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Butterfly Garden

One bad thing about Mexican sunflower

16 years ago

I love this plant but it is very brittle I had some 2 foot tall and the neighbors cat jumped fence and broke 3 to the ground that fast they break so easy Im getting tomato cages to pretect them .The are one of my favorites but they break so easy and they dont come back from break sad to see 2 months go down drane.

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Comments (5)

brandymulvaine
16 years ago
Thanks Angie I'll keep that in mind, this is my first year growing them! I got Torch and Fiesta del Sol. There's supposed to be a yellow one but I don't know the name
B
terrene
16 years ago
I've grown the regular Tithonia rotundifolia for the past 2 years and they had pretty sturdy stalks. Mine grew 6-7 feet tall and didn't need staking. My tall Cosmos had a tendency to lean and split though, so I usually use the green metal stakes with them.

This year I'm also growing Tithonia Fiesta del sol which is the shorter one, and Aztec Sun, which is the one with yellow flowers.
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Ellenr, if you want some commercial seeds let me know. I only used 3 seeds out of entire Tithonia 'Torch' packet. Since deer and groundhogs pulled plants down from 24" container with 36" of additional rabbit fencing on top I won't be growing them again. Kills me because they were a hit with bumble bees and Tiger Swallowtails. By the time animals had moved on to other plants and Tithonia bloomed it was too late for Monarchs & Black Swallowtails last year. Email me with your address if you want some insurance and I'll send them to you. :)
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Jacob, how far north are you? I live in (central Arkansas) and do experience hot summers but for me, Tithonia (Mexican Sunflower) didn't begin to bloom until mid to late August. It's been some years since I grew it, can't remember the date I started the seed but do remember wondering if it was ever going to bloom. I didn't grow it again because it grew too large for my small garden. My guess is it was about 8 ft tall by the end of the season. It grew so large the stems would bend and break during heavy rainstorms and the plant required staking to stay upright. Those beautiful big, deep green leaves catch a lot of wind and water. Since it's common to Mexico, it may need a long season of warmth to mature. My plant did produce some lovely blooms, photos dated Aug 22, 2009: This second photo was taken from the ground and this bloom was up so high I could only photograph it from below, highlighted against the sky. There is a smaller version of this plant that reportedly also attracts butterflies: ... Tithonia 'Torch' - cultivar reaching 3-4 ft. height (90-120 cm) with single, orange-scarlet daisy flowers,3-4 in. across (7-9 cm). I see, when reading about the cultivation, that it is approx. 80 days to bloom and that is measured from the time the seed germinates. So, allow almost 3 months to bloom for this shorter variety. I have also read that they don't like damp, cool weather so if growing from seed, maybe keep them under lights or a greenhouse until days and evenings are warm. Has anyone grown Torch, and if so, how did it perform for you? Mary
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ghoghunter
16 years ago
I had a huge Tithonia..I think it was the Torch. It grew to almost 9 feet tall and had hundreds of blossoms. Finally in the Fall we had a storm and it cracked right at the bottom and fell over like a tree! It had bloomed beautifuly and stood upright all summer but I guess I was lucky. It's interesting to hear now about the brittleness.
angie83
Original Author
16 years ago
I didnt even know there was a short mexican sunflower I want to try them is mexican sunflower Tithonia sundance a small plant or is Tithonia Fiesta del sol the only short mexican sunflower?I would love to grow a smaller sunflower.
MissSherry
16 years ago
I believe Fiesta Del Sol is the one I've been growing, the one that's supposed to be shorter than Torch. Mine grow to about 5' tall, but get real wide, and they do eventually fall over on their own weight, usually after a big rain. So, it's a good idea to plant any Mexican sunflowers close to sturdy bushes that you can prop them up against or stake them.
It's worth it to do this, because of the constant profusion of butterfly attracting blooms they give.
Sherry

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