Welcome to ChooseSustainable.org a blog about individual climate action. In this series of short posts I present a native plant to encourage everybody to abandon our traditional way of gardening (basically a continuous fight against nature) and engage in sustainable gardening practices that nurture the ecosystem, sustain wildlife and foster biodiversity. I show the plants in a garden setting to dispel the myths depicting them as weedy and unsuitable for gardens.
It is not Autumn without sunflowers. Around mid September, when I start thinking about the upcoming winter I look outside at my outrageous sunflowers and the gloomy feeling is instantly dispelled. They smile back at me, while leaning on top of other plants, unorganized, and excessively tall. Yes they are bold and difficult to constrain, but after all that is exactly the reason why I had chosen them, for their high wildlife value.
You guessed right, this post is about native sunflowers, specifically the Heliantus Grosseserratus (sawtooth sunflower) variety.
Quick facts:
- Zones:3-9
- Bloom time: Fall (Sept)
- Sun: Sun
- Soil Moisture: Medium dry to medium wet
- Aggressive: Yes but well manageable
- Front yard: MAYBE
- Height: 6-8 feet
- Status: OK
- Maintenance: LOW
- Wildlife value: VERY HIGH
Wildlife connection: The entire plant from stems to leaves, from seeds to flowers is valuable to a variety of insects and birds. Rabbits like the emerging leaves in early spring. Caterpillars of dozens of butterflies and moths feed on the plant. Bees, including bumblebees, small flies, moths, and beetles visit the flowers. Birds, squirrels and small mammals eat the seeds through winter. Even my groundhog takes a shot at the small plants in spring.
I’ll start saying the this is the tallest sunflower in Illinois and it may not be suitable for small yards. It does spread but is actually not difficult to control because the roots are not too deep, so it is not difficult to remove occasional plants that may grow out of place. I mostly let it spread and remove it only when it starts encroaching on other plants.
The plant emerges in spring and develops during summer providing a beautiful deep green cover. The leaves are elongated and they have irregular edges that give the name to the plant. Multiple flowers generally branch out of the main stem in late summer.
Attractive flowers develop in early September lasting for several weeks. The flowers attract numerous visitors.
The usefulness and beauty of sunflowers doesn’t end with its bloom. The seeds accessible from spent flowers attract birds through fall and winter.
If you feel this is too much for your backyard, consider that there are other fantastic varieties of native sunflower that are easiliy grown and not as tall. For example downy sunflower (heliantus mollis) is only 5 feet tall. There are even some species such as the woodland sunflower (heliantus divaricatus) suitable for shade. I hope you will consider livening up your fall garden with native sunflowers. Every native plant you add brings back a piece of ecosystem that is vital to biodiversity.
Would you like to talk about a native plant in your backyard? Please send me your post at info@choosesustainable.org
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