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Grow a sunflower

Sunflowers have bright yellow petals and can grow really tall!

Flower next to a sunflower

Did you know that sunflowers move as the sun rises and sets so that they’re always facing the sun? Talk about a life of leisure!

It will take about eight weeks for a sunflower plant to grow and flower from a seed. You could try making a chart to keep track of how much it grows each week! You could plant more than one seed and see which grows the fastest.

Getting ready

You will need:

  • plastic cup
  • soil
  • garden sunflower seeds (not the ones you buy for eating)
  • plant sprayer (optional)
  • large flowerpot

Ready to start?

  1. Put some damp soil in a plastic cup so it almost comes up to the top. Then poke your finger in the soil to make a hole for your sunflower seed.
  2. Drop a sunflower seed into the hole. Cover it with a little soil. Spray or sprinkle some water on top.
  3. Put the cup somewhere sunny – a bright windowsill would be perfect. Spray the soil with water whenever it feels dry.
  4. Your plant should pop up through the soil after about 1 or 2 weeks. You can now start measuring how much it grows each week!
  5. When your plant grows too big for the cup, plant it in bigger flowerpots. You could put the pots in a sunny spot outside or on a windowsill.
  6. Your plant should flower after about eight weeks.
  7. When the sunflower heads start to turn brown, cut them off and hang them somewhere dry and airy. When the seeds are dry, rub them together to loosen them. Birds can eat your seeds if you leave them in the garden. You could even put them in a bird feeder. Save a few to grow more sunflowers! Sunflower seeds are used to make lots of foods like sunflower oil, spread, bread – and you can eat sunflower seeds as a snack!