What Do Sunflowers Produce?

Flowers

• Sunflowers make cheery and long-lasting cut flowers. Since they are easy to grow, have strong stems and bloom throughout the summer, sunflowers are a favorite for florists and vendors at farmer's markets. Typically, smaller sunflowers that produce several flowers 3 to 6 inches across are sold, rather than the giant sunflowers that are more important for seed production

Seed for Food

• Roasted and salted sunflower seeds make a tasty snack. Sunflower seeds also work well in salads or baked goods. Animals such as squirrels, hamsters and backyard birds enjoy sunflower seeds as well. While humans consume the large gray-striped sunflower seeds, smaller black sunflower seeds are sold for bird feeders. However, birds and other animals aren't picky and will eat any sunflower seed available to them.

Seed for Oil

• Squeezed and strained sunflower seeds produce oil for cooking and cosmetics. According to the Purdue Horticultural Department, 80 percent of the value of sunflower crops comes from extracting the oil. Sunflower oil is high vitamin E and low in saturated fat. The seed cake left over after the oil has been extracted is used for animal feed.

Stalks

• The stalks of sunflower varieties that grow over 5 feet tall make excellent trellises for beans. Plant a bean plant below your sunflower once the sunflower has reached 3 feet tall. Once the bean starts growing, train it along the sunflower stalk. At the end of the season, cut the sunflower at the ground and remove any remaining leaves. Cut the stalk into 1-foot lengths, and let them dry. During the winter, these dried stalks make excellent kindling for a fire.