Contrast & Comparison of Sunflowers & Roses

Overview

• Sunflowers are unscented, but roses are known their characteristic sweet, delicate fragrance, though some varieties have no scent. Both kinds of plants flower in a variety colors, but sunflowers' blooms are restricted to earthy tones of yellow, orange and red. Rose flowers can be found in brighter shades of orange, yellow and red plus many variations of pink, purple and white. Roses are long-lived, woody plants that go dormant in winter. On the other hand, sunflowers are classified as herbaceous annual plants; they grow from seeds in spring, flower in summer and complete their life cycle when they set seeds in fall.

Growth Habits

• Roses come in many shapes and sizes -- shrubs, climbers, ground-covers and miniature varieties, and hundreds of varieties exist. Their size ranges from less than 1 foot tall for miniature varieties to 20 or more feet in height for the larger climbing roses. The majority of roses, however, are shrubs reaching 4 to 6 feet tall. Sunflowers grow from 1 foot to 12 feet tall, depending on the variety. All types of sunflowers have a similar upright growth habit, with a single leafy stalk topped by one or several flower heads.

Culture and Care

• Roses are known for being very picky about climate, soil and other growing conditions, though many tough and adaptable varieties are available, including wild and native species. Because of difficulties with fungal diseases, roses do well in dry, rather than humid, conditions and prefer to be watered at ground level instead of on their leaves. They bloom best when they grow in rich, fertile soil with a pH between 5.5 and 6.5. In comparison to sunflowers, roses are high-maintenance plants that require regular fertilizer, pruning and effort to manage pests and diseases. Sunflowers, planted in a warm location with modestly rich soil conditions, often need nothing more than a little water each week to perform well. Some of the tall sunflower varieties may need staking to prevent them from keeling over from the weight of their enormous flowers, but otherwise they are very low-maintenance plants.

Landscape Use

• Rose varieties are suited to a wide variety of landscaping applications, from foundation plantings and formal garden specimens to erosion-control and naturalized area plants, as well as their prominent use for covering arbors, fences, gazebos and walls. Sunflowers are used best in mass plantings as a tall seasonal border in vegetable gardens or annual flowerbeds. The blossoms of sunflowers always face the sun, a trait that is particularly striking in large plantings. Both roses and sunflowers adapt well to being grown in containers.

Propagation

• Sunflowers are among the easiest plants to grow from seeds. Once all danger of frost has passed and the soil temperature has reached 50 degrees Fahrenheit, sunflower seeds can be sown directly where they are to be grown. The plants' ripe seeds may be harvested in fall and replanted the following year. In contrast, roses are rarely grown from seeds but are reproduced with a variety of clonal propagation techniques. Cuttings of most rose varieties readily form roots when taken in late winter. Many of the more fancy varieties are grafted onto rootstocks grown for specific qualities, such as disease resistance and adaptability to soil type.