Can I grow sunflowers on my zone?

Question

I am in (Hardiness) Zone 9 and (AHS) heat zone 9. It says the most it can handle is Zone 3. Would my area be too hot and humid for sunflowers to handle? I get 120-125 days a year of temperatures over 86F http://www.thegardengeeks.com/home/images/stories/heatzonemap.jpg

Answer 1

Hardiness to zone 3 is the coolest and or shortest growing season recommended. Sunflowers are a major crop as far North as Canada.

Sunflowers love hot weather.

Edit: Kansas is the Sunflower State. I am sure they will do fine. They do here in Oklahoma, the map shows us as heat zone 8.

Answer 2

First, hardiness zones really apply to plants that are perennials (live season after season). Hardiness zone defines which plants can survive the winter in an area.



Sunflowers http://easybloom.com/plantlibrary/plant/sunflower-23 are (generally) an annual--which means they live for one year, then die. So you don't have to worry about hardiness zone for your sunflower.



Which leaves--heat and humidity. Sunflowers LOOOOVE long, hot days where they get the Sun they need. They really need about 6+ hours of full sun to flourish. As you're in Florida, are your days long enough right now? Also, your days will only be getting shorter.



My recommendation is to wait til February/March (when the days are getting longer) and try then.

Answer 3

I agree with Edith about waiting. They won't do much until the days start getting longer anyway. you do sometimes get frost there right?

I have seen wild sunflowers in the Clearwater area of Fl.