Maura Sheehy is a flower farmer and florist who runs Maura’s Cottage Flowers near Tralee, Co Kerry. Maura specialises in growing and supplying natural and unique arrangements for weddings, funerals, special occasions and for local business, as well as running regular flower arranging classes at her studio. She also has experience in school garden projects.

For further information, call 087-061-2622 or visit www.maurascottageflowers.com

Sunflowers are a great seed to introduce to children to get them interested in gardening as the seeds are easy to handle. Sunflowers are one of the easiest flowers to grow and the taller varieties are of huge interest to younger children. As they grow, they almost have a fairytale quality to them.

Annuals are flowers that germinate, grow, flower and set seed in one year.

Sunflowers can be grown in pots or direct-sown in the garden. There is great fun to be had by having a competition as to who grows the tallest sunflower, especially in a school setting. They are sure to be a point of interest, whether it is as they open and almost smile at you or when they go to seed.

Growing sunflowers is so easy. I find that direct-sown sunflowers tend to perform best but I will share two methods here. Dwarf varieties include “Big Smile”, “Dwarf Yellow Spray” and “Little Dorrit”, while tall varieties include “Moonwalker” and “Russian Giant”.

Growing Sunflowers Indoors

A small bag of seed compost

A small bag of potting compost

Sunflower seeds

3-inch pots/recycled yoghurt pots

5-inch pots

Scissors

Tray

Water

Journal and pencil

Short and long bamboo canes

A sports top water bottle

String

Bamboo canes

1 Collect and wash yoghurt pots or recycled pot plants, making sure that they are spotlessly clean. Using the scissors, pierce some drainage holes in the yoghurt pots – get an adult’s helping hand if required.

2 Fill the pots with seed compost. Give them a little tap to ensure that the compost is settled and to avoid air pockets.

3 Use the pencil to make a small hole ½ inch deep in the compost.

4 Sow your sunflower seeds, making sure to cover the seeds with compost. Stand the pots in a tray of water and place the pots on a windowsill/mini green house to germinate.

5 Monitor progress in a journal, noting sowing date and variety of sunflower. If you want more detailed records, you can record the development of the sunflowers noting temperature, when the true leaves appear, height and when the bud appears.

6 When the seedlings have developed two or three pairs of leaves, you will need to pot them on into a bigger pot (five-inch pot). Fill the larger pots with potting compost. You can lift the seedlings out by easing them gently with an old spoon or even a pencil. Make sure to hold them by the leaves and never ever the stem, as we know how important it is to allow the water to be transported throughout the plant up through the stem. Also take care to support the little roots when transplanting them.

7 Always position the seedlings into the centre of the new pot, which will be filled with the potting compost, and firm it down gently, making sure to cover the roots with enough compost.

8 Firm in the seedlings lightly and water them. I find that an old sports water bottle is ideal as the water flows at the right pace.

9 Continue to grow the sunflowers in a sunny place and when you feel they are strong enough to be planted outside, begin to harden them off by bringing them outside for a few hours every day for about five days to get them acclimatised to the cooler temperature.

10 Plant the taller varieties into the soil and maybe consider planting dwarf varieties into pots. Staking sunflowers is very important and as soon as you notice them stretching, insert an appropriate-sized bamboo cane and secure the stem to the cane with string. You will find that as they grow, you may need to increases the size of the cane. Always water the sunflowers when necessary. They will benefit from some plant food too.

Growing Sunflowers Outdoors

1 Sunflowers are not very fussy about the type of soil they grow in but will thrive best in a well-drained, rich soil in a sunny position. Prepare the soil by removing any stones and wait until the soil begins to heat up, late April/early May.

2 Follow the instructions on the back of the seed packet as spacing will vary depending on the height of the variety you sow. The seeds will germinate and shoot up through the soil in around a fortnight.

3 You will need to help protect the seedlings from slugs using organic methods and it is important to start staking them with a bamboo cane as soon as they need it and remember to keep them watered in dry spells.

4 If left to produce seed heads, sunflowers attract birds such as finches into your garden in late summer. CL

Experiment to show how

plants take up water

Plants need water to grow and survive. Water moves through a network of pipelines. These tubes are called xylem.

For this experiment you will need:

White flowers

3 tall glasses

3 different coloured food dyes

Tray

Water

1 Pour equal amounts of water into the three glasses (almost to the top).

2 Add a few drops of the coloured food dye so that you end up having three different coloured glasses.

3 Place a couple of stems of the white flowers into the glasses, making sure to cut the stems at an angle.

4 Place the three glasses on to a tray and move the experiment tray away from direct sunlight.

5 After a day or two, the flowers will begin to show traces of colour in the petals, demonstrating how the water travelled up through the stem to the leaves and flower petals. This is known as capillarity.

Photo credits: Ciara O’Donnell Photography www.ciaraphotography.com