Teddy Bear
The sunflower for a container, a balcony or a small child, and the only one that ignores Irish wind entirely.
Teddy Bear is a dwarf sunflower with fully double golden flowers, shaggy pompoms with no visible dark centre, on a compact plant usually somewhere between 40cm and 60cm tall. It is the answer to two Irish problems at once: it is short enough that wind is simply not an issue, and it is small enough to grow in a large pot on a balcony, a doorstep or a courtyard. For a small child it has the advantage of flowering at their eye level rather than three metres above their head.
Quick facts
- Botanical name
- Helianthus annuus
- Type
- Open pollinated
- Category
- Dwarf double
- Difficulty
- Easy, good first crop
- Hardiness
- Half hardy, protect from frost
- In Ireland
- Grows outdoors unprotected
- Germination
- 5 to 14 days at 15 to 22C
- Sowing depth
- 2cm
- Spacing
- 45cm apart, 60cm between rows
- Height
- 60cm
- Position
- Full sun
- Containers
- Grows well in pots
- Sowing to flowering
- 11 to 18 weeks
- In flower
- July to September
- Award
- RHS Award of Garden Merit
Sowing and harvest calendar for Teddy Bear
Months shaded below are the reliable windows for Irish conditions.
Where to buy Teddy Bear sunflower seeds in Ireland
Irish suppliers that stock this, so postage stays domestic and seed arrives in time to sow. These are plain links, not paid placements.
Garden centres and mixed retailers
- Mr Middleton Irish Eighteen sunflower varieties, the widest choice here Mail order arm of a long established Mary Street shop, carries the familiar named varieties the organic specialists skip. Visit Mr Middleton , Co. Dublin
- Johnstown Garden Centre Irish Large branded flower seed range Third generation family business near Naas with the widest branded range, though popular varieties sell out by midsummer. Visit Johnstown Garden Centre , Co. Kildare
Why it suits Ireland
Wind is the reason most Irish sunflowers end up flat on the ground, and a 50cm plant has nothing for the wind to work on. Teddy Bear needs no stake, no shelter and no particular planning, which makes it the one variety that works in a coastal or upland garden where a giant would be pointless.
Being a container plant is the second advantage. A pot can be moved into the sun, moved out of the worst weather, and grown by someone with no garden at all, which covers a lot of Irish housing.
It also flowers earlier than the giants, generally from July, so it is not depending on a good September to deliver anything.
Growing notes
Sow indoors in March or April, one seed per 9cm pot, 2cm deep, on a bright windowsill. Direct sowing in May works too, in the pot it is to grow in or in the ground, but slugs take a heavy toll on such a small plant, so pot raising is safer.
Plant out or pot on from mid-May after hardening off. Space plants about 25cm apart in the ground, or three to a 40cm container.
Water regularly, particularly in containers, and give a liquid feed every couple of weeks once flower buds appear. Deadhead spent flowers and the plant will produce more.
The heavy double heads hold water, so in a wet spell they can sit sodden and go mouldy at the back. Grow the pot where rain does not pool on it if you can, space plants so air moves between them, and pick off any head that starts to brown behind rather than leaving it on the plant.
Common questions
What size pot does Teddy Bear need?
A single plant is happy in a 20cm to 25cm pot, and three will fill a 40cm patio pot nicely. Use a decent multipurpose compost, keep it watered, since a pot on a sunny wall dries out faster than people expect even in an Irish July, and feed fortnightly once the buds show. Put the pot somewhere it gets sun for most of the day.
Is it any good for bees?
Less than a single-flowered sunflower, and it is worth being honest about that. The double flower is made of extra petals at the expense of the open disc florets that bees and hoverflies feed on, so pollinators find much less in it. If attracting insects is part of the point, grow a single-flowered branching variety such as Lemon Queen or Velvet Queen alongside it.
Will it produce seed for the birds?
Very little. Doubling the flower reduces the seed-bearing part of the head, and in a cool Irish summer what does form often fails to fill. Treat Teddy Bear as a flower rather than a seed crop. If you want heads for the birds in winter, grow a tall single-headed variety and leave it standing.
More sunflowers to consider
Russian Giant
Open pollinated / Tall single-headed
The one children want to grow. Sow it early, stake it properly, and give it the most sheltered spot you have.
Growing notes and stockistsVelvet Queen
Open pollinated / Branching, cut flower
The best all-round sunflower for an Irish garden. Short enough to stay standing, and it flowers for months.
Growing notes and stockistsLemon Queen
Open pollinated / Branching, pale lemon
The one to grow for bees and for cutting. Soft lemon flowers over months rather than one loud yellow head.
Growing notes and stockists