Garden

[sfnative]

My giant sunflower plants are doing great.  They're all about 9 feet tall and growing inches each day in our summer weather.  (We live in northern Oregon.)

Here's the deal: not one plant has even an inkling of developing a flower.  Is this typical?  Do I need to feed it special food?  Can someone help?

My MIL had great success growing a 35' row of sunflowers along one side of her house, so this year I planted these in memory of her.  Alas, no flowers yet.

Thanks for your help.

[bluehost]

https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/ornamental/flowers/sunflower/no-blooms-on-sunflowers.htm

[x Hedge]

Please let us know if you discover the reason @sfnative.

I have two groups of Hostas. One group is crowded with flowers, the other group didnt even send up a bare flower stalk, or a shriveled bud.

Lots of healthy leafy growth, no sign of disease or pests, but no flowers. 

My neighbor has two groups of roses.

One has the usual flowers. The other has healthy stem and leaf growth, plenty of thorns, but doesn't have a single bud.

This never occurred before. It's a puzzlement.

[Kachina624]

Usually when sun-loving flowering plants don't flower, its because they are not getting enough, often full, sun.  Roses and sunflowers fall into this category.

[sfnative]

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@Kachina624 wrote:

Usually when sun-loving flowering plants don't flower, its because they are not getting enough, often full, sun.  Roses and sunflowers fall into this category.

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@Kachina624

These sunflowers are getting plenty of sun for sure.  I honesly don't believe this to be the issue.

[sfnative]

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@bluehost wrote:

https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/ornamental/flowers/sunflower/no-blooms-on-sunflowers.htm

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@bluehost

Thanks for the link.

We have more than sufficient sunlight; no midge insects; but, it's possible our soil may be nutrient-poor.  This last one was the only option remaining, so will go to the garden center and ask what we can do to enrich our soil.

Again, thanks.

[Nataliesgramma]

I have a similar problem @x Hedge... I have 2 hydrangea bushes right next to each other....one has a ton of blooms and the other only one...LOL

[VaBelle35]

Someone gave me sunflower seeds from the Smithsonian Store as a gift one year and I planted them in my back yard.  They were 9 feet tall and the blooms were so massive I had to stake them.

I have never been able to find those seeds again.  I wanted to enter them into the County Fair next to all those sad little jars of sunflowers ;o)

[sfnative]

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@bluehost wrote:

https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/ornamental/flowers/sunflower/no-blooms-on-sunflowers.htm

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@bluehost

I had to come back today to let you know that my husband gave all of the sunflower plants a shot of Miracle Grow, then got the ladder out to inspect each plant.  He was shocked to find many teeny insects on the leaves.  Just 2.5 long city blocks away from us, a rather large urban family farm, soon to become condos (UGH!!!) has about 2 acres of sunflowers growing and producing wonderful flowers.  Seems weird that we were the recipients of insects and not Rossi Farms.  We're going to have to research how best to take care of these unknown critters without damaging our beautiful plants, as I'm only familiar with aphids.