Lemon Queen

Why it suits Ireland

At a metre and a half to a metre and eighty it is tall enough to be a real sunflower and short enough to survive an Irish August. A light stake and a sheltered position are all it asks, which is a much lower bar than a three metre giant sets.

The long flowering season matters more here than anywhere. A single-headed sunflower puts everything into one flower in one fortnight, and if that fortnight is wet you have very little to show. A branching plant keeps producing from late July into October, so a bad spell costs you a few flowers rather than the whole display.

If you are planting with pollinators in mind, a single flowered pollen bearing sunflower is a straightforward late summer addition, flowering at the point in the season when a lot of garden forage has run out. Do not read that as an official recommendation of this variety, or of us: the All-Ireland Pollinator Plan endorses no seed supplier or product, and its own first advice for gardens is to mow less and let what is already growing come into flower.

Growing notes

Sow indoors in March or April on a bright windowsill, one seed per 9cm pot, or direct outdoors in May once the soil has warmed. Plant out from mid-May after hardening off over a week, spacing about 45cm apart in full sun.

Ordinary garden soil is fine. Heavy feeding produces soft, sappy growth that leans in wind, so a little compost worked in at planting is enough.

Keep slug protection on until the plants are past 20cm. Give each one a cane or light stake with a couple of ties, or plant in groups of three or four so they support each other.

Cut flowers in the early morning as they open, cutting well down into the plant so the replacement shoots come strong. Deadhead anything you do not cut, at least until early October, then leave the last flush of heads to ripen and stand through the winter for the finches.