Few flowers are as cheerful as sunflowers. With bright golden-yellow petals and stems as tall as 15 feet, sunflowers are stunning additions to any garden or yard. If you're wondering how long it takes ...

Harvest when seeds are plump and developed. Harvest when flower petals begin to dry out and fall off. Harvest when the back of [the] flower turns from green to yellow (if you are cutting the stem ...

Sunflowers reach full maturity in around three months, after which they're ready to harvest. You'll notice their colors start to brown, and the seeds grow heavy and thick and feel loose.

Observe sunflower progression through the four growth phases. Wait for heads to reach the senesce stage, indicated by wilting of the showy ray petals and color changes of the back of the head ...

To harvest the seeds, cut the heads and place them in a paper sack, or leave a foot of stem attached and hang the heads upside down to dry. Cover the heads to prevent seeds from dropping as they dry.

She said: “You can harvest sunflower seeds to eat them as well as save them to plant in your garden next year. “You can also use them to feed birds and other wildlife through the winter.

This characteristic, "petal drop", which in some varieties can occur within a day of the flowers' opening, ruins the appearance of sunflowers and damages their market value.