Cut and Condition - Sunflowers

Sunflowers are available in lots of gardens across the UK and the world each summer, but what makes a Sunflowers last in the vase? When is the right stage for picking? and how do you treat and transport them.

Sunrich Sunflower in bud

If you’re planning to send your Sunflower blooms by post, or pick them for wholesale market sale, then you’ll want to pick your flowers when they are coloured up, but still in bud like the picture above. If the petals have started to unfurl, then they will continue to open in the vase.

At this point they can be safely packed in a box, and these varieties are the best to travel without water.

Sunflowers that have just opened

If you are selling your sunflowers directly, then you can wait until the petals are unfurling, and the centre has grown. If the petals are facing forward, you can tell that the Sunflower is still fresh

Reflexed Sunflowers

But by the time the petals have reflexed and bent backwards, the centre is likely to have been visited by bees, and the blooms will not last as long. I would only use this for an event, or display.