwalker,  Magic Roundabout,  Evening Sun,   Lemon Queen,  Taiyo,  Autumn Beauty,  Soraya,  Dwarf Sunspot.

I did make a couple of trips west to photograph sunflower fields. Click here to see my newest sunflower prints and the amazing 42" panoramas.

  
     
  2004  
  These are the varieties I planted this year:
Kong,  Mammoth,  Velvet Queen,  Earthwalker,  Magic Roundabout,  Evening Sun,  Red Sun,  Lemon Queen,  Taiyo,  Autumn Beauty,  Soraya,  Orange Marmalade,  Ring of Fire,  Dwarf Sunspot.

I planted twice. My first planting drowned. This has been the worst season in a long time. Not much summer weather. I fertilized excessively to try to catch up. Consequently my plants are tall and thin with shallow roots. Strong winds have bent or broken many plants.

Magic Roundabout, a new variety from Livingston Seed Co., is a real winner; it's a very beautiful flower.

I am making several trips to North Dakota. I will be trying out my camera on sunflower fields.

  
 
  2003  
  These are the varieties I planted this year:
Kong,  Grey Stripe,  Joker,  Lemon Queen,  Velvet Queen,  Autumn Beauty,  Red Sun,  Evening Sun,  Strawberry Blonde,  Vanilla Ice,  Yellow Disk,  Jamie Dodger,  Teddy Bear.		  
     
  2002 planting:  
  As usual, I had more seeds of more varieties than I could possibly have planted in my garden. Once again we did not have a spring this year in Minnesota. We went right from winter to summer. So I was not able to begin planting until the last days of May. Seeds I planted this year:  

Grey Stripe Reliable, traditional large head
Aztec Gold Nice Tall traditional gold
Joker My favorite, good production, beautiful cut flowers
Autumn Beauty Dark flower, multi-colored
Big Smile Shorter yellow
Bohemian Rhapsody Multicolor
Vanilla Ice Light yellow, delicate looking flowers
Moulin Rouge Another favorite
Sunseed/Teddy Bear Unique flower, shorter
Velvet Queen Very dark
Strawberry Blonde New this year, pretty but poor germination
Evening Sun Very dark
Sunset New, nothing memorable about this one
   

I also planted some seed that Brian Moore sent to me. Thanks again Brian.

Recently discovered sites of interest:

Weekend Gardener This site has lots of gardening pages and links. Just a little bit about sunflowers. I don't know how current this site is. I have contacted the site. No response yet.

GardenGuides  Do a search on sunflower and browse a while.

University and County Extension Services.  These are great sources of information. Check out your state and county extension services web sites. Share your discoveries with Northern Sunflowers. Here are some interesting links to University of Minnesota Extension services:

This next one is not sunflower related but is a great resource for identifying weeds. Pictures of weeds I hope to never see.
    http://www.extension.umn.edu/distribution/cropsystems/DC7376.html

Did you know ...
    If you go to www.garden.com you get Burpees!