Sunflower Sunbelievable Brown Eyed Girl - Helianthus annuus

Helianthus annuus 'Sunbelievable ™ Brown Eyed Girl' is a brand new variety of phenomenal sunflower. This plant, with its uncommon generosity, is capable of producing between 500 and 1000 flowers per plant in a season, from June until the first frost. Its flowers, of a beautiful size and a vibrant yellow as they should be, are tinged with a touch of red near the very dark centre, creating a well-contrasted colour combination. They bloom on a immpressive tuft of solid and sturdy leafy stems. Initially developed for growing on terraces and balconies, this selection also has a sensational effect in flower beds and, of course, as a cut flower.

The Helianthus, or Sunflower, belongs to the asteraceae family, just like the sunflower cultivated on a large scale for oil production. The 'Sunbelievable Brown Eyed Girl' cultivar is a recently selected hybrid horticultural creation by the British seed company Thompson & Morgan. This 'Brown Eyed Girl' selection reaches a height of 80 cm in a season with a spread at the base of about 50 cm. The overall appearance forms a cluster of solid stems, smooth at the base, bristly and rough towards their ends, and branched. The remarkably abundant flowering takes place from late May to October without interruption. The clusters of flowers appear in large numbers at the top of the stems, resembling daisies with a diameter of 5 to 9 cm. The petals are an intense golden yellow, slightly shaded with pale red at the base, and arranged radially around a wide dark brown centre at maturity. This variety does not produce seeds, which naturally promotes the production of a large quantity of flowers. The dark olive green leaves are lanceolate to obovate and pointed at their ends. They are distributed up to the top of the stems, and their size decreases towards the upper part of the stems.

The great advantage of sunflowers is their radiant flowering and their excellent adaptation to heavy, clayey, moist, and even chalky soils. This Helianthus annuus 'Sunbelievable Brown Eyed Girl' is an excellent sunflower, long-lasting and well-behaved. Its compact habit is perfectly suited for cultivation in large containers, as well as large country-style flower beds, and this plant has its rightful place in a cottage garden. To accompany it, consider, for example, cosmos, medium-sized grasses (Stipa, small Miscanthus), perennial gaillardias and salvias (Salvia nemorosa Mainacht), large scabious flowers (Scabiosa), or heleniums (Helenium). Another idea is to plant them with Vernonia noveboracensis, Eupatorium fistulosum, Schizachyrium, Muhlenbergia capillaris.