MinxterBLOOM

In the ground this year?  Hybrids rather than the classic Russian Mammoth.

• Starburst Lemon Aura hybrid from Aimers to pair with
  
• Jade hybrid, a lime selection from Aimers.
  
• Moonwalker
• Italian White
  

I bought the Aimers at a family-owned hardware store I believe Aimers is an organic seed company in Canada, but the website for this business is not working now. I expect they are master gardeners not webmasters. Anywho...buds are percolating on five plants, with the tight-fisted protoblooms turning toward the sun.  That is what Helianthus means. The thought of lemon and lime fluffy sunflowers all summer means that I need to keep sowing sets of threes in a nursery pot.  Pictures soon, I hope.

It must be said that the pedestrian workhorse of a sunflower -- say Mammoth or Russian Giant -- in Kansas fields remains the iconic sunflower.  My flirtation with the range of hybrids must be forgiven. What is the name of the sun god? Right. Apollo. Forgive me.  But realize, I know exactly what I am doing.

Burpee hosts a nice exhibit on sunflowers that reads like a high school yearbook:  tallest, cutess, softest....smartest, etc.

I hope to grow a reddish Chianti variety or the amazingly beautiful Strawberry Blonde.  Here is pictorial on all the Burpee brands, including the elusive Jade Hybrid whose face is about to bloom for me. Whoops, Burpee says this frosted lime sunflower is an exclusive. Perhaps teh Aimer version is a Canadian offering. Pictures, soon, of these plants in situ.