How to Grow Safflowers in Michigan

Choose a location for your safflowers that has rich, deep, somewhat heavy and neutral soil, which will retain moisture well. Avoid placing them in any area where sunflowers or beans have been.

Sow your safflower seeds at the beginning of May in Michigan, directly into the ground where you wish them to grow. Plant them 1-inch deep and 2 inches apart. Expect the seeds to sprout in 10 to 24 days.

Thin or transplant the seedlings after they germinate, so that the remaining ones stand 8 inches apart. Water and weed well for their first month when they are in the rosette stage.

Harvest any leaves you wish to pick for greens before the plants become spiny. Once they begin to send up stems, mulch them with 2 or 3 inches of straw to help suppress weeds and retain moisture in the soil. Due to Michigan's wet climate and the plants' deep roots, you likely won't need to water except during drought.

Look for blooms in early August or three months after the safflowers were planted. Snip off the middle bud on each plant before the blooms open.so that the plant will bush out and produce more flowers.

Harvest the petals of the flowers soon after the buds open if you plan to use those flowers for dye or culinary purposes. Spread them on newspapers indoors to dry. Continue to pick fresh petals about every three days.

Gather safflower seeds one month or more after the flowers fade and when the flowerheads are thoroughly dry, which in Michigan typically happens in early to mid-September. Wear heavy leather garden gloves when handling the seed heads to protect your hands from the plants’ spines. Cut the seed heads from the plants. Beat them against the sides of a bucket until the seeds fall into the bottom of that bucket.

Pour the seeds from one bucket to another on a windy day to help winnow away the chaff. Hold the first bucket high above the second when pouring, so that the breeze will catch that chaff.