HOW TO GROW A SUNFLOWER HOUSE

SUNFLOWER HOUSE

Five steps to growing a sunflower tower: a fun summer activity your kids or grandkids will love. You’ll be blooming sprouts of sunshine in no time!

Grow a Sunflower Tower

Photo Credit: Renee’s Garden

With their colorful centers ringed with a crown of petals, sunflowers (Helianthus annuus) may be the happiest flowers in the garden. They are guaranteed to brighten up even the gloomiest of days, whether planted in a long row along a fence or massed in a sunny border.

If you have space in the yard—and in particular,
 a spot that gets lots of sunshine—you can grow a sunflower tower that kids can go inside. You will need a packet or two of sunflower seeds that will grow at least 6 feet tall and a packet of morning glory seeds.

1. Using sticks and string
 or a garden hose, mark off where you want the sunflower tower to be. Make the tower circular, square, rectangular, even triangular, but be sure that it is at least 8 feet across. 

2. With a shovel, make a trench along the marked area, digging down about a foot to loosen the soil. Leave an un-dug portion on the perimeter; this will be a doorway. Make sure that it’s wide enough to walk through. 

3. Plant the sunflower seeds 6 inches apart and 1 inch deep. For thick “walls,” plant two rows of seeds. Leaving about 1 foot between rows, plant the second row of seeds between the seeds in the first row. 


Photo Credit: Renee’s Garden

4. Water the seeds every day. They should start to sprout in about a week, if the weather is warm. Sunflowers usually reach their full height in about 
10 weeks. 


5. For a roof, plant morning glory seeds among the sunflower seeds. As the plants grow, the morning glories will climb the sunflower stalks. When the sunflowers start to bud, 
tie string or twine to the sunflower stems and across the top. The morning glories will follow the string, creating a roof on the tower.