Trial: Annual

Years Trialed: 1999

Good Qualities

Good dark yellow color (7); Large/good flower size (4); Heat and drought tolerant. Held up well in the field (a favorite with grasshoppers). Also good vase life as a cut; Very tall plant; Attractive dark center. This version (#3) was quite a bit shorter than others (#1, 2). This made harvest easier; Strong stem; No pollen, great!; No lodging; Gold/dark disk, single stem; Good color, customers like pollenless.

Problems

Slightly slower to get any height to them, but quality of blooms was good; Branched about 3' from the top. Heads fell over. Not a good cut flower; Bugs, as with all sunflowers; Small percent lodging after big storm; Uneven flower size, has pollen; Heads pretty large for vase work; Not as uniform flowering as some; Very short, late crop had cupped flowers.

Comments

8-10; heads were huge, held color well in heat. Very heat and drought tolerant. Thick stems, long lasting as a cut flower. Did have a tendency to lodge in windy conditions. Overall, very good. Experienced some leaf burn, but we had weeks of 100°F + temperatures, high winds. Note - no fertilizer used, no chemicals either; It's at least 7-10 days later than experimental No. 1 and No. 2. If you plant them all at the same time, you'll get a staggered crop; It was nice to have varying size in same colors–made for nice arrangements; One flower per stem.

Trial Data

¹1 to 5 scale, with 5 being the best. Market ratings are based on sales to wholesalers, retailers, or final consumers direct.

Supplier

Benary Seed 1444 Larson St. Sycamore, IL 60178