You've found the famous Dave's Garden website! Join this friendly global community that shares tips and ideas for home and gardens, along with seeds and plants!
Check out the DG homepage for a brief overview of what you'll find in this gardening mega-site.
Login
If you don't have an account yet, visit the registration page to sign up.
Other details: This plant is attractive to bees, butterflies and/or birds Average Water Needs; Water regularly; do not overwater Self-sows freely; deadhead if you do not want volunteer seedlings next season Flowers are good for cutting
Soil pH requirements: 6.1 to 6.5 (mildly acidic) 6.6 to 7.5 (neutral) 7.6 to 7.8 (mildly alkaline)
Patent Information: Non-patented
Propagation Methods: From seed; direct sow after last frost
Seed Collecting: Bag seedheads to capture ripening seed Allow seedheads to dry on plants; remove and collect seeds Properly cleaned, seed can be successfully stored
On Aug 20, 2011, susansconi from Rumford, RI (Zone 5b) wrote:
I grew Chianti with several other sunflowers, and Chianti was tied with one other as my least favorite. The color was pretty, but only had a few branches,the foliage was poor, and it just looked weak next to the other fuller, more productive ones. Hardly any buds, compared to the others -which probably made it look worse. I love sunflowers, but should've read reviews prior to planting!
I absolutely love this plant, but I planted a whole packet of seed and not one plant grew! Granted it is VERY poor, very hard soil where it was planted. I'll compost and try again next year!
On Sep 26, 2007, LenaBeanNZ from Brisbane Australia (Zone 10b) wrote:
I grew Chianti last year with pitiful results. Only two weak little plants from a whole packet of seed, and only one decent, if small flower. The other flowers were so deformed and fleshy they could barely open unfortuntely. Multiple flowers along each main stem, on very short little laterals.
I grew alot of other sunflowers very successfully, so maybe it was a bad batch of seed. The one flower was a great colour though, so I will include a picture of it. Looking very alone, its almost hard to spot it!
I am trying my luck with Moulin Rouge this season.
On Feb 27, 2007, saanansandy from Sue, RI (Zone 6a) wrote:
I have started these sunflowers direct by seed for the past two years with wonderful success. The stems were strong, multi-stemmed. Although many of the multi-stems are very short making it difficult to use many of them for cutting. I entered this sunflower at the county fair both years and received blue ribbons both times. Visitors have always made positive comments about them.
Dark 3 to 5 inch Flowers Multi-Sunflower on 4 to 5 foot Plants.
The colour is nice but I liked Moulin Rouge better. This one produced smaller flowers on weaker stems and had weaker growth and not as heavy a brancher as Moulin Rouge. Moulin Rouge also flowered a month earlier and kept on flowering as long as Chianti even though Chianti took an extra month to start flowering. Moulin Rouge also seemed to last a day or two longer as a cut flower than Chianti. All in all it is a nice sunflower that wasnt terrible but I believe Moulin Rouge to be a much better choice and will grow more Moulin Rouge next year and no Chianti.
On Feb 21, 2005, kniphofia from Ashington United Kingdom (Zone 8a) wrote:
A most beautiful dark selection of this wonderful annual. Some of my flowers were almost black. I intend to plant a lot more this coming summer to use as cut flowers.
Highly recommended!
Regional...
This plant has been said to grow in the following regions:
Mackenzie, Alabama Jacksonville, Florida Greentown, Indiana Cornville, Maine Halifax, Massachusetts Westborough, Massachusetts Pleasant Valley, Missouri Blair, Nebraska Rumford, Rhode Island Wood River Junction, Rhode Island Austin, Texas San Antonio, Texas Lakewood, Washington