is sure is reaching for the sun ... if it were planted another 3 to 5 feet from the house... you might be able to get rid of that stake... and have it grow straight upwards ... whatever it is.. i would probably move it at ground thaw in spring ... given it many weeks to grow some new roots before it starts growing upwards .... get settled in.. i mean ... ken ps: you said: I'm in a zone of 3-4...can get cold here brrr ==>>> perhaps a bit of an understatement... lol ... this is going to crack me up all day long .... lol

Welcome to the forum! We hope you'll post as much as possible as often as possible. Lazy gave you great advice, so let us know what you do and how it works out. Sunflowers are especially fun, aren't they? I usually start mine in mid-March through late April or so, for early summer flowers. They seem to do best (for me, anyway) with a spring sowing. The ones I start in mid-summer really struggle along. Happy gardening and keep us posted! Take care, Grant

You could plant a mixed variety of annual Sunflowers. They range from a few feet and good for cutting, to over 10 feet. In my "Tall" bed, I'm growing a patch of annual sunflowers on one end, perennials in the rest. Mammoth grey stripe will go in back because it grows about 8-12 feet tall and in front I'm planting shorter varieties of Sunflowers, a mix of yellow, lemon yellow, and rusty colors that grow 5-6 feet. The critters absolutely go nuts over annual Sunflowers - the bees love them, and many species of birds, chipmunks, squirrels, etc feast off the seeds for several weeks when they're ripe. It was fun to watch! You could look into Tithonia (Mexican sunflower), also an annual, grows about 5-6 feet, has more attractive foliage, and mixes well with annual Sunflowers. Tithonia is often grown in butterfly gardens because it's a premier nectar plant.

it is the same damage I have on my sunflowers, it is from a brown beetle. they are coming out at night and chewing the leaves. It is the May beetles or June bugs are ý to 5/8 inches long, and reddish brown. the ants are "farming" a type of leaf hopper and aphids. the damage on my sunflowers have been kept low by me going out each night and removing as many of the beetles as I can and I also have a large amount of spiders both ones that I put there and others that moved in own their own to help control the beetles. I don't like to use bug sprays because the birds will be getting the seeds in the spring and because the beetles come out at night, unless you get a spray that stays on the leaf and will kill them as they eat, any direct contact killing spray will be dried and have no effect and a systemic killer will make the plant and the seed toxic which will kill the beetles but the seeds could not be given to the birds or eaten by humans.