Trial: Annual

Years Trialed: 2002

Good Qualities

Beautiful yellow/bronze ray flowers (9); Uniform (2); Short stiff petals, good stem, no netting, very good flower size; Good germination; Tall cultivar, good specialty cut; It was a well received by my customers; Strong stems, long lasting; The color pattern of this cultivar attracted a lot of attention amongst my co-workers - This cultivar produces secondary growth very easily and a third harvest of axillary flowers could have been made in early Sept of 15-17 inch long single bloom stems arising from 7-10 inch stumps; Nice color but would sell better for me in the fall; Flowers hold up well in field, even when harvesting is a little late; Lots of blossoms; Color not as well accepted unless mixed with brighter colors, good production, many good and strong stems, good height of 4-5 feet; A nice sunflower but not so very different from many others; Brighter yellow petal edges and smaller centers than 'Floristan'.

Problems

Axillary buds; Didn't like it at all - this could be a result of my not giving them more space, i.e., flower size and stem diameter; Doesn't seem to transplant well (at least for us) (Zone 7a); Flower too early if planted too soon; Weeds got ahead of me in this area, but didn't seem to bother plant height, mildew also set in early (Zone 5); Short laterals - Blooms all opening at once; Early petal drop at harvest.

Comments

Slightly to 'Floristan' and 'Strawberry Blonde'; Too small flower head; Not the easiest color of sunflowers to sell; We used a lot of these in bouquets; Flower diameter was 3 inches and plants matured in 60 days; Harvested 7/26-8/14 (zone 6/7); Second sowing bloomed long before achieving good size and were unusable; Eye-catcher; Good garden plant, but not good for wholesale due to multi-branching.

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