The Best Sunflowers to Plant in Texas

Texas

• Texas consists of seven major geographic regions; U. S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones range from 6b to 9a. North Texas and the Panhandle experience winter and snow while all areas except East Texas experience intense heat and frequent drought.

Texas Natives

• Representative native members of the sunflower family grow throughout Texas; however, not all members of this family are true sunflowers. True sunflowers include: common sunflower (Helianthus annuus), maximilian sunflower (Helianthus maximiliani), swamp sunflower (Helianthus angustifolius), rough sunflower (Helianthus hirsutus) and stiff sunflower (Helianthus pauciflorus Nutt. ssp. Pauciflorus). All but the common sunflower are perennials; the common sunflower is an annual. Native plant nurseries sell seeds in packets or bulk.

Sunflowers

• Varieties of cultivated sunflower seeds find their way into gardens for their color and the excitement they offer. They’re often large and showy, while many cultivars are smaller and suitable for home gardens. There are more than 80 species of annual sunflowers and 38 species of perennial sunflowers.

Common Sunflower

• A fast-growing annual, the common sunflower is a coarsely textured flower with various cultivars reaching heights of 3 to 10 feet in USDA zones 2 to 11. It blooms during summer and attracts seed-eating birds. This sunflower’s bloom color can be brown, red, yellow or white with a brown-to-purple center disk. Plant all annuals after the risk of frost has passed in the early spring.

Annual Cultivars

• The joker sunflower (Helianthus annuus “The Joker Sunflower”) is considered a sun worshiper that grows 8 to 10 feet and has a yellow- and rust-colored, 6 to 8 inch bloom. This variety also spreads, creating a screen. “Moonshadow” (Helianthus annuus “Moonshadow”) flowers begin pale yellow or orange and fade to a creamy white; this variety is considered ideal for cut flowers and reaches heights of only 3 to 4 feet. It attracts birds. Grown for seed production, the tall “Russian mammoth” (Helianthus annuus “Russian Mammoth”) has large 14-inch classic yellow blooms and reaches heights of 10 feet.

Maximilian Sunflower

• Perennial sunflowers can be bought as small plants or seeds and grown in gardens or used in native landscape projects. All have wildlife value. Maximilian sunflower has clusters of 3- to 10-foot stems with numerous flower heads on single stalks. The 5-inch flower head is yellow with a brown center. This is a colony-forming perennial that grows naturally in all parts of the state except the arid far west and southwest.

Swamp Sunflower

• Swamp sunflower is a narrow-leaf sunflower with 2-inch yellow flowers that appear in September and October. The plant is relatively short with a height of 1 to 3 feet and occurs in wet habitats commonly found in the eastern third of the state.

Rough Sunflower

• Rough sunflower is common in east Texas and a few Hill Country locations. This short (12 to 18 inches) perennial has narrow, tapering leaves and small, yellow flower heads with yellow centers.

Stiff Sunflower

• Stiff sunflower is frequently used in prairie restoration, growing on a variety of soils including shallow thin soils of northwest and west Texas. This grows 1 to 5 feet tall with 2 1/2-inch yellow petaled flower heads.