Welcome to Sunshine State Seeds! Thank you for stopping by to check out our listing! We grow a variety of sunflower plants in our Southeastern Florida Garden. Each season we choose a dozen or so different sunflowers to plant & enjoy. We allow nature to take its course, & after natural cross-pollination, nourishment in our garden, & a little bit of TLC, unique sunflower breeds are born! All of our seeds come directly from plants that we have grown, allowing me to personally select the strongest seeds for our packets to share with you here. Each of our specific seed types are kept separate from one another & planted to test for germination & growth. We also send our seeds to family & friends in different parts of the country to help test the germination rates in non-tropical climates. Our cross-bred seeds have produced beautiful blooms not only here in Florida, but in Wisconsin, Arizona, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, & New Jersey. The seeds you are purchasing here come directly from Sunshine State Seeds’ Florida Garden. This listing is for one seed packet of our #46 Velvet Queen Sun - Sunshine State Sunflower seeds. Each seed packet contains 20 seeds (+ a few extra when our supply allows). Sunshine State Seeds exotic F1 Velvet Queen sunflowers in the photographs all grew & are growing from from our #46 seeds. We call these beauties our Velvet Queen Suns, as some blooms produced are far heavier with hues of golden sunshine, while the deep reds of the traditional Velvet Queen are muted in other petals. These seeds were harvested by hand from one of our Velvet Queen sunflower varieties in May 2021. Seed 46 Sunflower Plants grow between 3 & 8ft high, averaging 4-6 feet. They have produced multiple sunflower heads branching off of a single stem, while other Seed 46’s stand tall with a single colorful bloom, as shown in the first few photos. While there is no knowing for sure exactly which varieties were crossed in our open pollinated garden, Seed 46 Velvet Sun Queen most certainly descends from the heirloom Velvet Queen, which grew beside other sunflower varieties such as Lemon Queen, Autumn Beauty, Dwarf Sunspot, & Evening Suns. Instructions for Planting: After danger of the last frost in your area, sow each seed 1/2 inch deep into a large pot, or directly into your garden. If sowing directly, space seeds approximately 8-12 inches apart from one another. As their name suggests, Sunflowers do love the sun, so be sure to plant or transplant them where they will receive plenty of those rays! Seeds may take anywhere from 4-14 days to germinate, on average. If you are like me, you may want to allow them up to 20 days to sprout… I give every seed a chance. You will want to generously water in the seeds after sowing them in your desired location. Then just keep the soil moist & watch for sprouts! If you start your seeds in-doors, like we do with many of our own, you will want to wait until your sunflower plant is strong enough before transplanting outside.
